Chapter 6: Looks Like We Gave Too Much
The muscles on Knight’s face suddenly froze, like Michael Corleone in The Godfather《》—when he learned his wife had an abortion on purpose rather than a miscarriage, his expression also solidified instantly. The corner of his mouth twitched nervously twice, all his anger compressed into icy stillness in an instant. His mouth twitched again, as if wanting to laugh, or like some more dangerous emotion struggling.
Then, he said slowly and extremely calmly:
“Get out.”
“Now, immediately, get out of my training hall!”
Xu Ling stood still, but assistant coach Pat Knight had already walked over quickly, placing a hand on his shoulder and saying softly: “Let’s go, don’t make things worse.”
“Did I make things like this?” Xu Ling asked loudly, as if afraid Knight wouldn’t hear.
Then, he was dragged away by Little Knight.
All the way outside the gymnasium.
“Have I been fired?” Xu Ling asked. “What now?”
Little Knight sighed with lingering fear: “No, you haven’t been fired. Coach just wants you to leave; he doesn’t mean to fire you.”
“So I can still participate in the regional championship?” Xu Ling wanted to confirm.
“That’s right.”
“What about Allen then?” Xu Ling pressed. “Has he been fired?”
“Listen, Eli.” Little Knight lowered his voice. “In the past forty years, the number of people my father has kicked out of the training hall is countless. Almost every player who’s played under him has gone through this—kicked out today for poor performance, back tomorrow like nothing happened. Indiana’s veterans summed up an iron rule: when the coach yells at you, best to let it go in one ear and out the other. Things said and done in anger are often beyond even his control.”
Xu Ling stared at Little Knight’s face; he was serious.
During this time, he had looked up a lot of information on Bob Knight. As far as he knew, Little Knight was Old Knight’s proudest son, who played for his father in the 90s. His most “famous” incident during that time was being caught on camera getting kicked by his father on the sidelines during a game.
As a son, he had experienced everything Knight’s players had to go through.
But Xu Ling still couldn’t accept such reasoning.
What does “beyond even his control” mean? If someone who’s coached for over forty years lacks self-control, he really should retire.
A tyrant like this madman should have been swept into the dustbin of history along with his old era, right?
The next day, Xu Ling attended team training as usual.
Allen Worskul showed up too.
Bob Knight seemed to have forgotten yesterday’s incident and announced before training started that today’s task was just warm-up; the team would head to the home court in the afternoon for a game against Sam Houston State University from the Southland Conference（Southland Conference）.
Though this wasn’t the Big 12 league championship, it still counted toward regular season win-loss stats. Meaning, this game’s stats and outcome would go into the players’ data and the coach’s resume.
Knight then announced the 12-man roster for tonight.
Xu Ling was on it.
“Tonight’s opponents aren’t strong.” Knight highlighted a few points. “We’re playing at home, so this is a ‘buyout game’（Buyout Games）⑴. I want not just victory, but a beautiful victory. If you mess up the game, you’ll be in big trouble!”
Then, the lineup disbanded, and players began training individually.
Knight called Worskul over, spoke softly to him. Worskul nodded repeatedly. Finally, Knight patted his head like a loving father.
“What did the coach say?” Xu Ling asked when Worskul came over.
“He said ‘Allen, I hate losing my temper at you like yesterday, I really hate it.'” Worskul imitated vividly. “He also said ‘It’s because sometimes I feel like I want you to be a great player more than you do. It breaks my heart. Because you’ll never be a great player unless you want it yourself. You have the ability. But I can coach you from now until the end of the world, direct you, scold you, but you won’t improve unless you want it like I do. Yesterday, I knew you didn’t want it like I do. Somehow, I have to convince you to feel that way. I don’t know if it’s the right way, but it’s my way.'”
Xu Ling listened to this thick bowl of chicken soup mixed with “for your own good” and self-indulgent emotion, sneering inwardly.
This process looked familiar: ultimate humiliation to destroy your confidence, then personally recast a “belief” dependent on him. No different from Pan Hong training dogs.
Xu Ling wanted to believe Knight regretted yesterday’s behavior even a little, but he knew this was probably a necessary step in the PUA process—the candy after the slap. Show a bit of “fatherly love,” and the beaten one feels grateful, even self-reflects.
“You seem to have accepted his words?” Xu Ling asked teasingly.
“That’s Bob Knight!” Worskul said excitedly. “He said I can be a great player!”
Xu Ling looked at Worskul’s excited look of being sold and counting the money for the seller, unsure whether to call it late-stage Stockholm syndrome or just his own low awareness.
At four in the afternoon, Texas Tech University men’s basketball Red Raiders team took the bus to the home court United Spirit Arena（United Spirit Arena）.
Their opponents, Sam Houston State University Brown Bears team, had already arrived.
The opponents looked full of energy; as a team from a weak conference, they got paid to play here, the result didn’t affect league championship rankings, money to earn, chance to face a strong team, no bad impact—where else to find such a good deal?
In contrast, for a Power 5 school like TTU, losing the game would be a big blow.
“The barefoot aren’t afraid of the shod”—that’s the Brown Bears now.
Though TTU was stronger and at home, an upset wasn’t impossible.
The team’s absolute core Julius Jackson was cramming homework and hadn’t met academic requirements, so he couldn’t play.
And TTU had the worst record of the Knight era last season, spun like a top in the Big 12 league, and after the season, freshmen couldn’t stand Knight’s coaching and there was an ugly transfer wave.
In the new season’s first game, their strongest player was out, veterans had no potential left, seven freshmen but none in the top 100 national high school recruits.
No matter how you look, they seemed headed for continued decline.
Xu Ling chose his previous life’s number—1.
However, TTU’s No. 1 wasn’t in the starting lineup.
Knight clearly didn’t trust freshmen strength, starting sophomores and juniors directly.
This lineup seemed safest, but the effect wasn’t good.
Because they were used to playing around Julius Jackson; with the captain out, the pressure shifted to others. Martin Zeno, who thought he’d succeed Jackson, performed poorly under the coaching staff’s death stare.
Their opponents had no mental burden; Sam Houston State University captain Ryan Bright（Ryan Bright SF） drove and shot, scoring 9 points, leading a 14-7 start.
Knight actively commanded on the court, even over-commanding a bit.
He had almost every TTU starter try guarding Bright to see who worked best, but it backfired, letting the opponent get hotter.
“Eli!”
Knight roared the No. 1’s name loudly.
Xu Ling got up quickly and ran to Knight.
“Guard that damn No. 23 tight!” Knight said loudly. “Don’t let him shoot; he’s hot right now!”
In no time, Xu Ling entered, replacing Martin Zeno who’d messed up the game rhythm.
Bears captain Bright looked like a typical redneck white guy, pure bloodline; his fair skin with overexertion-reddened neck and cheeks was striking.
“You paid tens of thousands of dollars to have us play, just to embarrass yourselves at home?”
Bright taunted.
Xu Ling didn’t respond, just ran to the frontcourt, received the ball from a teammate, finger to the corner.
His gesture misled the opponents’ judgment; as the Bears’ defense shifted, he passed straight to Daryl Dora under the basket.
Dora spun and laid it in, scoring easily.
Xu Ling looked back at Bright and said flatly: “Coach thinks you need some confidence to finish the game; looks like we gave too much.”
“What did you say?!!!”
Bright’s redneck looked even redder.
No doubt, even in Power 5, Bright was an excellent player.
He had 196 cm height, strong enough, well-rounded technique, a ‘no glaring weaknesses’ talent in Division I—but his talent, like rotten base code, capped his ceiling.
Xu Ling’s defense had flaws, but he deliberately showed openings, then used super long wingspan to disrupt offense rhythm.
Just as Bright thought his off-ball movement had a good spot for the pass, Xu Ling burst at full speed, closing the gap instantly and reaching to deflect the pass.
“Great anticipation!” Little Knight almost jumped up watching.
Xu Ling chased the loose ball, launched a fast break; Bright clung tight but was shaken off with a hesitation in the frontcourt.
Bright’s eyes widened; Xu Ling stopped two meters beyond the three-point line, rose up.
“Illogical fast break super long three!”
The arena commentator roared.
“It goes in!”
“Eli Xu, freshman from TTU!”
Cheers from United Spirit Arena surged like tides onto the court. Fans who’d never seen Xu Ling play were now cheering wildly for him.
But Xu Ling ignored the off-court noise.
Long-missed electricity surged through his veins.
Xu Ling happily ran on the court; soon, another steal.
Multiple Bears tried to trap his fast break, but could only watch him pass to an open teammate for an easy break.
In just two minutes, 14-14, the lead was tied.
Bright bent over panting hard, not from fatigue but shock. Where did this TTU No. 1 come from?
Bears called timeout.
Bright was heading off but brushed past Xu Ling face-to-face.
“Your pass earlier was good—I mean the one to me.”
Xu Ling said.
⑴Buyout games（buyout games, or guarantee games） are a common NCAA scheduling arrangement where Power 5 schools pay lower-level conference schools a fee to play at home, usually to secure early-season wins and boost team confidence.
⑵Power 5 schools refer to US NCAA Division I schools in the five top-tier, most influential athletic conferences.
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