I’m Really Playing Basketball

Chapter 27 Five Stars, Five Stars, Five Stars!

"Sledding, Empty Road, Aurora, Alaska, here we come!"

"Aurora, Aurora, Aurora!"

This Alaska Challenge is a big deal for the team's first-year players.

But these first-year players on the team are mostly eighteen or nineteen-year-old players.

No tension, no pressure, can compare to the excitement of coming to a new city.

And it's such a special new city.

Not to mention these excited Americans, Chen Xiao, a Chinese, was actually more excited than them.

Alaska is a very distant and unfamiliar name to Chen Xiao.

In his life, he never thought that there would be an intersection with this name.

Because here is really too far away.

But this time, because I came here to play games with the team, I have the opportunity to check in at this famous tourist destination in the world.

"Is this Alaska?"

"To be precise, this is Fairbanks, Alaska, the famous aurora capital of the world. This time our game is at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the time of the game is just right to see the aurora. No, have you seen it? The front of the lake across the school is the best place to observe the aurora. In October, Alaska enters winter. If we go there after 10 o'clock in the evening, there is a 90% probability that we can see it A big explosion of the aurora."

"Excellent, amazing!"

Seeing how Ron Howard loved this place so much and talked about it, Chen Xiao and Wade, the two guys who exude the sour smell of poverty, were already full of envy at this moment.

Even Dina, who can be regarded as a middle-class American family, is shining with the light that this is the boss.

"Ahem, I used to come here a few times a year with my family, and I'm a little familiar with this place."

Ron Howard said with a smile.

Young man, don't you call this a little familiar, you came prepared!

Chen Ling remembered the pile of various camera lenses in Brother Luo's backpack when he set off.

Traveling to Alaska is actually not cheap even for Americans.

Alaska is an enclave of the United States, not in the mainland, but also in the extremely cold Arctic Circle.

Being so familiar with this place is like entering your own back garden...

Amid Ron Howard's temperamental laughter, Chen Xiao, Wade and Dina, who came out with them this time, felt the magic of money...

According to Ron Howard, when Alaska arrives in October and enters winter, there will be a lot of tourists here.

Rich people all over the world, as long as they have time, will choose to bring their families here to see the aurora at this time.

Jiguang, to the poor like Chen Xiao and Wade, is just a picture in the textbook.

But for these wealthy people, it is a landscape within reach of their back garden.

"It's nice to have money."

Chen Xiao thought silently in her heart, hoping that one day, she could, like Ron Howard, turn the strange things in the world into ordinary superpowers.

If you have money, you can treat the whole world as your own back garden!

The hotel where Chen Xiao and Marquette University stayed in Alaska this time is next to the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Now is the peak season for tourism in Fairbanks, and this time the Alaska Challenge has gathered 32 NCAA teams, and the entire University of Alaska campus is extraordinarily lively.

Before coming to Alaska, Chen Xiao always felt that this place might be a small village suitable for tourism compared to Milwaukee.

After coming here, Chen Xiao discovered that this place is actually a modern city.

Although the Alaska Fairbanks campus is located in a lush forest, there are white tiles and snow-colored domes everywhere. Chen Xiao can't see any wooden buildings at a glance.

This is completely different from Chen Xiao's fantasy of the cabin in the woods in the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

With the aurora here, it is indeed a place like a fairy tale.

However, here is a modern fairy tale city.

Chen Xiao, Wade and Diana all wanted to see the aurora.

But it is daytime now, and the aurora is temporarily absent.

Finally, Chen Xiao, Wade and Dina, under the leadership of Ron Howard, the 'tour guide', started to visit the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Usually Chen Xiao, Wade and Ron Howard have the best relationship, and they often go in and out together.

Sometimes, though, Dina would come along.

Before Chen Xiao and Ron Howard didn't know that Dina was recruited by Wade.

Therefore, the relationship between Dina and Wade is actually good.

Before, he and Howard always thought that Diana came because the head coach promised the position of the boss of Marquette University.

The campus of Marquette University Fairbanks is not very big, much smaller than the campus of Marquette University.

Although the air here is unusually fresh, the sky is also clearer.

But for Wade and Dina, who were born in the Northland of the United States, the scenery of Fairbanks during the day is not so unusual.

Chen Xiao had a great time shopping around.

But Wade and Dina obviously felt that they were not so impatient.

"I thought there were sleds here."

"The school is not allowed to play sledding now. If you want to play sledding, you need to climb over that mountain. There is a special field there, but the coach does not allow us to leave the school too far."

Well, Alaska is also the United States. It is not so safe to go out privately.

Especially now that the University of Alaska Fairbanks has suddenly poured in so many people who come here to play games.

Now Fairbanks is very lively, but it is also a mixed bag.

So, after the freshness of coming to the new city passed, Chen Xiao and the others returned to basketball itself.

Especially this Alaska Challenge.

In this Alaska Challenge, Marquette University is the eighth seed. Among the 32 invited teams, the strength is relatively high.

However, compared to teams like the No. 1 seed University of Kentucky and the No. 2 seed Michigan State University, there seems to be a big gap in strength.

It is basically impossible to beat the University of Kentucky or Michigan State University to win the championship.

Therefore, the task of the team coming here this time is to inspect the newcomers, train the newcomers by the way, and prepare for the official NCAA competition that will start in half a month.

Of course, this is the coach's arrangement.

For Chen Xiao and the young players under investigation, that was not the case.

Young people, who doesn't have a heart against the sky?

If you win the championship and MVP in this Alaska Challenge, not only can you establish the position of the team, but you can also be famous in the United States, which is also very important for future participation in the NBA draft.

The NBA draft is so fierce, and the focus of the media is on Duke of North Carolina, Jay Williams and other star players of star teams. If you don't want to be unknown, you have to work hard to challenge.

"According to the ranking of our seeds by the conference, we still have hope to enter the semi-finals in this competition. As long as we enter the semi-finals, we can attack the MVP!"

"Although the University of Kentucky and Michigan State University have a lot of powerful stars, it is also true that their team's player statistics will not be too good."

"Although the championship is more powerful, the MVP is not so strong, and the team with not so many stars is beneficial."

Listening to Wade, Ron Howard, and Dina talking about the MVP of this game, Chen Xiao was quite envious.

Things like MVP have nothing to do with him.

He hasn't even finished his basketball enlightenment yet.

It belongs to the kind of beginners who stand on the court, can't defend, can't attack, can't shoot, and even the position of the court is messed up.

Well, what's it like to throw a twelve or thirteen-year-old kid into an NCAA game, that's what he's in now.

Of course, what makes him stronger than twelve or thirteen-year-old children is that he has an old body. It is impossible for others to bully him like a child.

It can be said that he has no way to appear on the court for a long time now, otherwise he will be a loophole on both ends of the offense and defense.

Chen Xiao's expectation for this game is not some MVP, but hope that there will be one or two shining moments, so that the head coach can see his potential, so that he can stay in the team's official player lineup.

Now Chen Xiao's plan for himself has not changed.

Build the foundation in one year, start in the second year, and shine in the third year. It depends on whether the time is to enter the NBA immediately or wait for the senior year to graduate.

Therefore, Chen Xiao could only envy the MVP expectations of the three 'big bosses' around him.

"I hope that by this time next year or the year after next, I can also talk about the MVP!"

Chen Xiao waited silently in her heart.

"Huh? Why are there so many people around there?"

"Are those people participating in the Alaska Challenge?"

Chen Xiao followed Ron Howard, and Wade and Diana followed curiously.

I found an open-air basketball court here, where two teams are playing a 3-on-3 match.

"They actually compete here..."

After Chen Xiao and Wade squeezed to the front, the competition on the court has reached a fever pitch.

"Who is that person?"

"Xiaotai, do you know him?"

"Cedric Banks, the most talented linebacker of our class in Chicago, No. 19 in high school in the country, should be at the University of Illinois at Chicago right now."

Ranked 19th among high school students in the United States? !

Five-star high school student? !

Chen Xiao was stunned.

Seriously, it was the first time he saw a live five-star high school student so closely!

You know, Diana is only 40th in the United States, and he is already the first talent in Milwaukee and Wisconsin!

The top 20 in the United States, a five-star genius, how strong should a genius be?

And when Chen Xiao was about to admire how this genius shone on the court, but he just watched for a while before frowning.

If I'm not mistaken, this 19th-ranked five-star talent in the United States is being beaten with his team?

Am I right?

Chen Xiao looked at Wade next to him uncertainly, wanting to find some answers.

But at this time, he found that no matter whether it was Wade, Ron Howard or Dina, they all looked at the three players of the opposing team excitedly.

"Xiaotai, who are they?"

"University of Kentucky!"

University of Kentucky? !

The No. 1 seed for this tournament? !

"The lanky guy standing under the basket is called Tayshaun Prince, the 12th-ranked player in the United States in the 1998 class."

Another five-star player? !

"The one on the left is Rashard Carus, the star player of Oak Hill College, the 20th ranked player in the United States in the 2001 class."

And a five-star? A team actually has two five-stars? !

"The defender standing outside..."

Wade paused, then looked at Ron Howard next to him.

"The guard standing on the outside is Keith Bogans, the second-best player in the United States in the 2000 class."

After Ron Howard finished speaking in a calm and deep voice, Chen Xiao felt his head explode.