Chapter 36: It Seems You’re Not Cut Out For This
When Texas Tech University defeated the University of Pittsburgh 94-78 in California to advance to the Elite Eight, the entire state of Texas was exhilarated.
The NCAA Championship has continued to this point, and TTU is the only remaining team from Texas.
As other Texas teams were successively eliminated, support for TTU grew louder and louder.
Moreover, the Elite Eight is a achievement the Red Raiders have never had in their history.
This group of players has surpassed their predecessors and created new history.
Now, they are just one game away from the Eastern Conference championship and that dream title—the Final Four.
The team standing in their way is the one that once produced a god.
University of North Carolina Tar Heels
Setting aside North Carolina’s glorious history, this year’s North Carolina team can be said to be another peak since the super team that dominated the nation in 2005.
Their lineup is filled with future NBA players.
Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green, and Brandon Wright.
At the same time, North Carolina is a team with clear hostility toward TTU.
The source of this hostility comes from Brandon Wright, this player who was considered one of the top high school prospects in the 2006 class before entering college. Not only did he fail to win extra attention from scouts, but he was also belittled by scouts for his lack of soft talent, with mock draft projections lingering outside the top five.
When Wright’s draft market value was sliding, Xu Ling rocketed up to the top five like the Rockets, and at that time Wright had already trash-talked him.
According to statistics from TTU fans, after Xu Ling entered lottery predictions, Wright expressed contempt for him at least three times in different occasions.
But Xu Ling never responded.
When Xu Ling led his team to defeat Duke, his reputation reached a peak.
So Wright became even more anxious.
Is beating this year’s Duke worth bragging about?
They play Duke in the ACC like beating their son, and no one else brags about him like that.
At this moment, TTU fans began writing letters cursing Wright, believing he was a clown, purely jealous of Eli.
This broke Wright’s defense, so on the day of the championship’s fourth round leading to the Final Four, Wright opened a Twitter account and posted his first tweet: “TTU fans can prepare to cry, you have no chance at all. As a shit mediocre team, you’ve only gotten here thanks to an easy schedule. You’re the only non-elite in the Elite Eight, and I will end this farce!”
No one knows if Xu Ling heard Brandon Wright’s panting, because he had only opened his own Twitter a few days earlier.
But he didn’t post a tweet.
Fans’ private messages flooded into his account like snowflakes.
On the day of the game, Xu Ling posted his first tweet. Everyone thought it was a response to Wright, but it turned out to be a clarification message: “Someone has been impersonating my Twitter account to scam money these past few days. Please retweet this tweet—this is my only account, and I will never ask fans for money online!”
This seemed a bit like a cold joke.
Tar Heels fans mocked under the tweet: “Eli Xu is a coward, he doesn’t dare respond to Brandon at all!”
Xu Ling retweeted this reply and then ignored it.
That afternoon, Texas Tech University and the University of North Carolina gathered at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
Moreover, quite a few heavyweights showed up on site.
Jordan, who has become a minor owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, wore a North Carolina blue T-shirt and came to the scene in person to cheer for his alma mater.
Almost all NBA teams preparing for the Lottery Draft sent high executives, and some like the SuperSonics, who place extreme importance on this draft, even had their general manager attend in person.
“Tonight’s game is undoubtedly the most attention-grabbing of the four matchups!” ESPN commentator Dan Shulman said. “North Carolina is the stronger team, but TTU has more supporters!”
His regular partner Dick Vitale talked about the off-court gossip: “The rivalry between Brandon Wright and Eli Xu is absolutely worth watching. Think about how dissatisfied Brandon is with Eli’s position—maybe we can see a fully committed Brandon Wright tonight!”
Texas Tech University was the team that proactively changed their lineup.
Knight knew their inside would definitely get crushed. The inside duo of Daryl Dora and John Plevka had no chance against Brandon Wright and Tyler Hansbrough.
Their key to victory wasn’t inside, so he decided to take a big gamble.
Daryl Dora to the bench, Allen Aiscool starting, John Plevka starting at the five.
This meant TTU effectively ran a four-guard lineup. This lineup’s defense could only rely on zone defense and Xu Ling’s energy, while on offense, everyone on the court could space the floor with three-pointers.
Before the game started, Knight called Xu Ling over. This freshman was the reason he dared to run this lineup.
“You have a lot of responsibilities tonight. Besides crushing that mongrel dog, you also have to help others on defense. Even if you accomplish these two tasks, we still need you to make an impact on offense.”
Xu Ling teasingly asked: “Could college-era Jordan do it?”
“He didn’t need to.” Knight chuckled self-mockingly. “His teammates back then were much better than yours.”
“If I screw up, can that be my excuse for failure?”
“No.” Knight said, “You keep talking about winning the national championship, so go win it for me. Don’t think about finding excuses for failure! Excuses are for losers to jerk off with!”
And just like that, Xu Ling had no excuse for failure.
Knight domineeringly put shackles on him.
But he didn’t mind, because North Carolina was indeed a team he absolutely didn’t want to lose to no matter what.
Both teams’ starting players took the court.
TTU’s four-guard lineup caused an uproar in the arena.
“I never thought Coach Knight would become Mike D’Antoni’s soulmate.” Vitale joked from the commentary booth.
On the court, North Carolina’s starters quickly proved they shared the same temperament as Wright.
Hansbrough had a primal wild aura. When he came to midcourt for the tip-off, he glanced contemptuously at the TTU players: “Brandon is right, you shorties only got here because you’re too lucky!”
The tip-off was naturally no suspense.
Hansbrough won possession for North Carolina. Ty Lawson pushed forward quickly, and upon reaching the frontcourt, he immediately passed to Wright.
Brandon Wright started running. Approaching seven feet tall yet flexible and nimble like a deer, with long arms and legs, he was clearly the type with an extremely high ceiling.
Lawson’s pass was extremely clever. When Wright received the ball, there was open space in front of him. He planted his feet and leaped for a slam dunk, but Xu Ling jumped out from the side, his right hand quickly swatting the ball, viciously destroying the opponent’s dunk.
Wright landed unsteadily and fell down.
The referee naturally wouldn’t miss this obvious foul. Whistle blew, Wright to the free throw line.
“I’ll see how many fouls you have!”
Wright glared viciously at Xu Ling.
Xu Ling said nonchalantly: “Don’t worry, I have no intention of wasting more fouls on you.”
Wright’s free throws were unsteady: one made, one missed. Xu Ling leaped for the defensive rebound and immediately passed to Martin Zeno.
The Tar Heels were already back in position.
Because TTU ran a small lineup, Wright had to switch to the outside to guard Xu Ling.
Then, Xu Ling started moving. The space created by five perimeter players made it effortless for him to get open.
Wright’s defensive reads and positioning were awful. The instant Xu Ling received the ball, his defense didn’t follow.
Xu Ling glanced at the out-of-position Wright and shot a jump shot from right there, hitting it clean.
“What else can you do besides these tricks?” Wright shouted.
But Xu Ling ignored him.
Back in the backcourt, TTU’s zone defense fully formed.
In the NCAA’s short three-point line and no defensive three-second rule system, zone defense’s pressure on space is devastating.
Even with North Carolina’s huge inside advantage, they couldn’t easily get opportunities at the basket.
They tried to open up from the outside, but Wayne Ellington was tightly stuck by Aiscool. Lawson was in a dilemma: driving in directly was pointless with too many people, shooting from outside? No matter the situation, forcing isolation shots from outside is the last resort.
Lawson raised his hand calling for Wright’s pick and roll.
But even after the pick and roll, Lawson just changed positions; there were still too many people inside the three-point line.
So Wright received the pass back, while Xu Ling completely ignored his long mid-range shot.
Wright angrily jumped for the shot.
“Bang!”
Plevka grabbed the rebound and immediately found Xu Ling.
Something counterintuitive to North Carolina fans happened on the court.
The Tar Heels, who should have been using their talent for fast breaks, instead fell into the opponent’s fast break rhythm.
Xu Ling pushed with the ball. Wright chased desperately, but beyond the frontcourt three-point line, Xu Ling’s hesitation pull-up shook him open by several meters. The extremely clumsy-looking Wright drew mockery from the entire arena crowd.
Xu Ling regained his rhythm in the pull-up, gathered, rose, and shot a pull-up three-pointer from the top of the arc.
“Swish!!!”
“Eli is still that Eli!” Dan Shulman teased. “Brandon, however, is completely not the Brandon he imagines himself to be.”
Commentators’ jokes generally don’t affect players’ mindsets because they can hardly hear the booth. What truly strikes the soul is often trash talk from opponents.
Wright slammed the ball to the ground hard, but he heard Xu Ling’s voice from not far away: “Besides doing some tricks, I seem especially good at creating space for you. It’s just that you can’t even handle open shots.”
It was hard for Wright not to get angry and want to respond, but any response in the face of reality is powerless, especially since the guy was already gone.
On the court, you ultimately have to let your play do the talking.
