After the team finished assembling and packing up, Roy and his teammates rushed to the venue for the next round of games. The address was Denver, which was over 900 kilometers away from Phoenix. The host university for the next round was the University of Colorado. And USC's next opponent was Stanford University, which had emerged as a strong contender this year.
This year, Stanford University had an impressive record, with 17 wins and only 1 loss in the regular season division. Some people were beginning to think that USC might be almost done this time. Roy was numb to hearing this. There were more bad-mouthings every year, especially this year. After the baptism of the last round, his teammates had calmed down instead. In their new cognition, no matter how powerful the enemy was, it was useless. You would know whether it was awesome or not after the game.
Besides, Stanford had never been a famous basketball school, and being good at studying did not mean you could play well. In early spring, the air in Denver was chilly. Unlike the warm desert climate in Phoenix, Denver had a typical plateau climate. The coach was worried that the players would not be used to the plateau when they suddenly arrived. However, seeing everyone talking and laughing, they were all athletes. The 1,600-meter altitude in Denver had little effect on these people.
What Roy and his teammates were looking forward to was that the venue used for this round of games was the Pepsi Center, the home of the Denver Nuggets. This was the first time in his life that he would play on an NBA court, so he could just experience the atmosphere in advance. McInnis, who had forgotten the pain after his wound healed, was showing off in the airport again, chatting up every girl he liked. Unfortunately, apart from being tall and strong, he looked too ordinary. Although he was not ugly, he was not handsome at all. He looked like an ordinary passerby. He was also a poor student. He was often met with cold eyes when he chatted up along the way. He was rejected by almost all women, but he still enjoyed it.
I dare not say anything else, but at least when it comes to picking up girls, Roy felt that he had a strong heart. The group took the bus arranged by the University of Colorado to the camp arranged by the university. Just after tidying up the room, there was a knock on Roy's door. He thought McGinnis was looking for an excuse to go out again and directly refused: "Chuck, forget it. I won't take you out this time." "Roy, I'm Christopher." It turned out to be a mistake. Roy opened the door and laughed at the short and fat white scout standing at the door. He still had some good feelings for this scout who had followed him for more than half a month. The scout's eyes were vicious. When chatting with him, he would always bring up details and suggestions for improvement that Roy had never felt, so that Roy could make targeted improvements during training.
In his draft plan, he might be able to use him in the future. The two chatted for a while at the door, and Roy motioned him to come in and sit for a while. Dom told Roy the purpose of coming to see him, and he wanted to treat him to a meal. Roy then realized that he was a scout for the Nuggets, and he agreed to Dom's request. He drove to a special local Mexican restaurant to have a meal. In fact, Dom's main purpose this time was to talk about Lloyd's next plan. As Roy led the team step by step, the draft market naturally rose, and the number of scouts appearing on the sidelines increased day by day.
It was rumored that some teams were considering selecting him at the end of the first round. Dom was afraid that the duck in his hand would fly away, so he had this meeting, and at the same time hinted that the Nuggets were very interested in Roy. He wanted to hear Roy's opinion, but Roy's current energy was to prepare for the remaining NCAA games, and he had no time to consider these for the time being. He could only euphemistically express that he was still focusing on his college grades, and the rest could be thought about after the game was over.
Currently, the Nuggets were ranked in the top eight in the Western Conference. According to Roy's memory, the Nuggets entered the playoffs this year. Although they were eliminated in the first round, entering the playoffs meant that the Nuggets' draft pick would not be too high, which was why Roy was not interested. In Roy's mind, at least a team with a high draft pick would agree to use a lottery pick to select him before he would consider trying out and participating in the draft. Otherwise, the low draft pick was basically a waste of his double talent.
As the elimination rounds advanced one after another, Roy firmly believed that as long as he continued to win, his draft prospects and ranking would naturally rise sharply. After a simple meal, Roy followed the team to the Pepsi Center for training.
The strongest player at Stanford University was the stickman, Josh Childress, who later played for the Hawks. This kid had a perfect small forward height of 2.03 meters, long limbs, excellent athletic ability, good talent, and creativity. In addition to his afro, his characteristics were also talked about his shooting action. The left hand was purely for show, right-handed shooting was the norm, which had led to his shooting accuracy not being particularly stable, especially when he was disturbed.
He could not keep the arc stable without the assistance of his left hand when shooting. And his body was too thin to cope with NBA-level confrontation, and he often became a breakthrough. This was also the direct reason why he was finally abandoned by the NBA and later moved to Europe. Stanford University had no strong inside players, all of whom were players under 2.06 meters tall. Except for Josh Childress, there was basically no threat in the team. This team focused on average, and they were all good in ability. There were many players playing, and most teams couldn't stand the impact of turns.
The result of the game also confirmed Roy's opinion. Childress's personal show in the first half, his shooting range was too long, and his footwork was flexible. McGinnis had no good way to deal with him. The whole Stanford team worked together and led USC by 8 points at the end of the first half.
At halftime, various media began to become active. The most unusual thing was the on-site commentator of the game, Jon Smith: "USC is finished, there is no power to fight back. I am optimistic that Stanford will open up the score in the second half!" He graduated from Syracuse University and has always been a die-hard fan of his alma mater. Regarding USC's elimination of Syracuse University in the last round, he had been brooding over it for the past two days and had not slept well.
Now that Stanford was leading, his emotions had undoubtedly found an outlet. "I said that USC is basically mediocre. It's just luck that it can get to this point. It's a pity that Syracuse University didn't play well in the last game, otherwise it wouldn't be USC's turn to stand here!" Halbrus, the official commentator of the Nuggets, who was also commentating with his partner, felt disgusted with his partner's obvious crooked buttocks. But he was powerless to refute it. Whatever the lagging party said was wrong.
In the VIP room of the basketball court, Dom watched the first half with Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik
and the Nuggets manager. The halftime lag was obviously beyond Christopher Dom's expectations. Roy's data was also ordinary, 10 points and 7 rebounds, not bad, but definitely not good. Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik was very calm. He has never been optimistic about Asian players, especially when the other party is Chinese. The Nuggets general manager patted Dom on the shoulder and left the room with the coach without saying a word.
It seems that he didn't say anything, but everything is unspoken. In their opinion, the inspection is over. The young man on the field is mediocre except for being handsome. The NBA is not Hollywood. Handsomeness cannot make a living, only strength can. Embarrassed Dom tried his best to explain, but he was unable to stop the two team executives from leaving the room.
Finally, he sat alone in the room and said to the court: "I tried my best. Maybe this is not fate." The second half started on time. At Roy's suggestion, McGinnis increased the confrontation with Childress, using tough physical contact and defense to force his shooting to become unstable.
After several rounds of consumption, Childress's hit rate really dropped a lot. Roy used singles and arc-top support to close the score little by little. When Roy suddenly held the ball outside the three-point line on the offensive end, some commentators on the court couldn't stand it. "Does this Roy really think of himself as a superstar? Holding the ball outside the three-point line, is this a joke?" Jon Smith, who was opening champagne in the first half of the commentary booth, was so angry that Stanford University only had a pitiful 2-point lead.
Not long after the second half, he was slapped in the face by USC, and the split was approaching quickly. Another commentator, Halbrus, was still patiently explaining, "Jon, you may not know that three-pointers are Roy's shooting range. I checked his three-point shooting percentage. His average shooting percentage is as high as 40%, which can be ranked in the top 50 among all NCAA players."
Jon Smith said disdainfully: "It's just a lucky shot. He shouldn't shoot three-pointers with his height. You see, he dared to shoot half a step outside the three-point line. His style of play is too unique and unreasonable!" "Fuck, it went in. Although it went in, it's even more unreasonable!" Joe Smith was still stubborn.
Roy, who was focused on the court, didn't hear Jon Smith's commentary, otherwise he would definitely think that this person must have a lot in common with teacher Zhang Heli. After Roy hit this three-pointer, USC took advantage of the situation to overtake the score.
In the subsequent games, the score was gradually pulled apart. Although Childress, who played well in the first half, tried his best to save the team, In the second half, USC's targeted defense and his own physical decline were really powerless to turn the tide.
95 to 88 Stanford University once again helped Syracuse UniversityThe school clarified one thing, It's not that I didn't work hard, but the enemy had Gundam. Roy, who didn't sweat much throughout the game, continued to play superbly: 30 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 7 blocks.
In the last few minutes of the game commentary, Jon Smith was basically silent. It's not that he didn't want to talk, but his face was too painful. Halbrus praised Roy: "Today I saw a rising star. At least so far, I haven't found anyone better than him."