Chapter 37: The Willful Genius
“Damn Brandon Wright, you talked all that shit before the game, and now you’re just letting others ride all over you?”
As the number one supporter of the Tar Heels, Michael Jordan was fuming on the sidelines. Other NBA professionals might be there to scout players, but Jordan had only one identity at the moment—a lifelong North Carolina man. He was of course there to support his alma mater, though his picky professional eye would unconsciously dissect every player on the court, but at this moment, his heart burned only with fury at Wright’s soft performance.
Just as Jordan was raging, Xu Ling once again matched up against Wright on offense. Xu Ling made a simple shooting fake move, lightly lifting Wright who had his center of gravity too high, then sidestepped with a dribble step, and effortlessly hit a mid-range jump shot.
“Swish!”
As the ball went in, the referee’s whistle blew—Wright defensive foul, Xu Ling to shoot a free throw!
This scene became almost a microcosm of the first half. Wright’s pre-game remarks about Xu Ling earned him no respect now; instead, they were like slaps back on his own face. He was not only completely shut down by Xu Ling on offense, but on defense he became an ATM for the opponent to take from at will.
“How did North Carolina ever choose him?” On the sidelines, an NBA scout muttered lowly to his colleague, “They missed Kevin Durant.”
This casual complaint revealed a well-known story in NBA circles. Before Xu Ling’s class of freshmen rose to college, aside from the top-tier Greg Oden, the rest of the top freshmen were basically considered the same level. Especially Kevin Durant and Brandon Wright—their builds, wingspans, and athleticism were similar; what distinguished them was their skill sets.
Durant was like Tracy McGrady, an unpredictable freak for the future; while Wright was considered like Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh, with a undoubtedly safer development path.
In the end, North Carolina, which had produced countless stars, chose Brandon Wright. They did think Wright was superior at that stage, but that notion became a complete joke with the start of the new season.
Durant unleashed historically rare offensive firepower, while Wright exposed more problems in North Carolina’s luxurious lineup: strange shooting form, lack of shooting confidence, not enough hustle, fragile mentality yet overconfident. Scouts gave his talent a 9, but his “intangibles” only a failing 6.
At this moment, watching Wright appear so clumsy and powerless in front of Xu Ling, Jordan’s anger couldn’t help mixing in a bit of regret and disappointment. His alma mater’s chosen future star was showing his most embarrassing side on the biggest stage.
Jordan, always proud of his alma mater, couldn’t help thinking of Kwame Brown after hearing his own scout’s evaluation of this North Carolina alumnus.
He hated people who didn’t hustle.
It wasn’t until Wright proactively trash-talked Xu Ling before the game that Jordan started to think better of him, but before he could back up any of that trash talk, Xu Ling nailed him to the pillar of shame.
Jordan, who had crushed opponents’ spirits countless times in his playing days, how could he not see that Wright’s mentality was on the verge of collapse, and that this collapse would have an extremely negative impact on the Tar Heels.
At that moment, Wright’s high-post jump shot clanged off the rim, and Jordan’s face grew darker: “Does that bastard just want to prove he’s a coward? Damn it, what is Roy waiting for? Get him off the court!”
Wright’s “shutdown” caused North Carolina to panic in the opening, unable to open up the situation, and the control of the game fell into TTU’s hands.
But North Carolina head coach Roy Williams was calmer than “Zen-possessed” Phil Jackson, showing no intention of calling timeout. Tar Heels fans felt mixed about this, as it was Williams’ old habit: as long as the players weren’t completely in dire straits and it wasn’t a coaching staff mistake, he generally wouldn’t call timeout to interrupt the game flow.
TTU started with an 11-4 run.
Just as they wanted to pull the score further, North Carolina’s starting guard Ty Lawson couldn’t stand it anymore.
Lawson accelerated at full speed, instantly breaking down Julius Jackson. Due to the zone defense, he didn’t drive deep into the paint, just pulled up from outside for a long mid-range shot, hitting it to give North Carolina the much-needed 2 points.
Xu Ling didn’t think Jackson could guard Lawson. Lawson should be the only player in North Carolina’s starting lineup to make it big in the NBA, not just as a multi-year NBA starter, but even his dribbling moves were in the 2K motion system. But right now, he couldn’t worry about Lawson.
Wright seemed to realize he wouldn’t be tonight’s protagonist, so he decided to go all out on defense and was determined to stop Xu Ling.
Xu Ling made a backdoor cut, received the ball on the outside, Wright waved his long arms and came up like a human spider. “You won’t do anything!”
Wright shouted loudly; for an instant, he looked like a great defender. But Xu Ling’s hesitation dribble fake instantly lifted his center of gravity, and he jumped up like a monkey. Xu Ling dribbled past him, took two steps, gathered and jumped for a layup score.
“Nice defense,” Xu Ling taunted, “just enough to let me do anything.”
The worst wasn’t being beaten; the worst was Wright realizing the opponent’s level was above his own—this realization would be a devastating blow to his fighting spirit.
Because this was someone he’d always used to motivate himself.
When scouts didn’t rate him, he’d comfort himself with Xu Ling, saying if he played on a weak team, he could do this or that too.
But now, the two faced off directly on the court, and Xu Ling beat him effortlessly.
There was no greater irony, no greater humiliation.
Meanwhile, North Carolina continued to rely on Lawson’s individual ability on offense.
He fully showed attacking power a full level above Jackson.
Just now a drive into pull-up jump shot, then calling pick and roll to kick out to Wayne Ellington for a three-pointer.
When TTU missed in set play, Hansbrough grabbed the defensive rebound, Lawson received the pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup score.
He completely displayed a core guard’s influence on the game.
Knight wasn’t Roy Williams; he wouldn’t let the backcourt get torched without doing anything.
The so-called letting players play freely was a joke at any level of competition!
This was NCAA, not AAU; if players could handle all problems themselves, what was the coach for?
This was exactly why Knight looked down on so-called powerhouse renowned coaches like John Wooden and Dean Smith.
Because you’re a powerhouse, you can easily recruit top players, then use your talent-overflowing lineup to toy with tactics however you want—what UCLA system, what letting players play freely—try that at a place like TTU!
Knight called timeout.
Then, Knight subbed out Jackson and brought in senior big Daryl Dora, then said to Xu Ling: “Find a way to extinguish Ty Lawson’s offensive push.”
Xu Ling asked: “No plan at all?”
Knight said subtly: “I think that bastard is unbeatable at college level, but you must suppress him! If you have a way to deal with A.C. Law, you naturally have a way to deal with him! If I have to give you a suggestion, I’d suggest letting him shoot threes—his three-point percentage is just average compared to his other means.”
Xu Ling knew how much influence a top national guard could have in a game.
He’d observed Lawson from the side earlier and hadn’t spotted any flaws.
Shooting very steady, ambidextrous dribbling, great passing vision and hands.
No weaknesses.
On the other side, TTU subbing in Dora gave them two bigs in the lineup, which seemed to give Brandon Wright a breather, as he had no answer for Xu Ling.
“Rookie, our coach is tired of freshmen scoring fancy points over your head!” Dora said to Wright. “Next, let me play with you!”
The beauty of veterans is they always know how to mess up freshmen’s mentalities.
Then, Xu Ling matched up against Wayne Ellington, North Carolina’s top outside scorer, but terrible defender—if not targeting Lawson, breaking down from him would be optimal.
But real targeting often starts from the offensive end.
Xu Ling came up for a pick and roll with Zeno, spin move, positions crossed, successfully switching Lawson onto himself; Zeno passed the ball, creating the mismatch of Xu Ling on Lawson.
Lawson’s defense wasn’t great; if Xu Ling wanted to attack him, it wouldn’t take much effort.
But Knight wanted far more than Xu Ling trading buckets with Lawson.
So, Xu Ling spun, his ninety-plus kilo frame slamming heavily into Lawson.
Lawson was bounced back a big step, but Xu Ling didn’t capitalize on it; instead, he gathered again and slammed into Lawson once more.
This was the most unreasonable offensive method in basketball.
As long as you had more weight or more strength, you could post up anyone inferior in those hard metrics in the low post.
Xu Ling’s second post-up knocked Lawson to the floor; forget resisting, this fall was salvation for Lawson—at least no third post-up.
Wright rushed over in help defense, but Xu Ling fired a bounce pass, assisting Daryl Dora for the score.
Xu Ling had no more interest in Wright; he gave Lawson a provocative glance, silently mocked him, and ran back.
“That fucking number 1!”
Lawson’s emotions fluctuated obviously, and he was very dissatisfied with Brandon Wright’s performance.
Lawson, full of strong emotions toward Xu Ling, saw the opponent come defend him and felt an urge for instant revenge, accelerating fiercely to take out this nationally famous super rookie in one go.
Lawson’s impatience created an obvious flaw in his ball protection; Xu Ling’s long arm reached back and swatted the ball away.
“Great defense!”
Martin Zeno yelled as he grabbed the ball, then saw Xu Ling already sprinting ahead and threw it hard to him.
Cheers erupted in the arena, TTU fans chanting that guy’s name.
TTU’s Jordan?
He didn’t need that kind of hype anymore.
Xu Ling, in a fastbreak 1-on-0, suddenly pulled up.
Bob Knight threw up his hands, muttering: “That bastard, here he goes again!”
TTU fans were used to it; Xu Ling greedily chose the fastbreak three over the sure two points.
“Swish!!!”
“In college basketball world, Eli is the only player who dares pull up for a three in transition and make the coaching staff shut up! The commentator’s voice echoed under the arena dome. “Either accept his madness or change the channel to golf—that’s the Eli rule!”
Xu Ling had just jogged back to the backcourt when Bob Knight roared from the sideline to stop him. The old coach’s face was beet red, hands gesturing: “Damn it! Eli! You should’ve driven for the two! I want to see safe twos!”
For this kind of situation, Xu Ling was long used to it; he insisted on letting facts speak: “But I made it.”
Knight glared at him, as if choked by the simple words, finally just waving his hand hard: “You’d better always make those damn circus threes!”
Xu Ling could only take it as a beautiful blessing from college basketball’s GOAT.
But why did these self-proclaimed GOATs always say such crap?
That was a question.
Thanks to Ajiu and Boss Hou for the pledges.
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