Chapter 18: Kevin Durant Is Waiting
Knight, who crowned himself GOAT, had influence far beyond that coronation victory where he surpassed Dean Smith to become the college basketball winningest coach—who cares?
“Greatest of all time?”《The New York Times》 sports headline didn’t hold back, “Coach Knight, perhaps you should learn elementary school math: 10 is greater than 3. Not to mention, you might not even securely hold the ‘greatest active’ throne. You and your disciple Mike Krzyzewski both won three national championships, but K Coach established the Duke dynasty in 1991 and 1992, and you haven’t even sniffed the championship since 1987. The only thing you can brag about is the 1984 Olympic gold medal, and K Coach is taking over the Dream Team. When he returns with an Olympic gold medal, even that edge of yours will be erased. What will you have left then? Win records? K Coach is steadily closing in on the win leaderboard too, younger than you, with a more stable resume. He hasn’t thrown chairs, publicly humiliated players, or indirectly disparaged Wooden in the media. He’s just overturning the standards you once prided yourself on, one victory after another. In the end, your so-called ‘greatest of all time’ is just a self-mythologizing hype ride on a historical milestone—it’s not a laurel, but a satire. If GOAT means greatness, stability, and unquestionable dominance, then that hat clearly fits John Wooden, who built a dynasty with ten championship rings, better than Bob Knight, propped up by a big mouth and a pile of technical fouls.”
The outside world erupted in a frenzy, mostly mockery and ridicule of Knight.
Meanwhile, Xu Ling’s pressure eased considerably.
Though Knight’s comments seemed provoked by him, some uninformed people were easily swayed by the media’s out-of-context spin. They would think, hmm, how could someone as low-key as Eli say that? It must have been Knight’s doing!
Either way, things were heading in an extreme direction.
But Knight was too lazy to quibble with the outside world. As a controversial figure, he didn’t mind adding another controversy to his resume.
Four days later, Texas Tech University faced Missouri State University Tigers at United Spirit Arena.
The Tigers ranked sixth in the Big 12 fan poll, an awkward position. They were seen as having no hope of contending for March Madness, but strong enough to upset weaker teams—a classic spoiler team.
If a strong team didn’t take them seriously, they could really capsize in the gutter.
This was the last relatively easy game before the next two big tests, and TTU went all out.
Tonight, Xu Ling wasn’t assigned to guard the Tigers’ arrowhead.
Knight put him at the three position, tasking him to go all-out on offense.
The Tigers’ core player Stephen Hannah was guarded by Martin Zeno.
So far this season, thanks to Xu Ling’s stellar defense, people forgot that Zeno was TTU’s unsung hero who always handled the opponent’s arrowhead.
Zeno fulfilled his defensive duties tonight, successfully limiting Hannah, while Xu Ling dismantled the Tigers’ perimeter defense with long-range shots.
TTU smoothly secured a four-game tournament win streak.
Xu Ling had 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists, undoubtedly the game’s best player.
Julius Jackson followed with 20 points, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Martin Zeno shut down the opponent’s core while scoring 16 points and grabbing 5 rebounds.
Jay Bilas, ESPN college basketball expert who watched the game live, wrote in his next day’s column: “University of Florida looks like the scariest team in college basketball, Ohio University looks like the team with the most potential in college basketball. If both run into trouble, then Kansas University is the most likely to win it all. But if you ask me which team is most likely to create a miracle in March Madness, my answer is only Texas Tech University Red Raiders! They have four scorers who can average double figures, two scorers who can drop 30 in any college game. Once they get going, nothing is impossible!”
TTU’s national ranking had risen from No. 20 preseason to No. 10 nationally, second in the Big 12 League only to Kansas University.
Next, they would face No. 2 nationally ranked Kansas University in a row, and then Texas Longhorns with Kevin Durant.
A new week arrived.
Kevin Durant edged out Xu Ling to win Big 12 League Player of the Week.
The reason? Durant seemed more dominant on the court, Longhorns also 4-0 to start, and Durant scored over 30 in three of those four games, leading the scoring list at 27 points and 8 rebounds per game so far.
Compared to Oden, that sick tiger who didn’t know when he’d return to full strength, Durant was the most spotlighted freshman right now.
This made the upcoming Durant vs. Xu Ling matchup even more anticipated.
So much so that the Texas Tech University vs. Kansas University game on Wednesday got less attention; college sports media hyped the Xu-Durant battle on the weekend.
Moreover, due to Kansas’s jaw-dropping lineup depth, the consensus was Xu Ling would get his stats, but Kansas would win without suspense.
This expectation annoyed everyone at TTU, but Wednesday’s game indeed played out that way.
Kansas University had at least five players seen as future NBA material—this was Texas Tech University’s first game this season facing opponents where everyone except Xu Ling matched up against superior talent.
That night, Xu Ling performed well against Kansas’s ace wing Brandon Rush, solid in shooting and ball-handling offense, but his defense didn’t create miracles like before.
Rush was a bit like the earlier Cartier Martin: not great at dribbling, but deadly accurate shooting, strong defense, and even better talent.
When Martin called for a screen and got a sliver of shooting space, he’d face heavy interference from Xu Ling.
But Rush could ignore that interference and maintain a certain shooting percentage.
Though Xu Ling outperformed Rush that night, it was his first time not locking down or exploding his matchup on the court, and teammates were all down in their matchups too. By halftime, TTU trailed by 10; final score, Kansas University won big by 15.
Xu Ling shot 50% for 24 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist.
ESPN commentator Dick Vitale said: “Without Eli, the Red Raiders might have lost by 25.”
Such praise meant nothing to Xu Ling. If they wanted a national championship, they couldn’t console themselves with excuses.
Because Kansas University wasn’t even the strongest college team nationally.
Many media were onsite, wanting Xu Ling’s take on the game and to hype the weekend matchup.
But Xu Ling was cold; he had only one thought: get back to the dorm and rewatch the game video repeatedly.
Knight was calm. If you simulated their game against Kansas University on a computer, they’d win at most one out of ten.
So tonight’s result was normal.
But any game has uncertainty; no one wins 100%.
Thus, he still had to give the players a intense locker room speech.
“You weren’t playing today; you were Kansas’s practice dummies, background boards. One look from Mario Chalmers and you were shocked stiff. Julius, did you want a photo op with him? Eli—you stop giving me that ‘I at least tried’ look. You think hiding your teammates behind you like turtles makes you the team hero? Kansas is the stronger team, but I don’t see your desire to fight them down!” Knight bellowed entering the locker room. “If you can’t take the right attitude to challenge stronger opponents, we’ll never win the Big 12 League Championship!”
This wasn’t the end. Before March Madness, every league decides its champion, so if TTU aimed for the title, they still had a shot at revenge on Kansas University.
After Knight’s speech, Xu Ling got the game video from the assistant coach. Back in the dorm, he started reviewing tonight’s game.
He noticed one thing: though Brandon Rush was core, due to ball-handling limits, he was essentially a secondary role.
Kansas’s true core was Mario Chalmers, who dominated TTU’s one spot on both offense and defense tonight and linked up the rest of the team.
Xu Ling didn’t want to blame teammates for the loss. But he had to think: next time against Kansas University, how to avoid repeating tonight’s beatdown?
Have him primary defend Mario Chalmers? Not impossible, but not feasible.
He did outplay Brandon Rush tonight, but because he personally stuck to him. If a teammate guarded instead? Would Rush go off like that?
Try Zeno? Maybe. But what if Zeno couldn’t handle Chalmers?
Xu Ling ran the worst-case scenario in his head, then realized—defense alone couldn’t contain these guys. They lacked the defensive resources; once spread thin, offense couldn’t hold. Full circle, back to square one.
He stared at the video, trying to extract answers from one possession after another.
Late night, roommate Roderick Craig woke up to pee, groggily got up, saw Xu Ling still at the computer glued to the video, and couldn’t help rubbing his eyes: “Eli, you still up?”
He yawned, “It’s just one loss. The sun rises tomorrow anyway. Don’t expect to figure everything out in one night, or that you can fix it all alone. Besides, what you should do most now is sleep.”
He paused, then added in a wizard-from-a-fantasy-movie tone foretelling destiny: “Kevin Durant is waiting for you up ahead.”
Xu Ling looked at the screen, silent for seconds, but finally hit exit hard; the tape popped out. He had to admit Craig was right—at least about sleeping.
Craig saw this ancestor finally let go of the video and grinned satisfied: “That’s right, future NBA lottery pick.”
“I’m not a lottery pick yet,” Xu Ling said calmly, “at least not now.”
“Does it matter?” Craig grinned, “One step away.”
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ESPN DraftExpress 2007 NBA Mock Draft
Author: Chad Ford（Chad Ford）
Publish Date: December 9, 2006, 9:40 AM Eastern Time
Pick Team Player Class School/Country Position
1 Boston Celtics Greg Oden Freshman Ohio State University Center
2 Memphis Grizzlies Kevin Durant Freshman University of Texas Small Forward
3 Milwaukee Bucks Joakim Noah Junior University of Florida Power Forward/Center
4 Seattle SuperSonics Al Horford Junior University of Florida Power Forward
5 Philadelphia 76ers Mike Conley Freshman Ohio State University Point Guard
6 Minnesota Timberwolves Brandon Wright Freshman University of North Carolina Power Forward
7 Atlanta Hawks Jeff Green Junior Georgetown University Small Forward
8 Sacramento Kings International Player China Guangdong Hongyuan Power Forward
9 Charlotte Bobcats Corey Brewer Junior University of Florida Shooting Guard/Small Forward
14 Chicago Bulls Eli Xu Freshman Texas Tech University Shooting Guard/Small Forward
Expert Comments
Jay Bilas（ESPN）: “Eli Xu slots in at fourteenth; what truly surprises me is he hasn’t cracked the lottery yet. He might be the rookie with the most ‘pro-ready immediate combat power’ this class—game style mature, not like a green newcomer. His ceiling may not match Durant’s, but his floor is already above most lottery picks.”
Chad Ford（ESPN Insider）: “His defensive pressure on A.C. Law in that game made me bump his draft projection up two spots without hesitation. A rookie who can effectively limit a top national point guard? If he sustains that into ‘March Madness,’ I believe Eli has a real shot to lock in a lottery spot.”
⑴Modern NCAA⑵ dynasty standard is back-to-back titles.
⑵If you ask what modern NCAA is, I see 1985 as the line—that year March Madness expanded to 64 teams, forming the modern March Madness format.
Seeking follow to read, seeking collections, seeking votes, thanks everyone for the support.
