…

Austin, Texas.

Lin Ying leaned against the wall and looked out the window, sitting on the bed in the dormitory to rest.

His current place is the University of Texas at Austin.

The University of Austin, also known as the University of Texas, is the most well-known school in the University of Texas system and one of the original eight institutions of the most prestigious "Public Ivy" in the United States.

The reason why he is here is not because of how good his studies are, but because he is 2.01 meters tall and has a wingspan of 2.20 meters. He is a member of the Horns basketball team of our school.

The number one sport in the United States is football, and school football is even more popular among the people.

However, in Texas, the influence of basketball is not inferior to that of football.

Because Texas has the "Big Three": the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs.

These three teams combined have multiple championships in hand, and they are perennially capable teams in the playoffs and even championships in the NBA.

As the capital of Texas, Austin does not have an NBA team, but the basketball atmosphere is equally strong.

The reason, is the Longhorns.

As the only NCAA Division I team in Texas, it is very popular locally.

"Ying, I knew you were here. Quick, let me show you something."

At this moment, the dormitory door was pushed open.

Lin Ying turned around when he heard the sound.

He has a handsome face and the temperament of a migrant worker.

It was his roommate who came in, or more accurately his high school teammate Kevin Durant.

The two were teammates at Christian College for one year and then attended the University of Texas together.

Today is their first day at the University of Texas.

"What?"

Lin Ying looked confused.

Because he found that Durant turned around and locked the door after he finished speaking!

American university dormitories are basically contracted to outside companies for commercial operation. Except for a small number of schools that have bunk beds, most of them are two beds for two people in a dormitory with two sets of tables and chairs, similar to an express hotel.

The University of Texas is also in this configuration.

After Durant locked the door, he walked to Lin Ying and sat down, then opened his phone and put it in front of the two of them.

That is a website, and once you click on it, you will see some content that makes people secrete adrenaline rapidly.

Durant adjusted the volume on his phone and clicked on one of them.

"I found this today, the plot is great!"

Durant came over and lowered his voice and said.

In the mobile phone screen, a flight attendant still wearing professional attire was dragging her suitcase and twisting and walking on the road...

Lin Ying was speechless for a while.

In broad daylight, Durant came in with a mysterious look on his face and showed him this thing?

"Kevin, stop looking at this kind of stuff."

Lin Ying stared at the phone screen and said.

"I know, but this is really awesome, look at this figure."

As Durant spoke, he stretched out his hand to rub his nose, and then swallowed.

"stop looking."

"knew."

"I seriously don't look at it."

"Well, it's so big."

…

Half an hour later, both of them were already flushed and breathing rapidly.

"Bah!"

Just then there was a knock on the door, and Durant was so frightened that he almost dropped the phone in his hand.

He quickly hid his cell phone under Lin Ying's quilt, moved his crotch, took a deep breath, and then stood up to open the door.

"Kevin, Coach Springman asked you to come over."

The knock on the door was their teammate and freshman guard DJ Augustin.

The two chatted for a while, then Durant turned around and said hello to Lin Ying, then closed the door and left.

…

Half an hour later, Durant returned to the dormitory and found that the dormitory door was locked.

He knocked on the door for a while, and Lin Ying opened the door with a flushed face.

"Why did you lock the door again?"

Durant looked confused.

"I just slept for a while."

Lin Ying explained casually and handed the phone to Durant.

"Don't look at it anymore."

When Durant came in and closed the door, he warned again.

Durant nodded and realized that he didn't take his phone with him.

And why does this phone feel...a little wet?

"What's wrong with my cell phone..."

"What did Coach Springman say?"

Lin Ying asked first.

"Oh, I almost forgot! He told us to prepare ourselves. In the first training session, we will have a full-court confrontation with the seniors."

Durant put the phone back in his pocket, patted his head and said.

Lin Ying nodded after listening. It seemed that the coaching staff was preparing to give the new students a kick.

"This is Coach Barnes' arrangement. Ross gave me some ventilation in advance."

Durant continued.

The NCAA, like the NBA, has a full coaching staff.

For the Longhorns, the head coach is Rick Barnes, the assistant coach is Ross Springman, and in addition there is strength and conditioning coach McGee Wright.

Durant was already the third-best high school student in the country before coming to the University of Texas. It took Springman more than two years to recruit him.

So in terms of relationship, Springman and Durant are very close.

"We must win this game!"

Durant talked to himself and said firmly.

Although the University of Texas is not as famous as Duke and North Carolina, it has produced many NBA players in history.

The latest is the Texas trio that graduated just last year: Daniel Gibson, P.J. Tucker and LaMarcus Aldridge.

Last year they led the team to the NCAA Elite Eight, and all three of them entered the NBA.

But this is where Durant's confidence lies.

Although they are all newcomers, the three core members of the team have left the team now, so their chances of winning are very high.

Especially since he and Lin Ying have been teammates together since their senior year of high school, and they have a perfect understanding.

Lin Ying nodded, this was an excellent opportunity for them to show their ability and gain the coach's trust.

But he didn't say anything further.

He has a very withdrawn personality, so he can be more relaxed when he is with Durant.

There was no class this afternoon, so they changed their equipment and got ready to go to the gym.

It was at this time that Lin Ying noticed that Durant took out the pair of long basketball socks from the 1970s.

When he was in high school, he noticed that Durant wore these socks in almost every game. Unexpectedly, he still wore them in college, and finally couldn't help but be curious:

"Why do you always wear this?"

But he didn't expect that he would ask Durant into silence.

Durant is an extrovert, and this silence is obviously a bit abnormal.

"This is the only gift Coach Craig gave me."

Durant's next words were a bit heavy.

After Lin Ying heard this, he stared at Durant for a while, his eyes suddenly filled with sadness.

Charles Craig, an unknown amateur basketball coach who died unexpectedly.

To others, it's a minor role that goes unnoticed in the past, present and future.

But for Durant, Craig is the most important person in his life.

Because he taught Durant the most basic basketball knowledge and led Durant to the path of basketball.

Even because Durant's father abandoned him and his mother when he was young, Craig can be regarded as his second father.

And this is also the reason why Lin Ying and Durant can become good friends.

Everything has to start from a year ago.

Because of their outstanding physical talents, Lin Ying and Durant are both members of the National Christian College high school team.

However, Lin Ying has a withdrawn personality, and the two of them had little interaction.

Until there was a team dinner, and Lin Ying was late because of something.

He rushed to the appointed place, thinking that everyone had left, but he didn't expect that everyone was still waiting for him.

Only later did he learn that Durant insisted on leaving until he arrived.

Is it because Durant has a strong preference for Lin Ying?

Not really.

The real reason is that Durant is a person with a very strong team perspective.

In this kind of collective activity of the team, he doesn't want to leave anyone behind.

A person with a withdrawn personality likes to isolate himself, rarely or even not communicating with others, and others rarely pay attention or care to him.

But if someone gives such a person a little love, it could mean the world to him.

After that incident, Lin Ying developed a very fond impression of Durant.

Then, came the biggest blow Durant suffered in high school.

Craig, his first coach and godfather, was accidentally killed while persuading others to have a dispute.

In addition, his performance on the court during that period was also very poor.

Under the double blow, he became extremely depressed and was even ready to give up basketball.

In his words at the time, as soon as he picked up the basketball, he would think of Craig and the fact that Craig was no longer around. His heart was wrenching and his grief was unbearable.

No one dared to talk to Durant during that period.

But Lin Ying took the initiative to find Durant, who he considered his only friend.

"Basketball is your only connection with Coach Craig. If you choose to give up, he and you will never interact again, and you will even forget him in the future."

This sentence directly breaks the defense.

Since then, Durant has never given up once and is determined to become the best basketball player he can be.

Because he knew Coach Greg was watching him from the sky, and the higher he stood, the clearer Craig could see.

"let's start."

Lin Ying also put on his equipment, stood up, walked over, patted Durant on the shoulder, and said.

…

The approximately 13-meter-high arena has two ball hoops on the front and rear courts, as well as several baskets hanging on the wall on one side, and some injury recovery equipment on the other side.

Compared with Christian College, the training hall at the University of Texas is much taller and more spacious, and the facilities are more complete.

But there's just something missing.

To be precise, it should be a bit short of honor.

Generally, NCAA training halls will have some honors from the school's history hanging on the walls.

Like Duke, North Carolina, and even UConn, the walls are covered with all kinds of honors, conference championships, championships, MOP, etc. A wall full of them looks very impressive.

But the walls at the University of Texas look somewhat clean.

The University of Texas has produced many NBA players, but so far only one is truly famous, and he is also the only retired jersey hanging on the wall of honor in the arena.

No. 11, TJ Ford.

Ford's achievements in the NBA are not very high in history, and most fans' impression of him still remains with Iverson's words, "He may be the only man in the league who is faster than me."

But he is a legend in the NCAA, especially at the University of Texas.

When he entered the University of Texas, Ford was diagnosed with "congenital spinal stenosis," a disease somewhat similar to Chris Bosh's thrombosis. A high-risk disease that may lead to paralysis or even death if exposed to a large external force.

.

This disease prevented him from participating in strenuous contact sports, but it did not stop Ford from playing basketball.

He still played for the University of Texas and averaged 8.7 assists per game in his freshman year, which ranked first in the country in the NCAA Division I at the time.

By the second year, his assists per game dropped to 7.7, second in the country, but he also became the team's leading scorer and steals leader.

These are not the most important things. The most important thing is that he led the University of Texas to reach the "Crazy Three" final four again after 56 years!

He is 1.8 meters tall, but has a passing vision comparable to "Magic" Johnson, and the same court judgment ability as "Larry Bird". Even with such injuries, he was still selected in the 2003 Platinum Generation Draft.

Selected with the 8th overall pick.

These are legends in the NCAA.

Before Barnes arrived, Springman was giving science education to the freshmen.

Springman is only in his early thirties, extremely young.

Perhaps precisely because of his youth, he easily gets along with the freshmen.

Springman said the same thing, and Barnes also came.

Barnes is 51 years old and in his prime as a coach.

However, a lot of a person's personality is related to his appearance, and his serious face shows that he is not an easy person to talk to.

"Ross, call someone over here."

Sure enough, the first words he said when he came in were cold.

When everyone was gathered together, Springman asked the team members to introduce themselves.

DJ Augustin, the freshman named Durant earlier, is a 1.83 meter point guard.

Damai James, a 2.03-meter forward, is also a freshman who came in with them.

Dexter Pittman is also a freshman, but he is a heavyweight, a 2.08-meter center, weighing 388 pounds... converted to 176 kilograms, which is heavier than O'Neal's peak weight.

Randy Williams, a point guard who is 1.90 meters tall and a junior, speaks in a gentle tone and seems to have a good temper.

AJ Abrams: Sophomore, 1.91 meter shooting guard, looks a bit silly and cute.

Chris Wendell: Junior, 2.08 meter center, looks as serious as Barnes.

…

The NCAA does not have a mandatory quota limit like the NBA, but it is usually only about 10 to 15 people.

In addition to the selected tridents, four players on the team graduated or transferred from last year, leaving only seven players on the roster.

So this time the team brought in 7 new players at once.

Just right, half and half.

After the team members introduced themselves, today's training content was announced.

Some basic training, including running back and forth, shooting, and finally a full-court confrontation between the senior players and the freshmen.

These are things Springman and Durant said before, and Lin Ying also knows.

But there are still some things they don't know.

"After the whole confrontation is over, I will choose one person from the winning team to be the captain."

Barnes' words caused a commotion among the team members.

The word captain is a key figure in any sport.

Especially in team sports, it is either the team with the strongest strength or the one with the highest mental attributes.

All in all, this thing has no real power, but it can build a lot of prestige for itself in the team.

Lin Ying didn't have much idea about this. His character was destined not to be suitable for this kind of role.

But Durant is eager to try.

Ever since he was persuaded by Lin Ying that time, his goal has been to become the number one player in basketball.

To do that, the first thing he has to do is lead a team to success.

The captain's words can bring him one step closer to this goal.

Of course, he is not the only one who has this idea. DJ Augustine on the freshman side was also a star player in his area in high school; Randy Williams on the junior side also

I want a chance to lead the team.

All in all, the emergence of this position will make the next match full of competition.

The basic training ended quickly, and then came the full-court confrontation. Barnes looked in the direction of Durant.

"He's improved a lot from two years ago."

Springman on the side replied.

Although neither named him directly, it was obvious that they were discussing Durant.

As the third-ranked high school student in the country, Durant should theoretically go to a wealthy team like Duke, North Carolina or Kentucky.

This is indeed the case. North Carolina was once very close to getting Durant.

But Durant is a very emotional person, and Springman established a very good relationship with him and his family two years ago.

When it came time to finally choose a school, he chose the latter between North Carolina and the University of Texas.

So this matchup seems to be a showdown for the freshmen, but in fact it is more because the coaching staff wants to see Durant's progress in the past two years.
Chapter completed!