Chapter 9: Matthews’ Suddenly Collapsing World
San Jose Gymnasium was filled with 15,000 spectators on site.
The champion of the 2006 Pete Newell Invitational Tournament will be decided tonight.
CSTV（ College Sports Network） has decided to nationally broadcast this game.
Texas Tech University’s opponent tonight, Marquette University, as a Big East Conference powerhouse with increasing presence in recent years, has a coaching philosophy from its head coach Tom Crean（Tom Crean）: “If you don’t like fighting the whole world, then don’t step into Marquette’s gymnasium.”
As the acknowledged strongest team in this invitational tournament, Marquette University didn’t get a single headline.
So far in the invitational tournament, two headline news stories have emerged, both obtained by Texas Tech University.
The first headline was Xu Ling claiming he would become the Jordan of the college basketball world.
The second headline was Xu Ling, after dishing out 12 assists in the elimination round, saying he liked beautiful isolation plays.
This is simply outrageous!
In terms of roster depth, they are stronger than TTU.
In terms of strength ranking, Marquette is No. 20 in this week’s Associated Press poll, while Texas Tech? No such school.
But the media’s focus just isn’t on them.
Even Xu Ling, with his several brutal performances against weak teams, has entered draft expert Chuck Ford’s radar, while Marquette’s core members are still just “players with draft potential but no current draft prospects.”
“I heard TTU has a Michael Jordan of the college basketball world, but we’ve only seen it in the news, and I hope he’s not all talk.”
Marquette University’s sophomore guard Wesley Matthews said to the College Sports Network reporter.
When Xu Ling entered the court, quite a few spectators booed him.
It seems his “college Jordan” claim has spread widely.
However, he completely ignored the audience’s reaction, and when the College Sports Network reporter invited him for a pre-game interview, he declined.
This puzzled the media especially.
A seemingly high-profile person decisively gave up the opportunity to boost his voice through an interview.
Isn’t this contradictory? If he likes talking big, he should use this chance to say more. If he likes the spotlight, he should even more accept media exposure during the national broadcast.
Xu Ling said nothing, just kept shooting.
His roommate Roderick Craig excitedly said, “You’re already a star player now!”
“Don’t star players get picked on by the coach anymore?” Xu Ling retorted.
Craig grumbled, “That’s because you compared yourself to Jordan.”
“Then let me ask you,” Xu Ling said, “do you think the coach likes players who dare to compare themselves to Jordan, or does he prefer players who don’t even dare to think about it?”
This question was a bit profound, and Craig had no answer.
Knight stood on the sideline like a lion ready to bite at any moment, with a hostile expression.
If a player missed a layup in training, he would roar at them.
Xu Ling noticed this, so he deliberately missed a layup.
“That guy who wants to be the college Jordan!” Knight shouted, “I swear, if Michael saw your training, he would sue you for slander!”
Xu Ling casually dribbled the ball and came in front of Knight, saying, “Believe it or not, I don’t believe MJ never botched the simplest layup.”
Knight sharply said, “I’ve never seen it! I’ve only seen one guy claiming to be the college Jordan, that’s you, who can even botch the simplest layup training!”
“If I said I missed the layup just to see you roar at me, would that make you even angrier, Coach?”
Gasps!
Standing close in front of Knight, Xu Ling heard the coach’s heavy intake of breath, a method to calm himself down.
“Get lost!”
Knight didn’t like players without a sense of hierarchy, nor players without boundaries, and especially not players who joked with him while he was displaying his coaching authority.
But his attention uncontrollably fell on Xu Ling, like a beast lurking nearby waiting for the cunning prey to show a flaw.
After that, Xu Ling didn’t miss any more simple training drills.
TTU’s starting lineup had slight adjustments.
In the past few games, they had freshman point guard Charlie Burgess start, but tonight, Knight felt Marquette University was not an easy opponent—after all, they were a top-20 national team, and using them for practice would be somewhat disrespectful.
So, he chose the current strongest lineup: Martin Zeno, Allen Voskuil, Xu Ling, Daryl Dora, and John Plecaka.
Marquette University’s starting lineup was very stable: the outside three giants Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal（Jerel McNeal SG）, Dominic James（Dominic James PG）, Jamil Lott
PF）, Ousmane Barro（Ousmane Barro C）.
Positionally, Xu Ling was at the three tonight, matched up directly against Wesley Matthews.
After facing Matthews, Xu Ling realized the opponent’s physique was so robust; although the coaching staff had mentioned in yesterday’s pre-game analysis that Matthews had physical strength beyond college level, seeing it in person was still surprising.
However, Xu Ling didn’t think he would lose to Matthews.
In terms of pure physique, he was no slouch even before losing weight.
“Yo, TTU’s MJ, nice to meet you.” Matthews started with an unlikable greeting, “Although you’re good at dealing with the media, I want to tell you that playing well is more important than anything.”
What the hell was this full-of-dad-vibes old black guy nagging about?
“Is that so?” Xu Ling had a habit that was hard to evaluate; he wouldn’t go along with people he didn’t like. “I think dealing with the media is more important than playing well.”
As soon as Xu Ling said that, Matthews got angry.
What did this mean? It meant all the hype was deliberately created by TTU’s Jordan; he said those things just to attract attention, and he didn’t shy away from it at all.
“Looks like I need to teach you how to be a good rookie.”
Matthews said with a cold face.
And Xu Ling still didn’t know what this guy was angry about.
Could he be a die-hard Jordan fan whose toxicity was so extreme that he wouldn’t allow anyone to use Jordan’s name?
Whatever it was, Xu Ling would continue observing, but first, let’s play.
Tip-off to start, Marquette University’s center Barro won possession with his size advantage.
They immediately sped up, with core guard Dominic James driving quickly to the basket, wanting a fast break but getting disrupted.
TTU got a fast break opportunity, but due to lacking a full-time point guard on the court, they failed to seize the fleeting fast break chance and got stolen by Wesley Matthews in the frontcourt due to mishandling.
Matthews looked as strong as an ox, but his straight-line speed was lightning fast; his intent was clear—to rush to the frontcourt for a slam dunk—but at the moment he jumped, the ball in his hand was smacked away by a strong force from the outside.
Matthews widened his eyes and looked at the stealer—not TTU’s Jordan, who else could it be?
“Mom fuckin’!!!”
Matthews cursed under his breath.
Xu Ling got the ball but didn’t hold it; instead, he flung it long to the frontcourt.
Allen Voskuil hit a light off-the-glass flying layup.
After getting the game’s first points, this Dane didn’t forget to turn back and point at Xu Ling, signaling good pass.
“Don’t be mad.” Xu Ling softly said to the furious-faced Matthews, “You still have a chance.”
Of course I fuckin’ have a chance, do you need to tell me?
Matthews felt like someone was blasting metal music in his ear while he was sleeping; his emotions surged uncontrollably, and he became completely irritable.
However, even Matthews couldn’t do whatever he wanted.
He might be Marquette University’s player with the most draft prospects, but he wasn’t the team’s absolute core.
The true leader was Dominic James, last year’s Big East Conference Freshman of the Year.
James raised his hand to call a pick and roll with Matthews, seemingly to test Xu Ling’s strength.
Xu Ling didn’t like being passive.
The pole-vaulting segment was something he always skipped when browsing light adult videos; he liked being active—James didn’t wait for Matthews’ pick and roll but instead got Xu Ling stepping up quickly for a double team.
Interestingly, James was listed at 5 feet 9 inches, about 175 cm, even a bit shorter than Xu Ling from his previous life.
As a former short guy, Xu Ling knew exactly how to pressure them to make them uncomfortable.
Moreover, now he could do more.
Xu Ling used his body in the chaotic double team to block the referee’s view, then used his hand to prevent James from quickly passing; in that instant of hesitation, the ball was smacked to the ground.
Martin Zeno dove for it and got the ball.
Xu Ling sprinted to the frontcourt and received the pass from Zeno.
Matthews angrily chased after him; he wanted to give this damn freshman a lesson, but this possession ultimately answered a question—why Wesley Matthews’ draft prospects were unclear, while Eli Xu was pegged by Chuck Ford as a future first round pick.
At full speed, Matthews’ straight-line speed was no less than Xu Ling’s; he caught up, and they stepped into the paint together to jump, Matthews’ body crashing into Xu Ling like a mountain—even if it was a foul, it was worth it, he thought, but reality didn’t go his way.
Xu Ling’s center of gravity only shook slightly; the strength honed from long-term inside play kept him maximally balanced, and his eye-catching long arms dragged the ball in a beautiful orange arc in front of Matthews.
“BOOMMM!!!”
“And One!” the commentator shouted, “Eli dunked on Wesley Matthews!!!”
“Want to know how to deal with the media?” Xu Ling looked at Matthews provocatively, then stated an objective fact. “Points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks. Fill these stats, and they’ll naturally chase after you. Simple, isn’t it?”
Matthews felt the noise of the entire world disappear, leaving only Xu Ling’s light but extremely insulting words buzzing in his ear.
Fuck! Fuck!
