The City Sports Meet

Zhongnam City had four high schools with very strong basketball teams: Zhenzhong, Hongyuan, Sanzhong, and Beimen.

Among them, Zhenzhong, Hongyuan, and Sanzhong were prestigious key high schools with top-tier teaching quality, extremely high college admission rates, and resounding reputations.

As for Beimen High School, its teaching quality was slightly inferior to the other three, ranking at best around tenth among the city's high schools.

But the basketball team of Beimen High School was very unique.

What was so unique about it?

Military-style management!

Their selection, training, and competition standards were entirely based on the model of the former Bayi Rockets team.

Talent was not their primary criterion.

The ability to endure military-style hard training was the number one criterion.

Where talent fell short, discipline made up for it.

Therefore, the strength of the Beimen team in recent years had always been well-maintained. Their floor was very high, and they made it to the top 16 of the tournament almost every year.

As for advancing beyond the top 16?

That depended on the bracket draw and tactical talent.

Beimen High School only needed to rely on the reputation of its basketball team to command respect.

When the Beimen team members stepped onto the court, they all exuded an iron-clad aura.

For such an aura to appear in a high school team was truly extraordinary.

Zhenzhong, Hongyuan, and Sanzhong were traditional powerhouses of school basketball, having long formed a healthy cycle of development.

These four high schools, in their most glorious year, had once reached the national top 8 together.

For half of the national top 8 to come from Zhongnam was a feat that had once shocked the entire country.

In addition to the title “City of Education”, Zhongnam had since earned the moniker “Hometown of Basketball”.

Zhenzhong's captain last year, Yi Li, was already able to play as a key reserve for the professional Guangdong Southern Tigers this year, receiving decent playing time.

It was believed that after a period of honing, as his game experience grew, making the national team roster would not be a pipe dream.

The first match of this year's tournament happened to be a fiery clash like Mars colliding with Earth between Zhenzhong and Hongyuan, which indeed surprised Xu Jie.

Lin Lei laughed heartily and said confidently, “Old Xu, I must say, you have truly done me a huge favor.”

“If it were in the past, when I first took over as head coach, I wouldn't have believed even if you killed me that this year's Zhenzhong team could achieve better results than last year.”

“Securing a spot in the top 16 and then trying to make the top 8 was already a distant hope for me.”

“But through this period of training and practice, do you know how much my confidence has grown?”

Saying this, Lin Lei laughed and raised four fingers, but in the end, left only one.

“Guaranteed top 4.”

“Contending for the championship!”

“Damn it, I never thought our Zhenzhong team would one day be strong enough to contend for the national championship!”

“But Lin Weirui and the others have truly given me too many surprises.”

“In my eyes, playing in the high school tournament is like child's play to them—it's really too simple!”

Xu Jie realized that Lin Lei was truly happy.

Xu Jie wasn't surprised at all by his heroic words.

Last year, with Yi Li and that generation of naturally talented players, Zhenzhong had ultimately reached the national semifinals.

In the quarterfinals, Zhenzhong had eliminated Hongyuan.

The national semifinals was already the best result in Zhenzhong's history.

But that was before.

This year, with Lin Weirui and the others, Xu Jie believed that Zhenzhong absolutely had the strength to sweep the tournament!

Xu Jie's nurturing of Lin Weirui was entirely based on NBA standards.

Strength, speed, awareness, technique, basketball IQ...

Lin Weirui already possessed natural talent, and what was more valuable was his ability to endure hard training. Combined with Xu Jie's highly scientific and reasonable development plan, if he didn't soar high, who would?

The domestic high school tournament?

Xu Jie's expectations for Lin Weirui had never been the domestic high school tournament, nor even the domestic professional league.

His expectation for Lin Weirui was to enter the NBA Draft!

For a player of this caliber, playing in a high school tournament was like taking a stroll, wasn't it?

“Brother Lei, practice makes perfect. Before achieving the final goal, their training cannot stop.”

Xu Jie said with a laugh.

Despise the enemy strategically, respect them tactically.

This was something Xu Jie repeatedly emphasized when teaching Lin Weirui, Su Xiaoran, and the other students.

Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit.

On the field of competition, until the very last second, anything could happen.

Being confident in the strength of Lin Weirui and the others was one thing, but they still had to play the matches one by one.

Lin Lei laughed and patted Xu Jie's shoulder. “Old Xu, do you even need to tell me that?”

“I have never slacked off on their training.”

“Not just me, but our entire coaching staff is holding our breath in anticipation.”

“Through Lin Weirui and the others, we have seen Zhenzhong's chance to claim the championship. How could we possibly slack off?”

“Are you kidding me!”

Xu Jie smiled and nodded. “By the way, Brother Lei, our regional tournament is still held at the Tianxing Basketball Arena, right?”

Tianxing Basketball Arena was a professional arena in the center of Zhongnam City, with a capacity of about eight thousand people.

Although it couldn't compare to the home courts of NBA teams, in the Dragon Nation, it was considered a relatively large basketball arena.

“Yeah, still the same place.”

Lin Lei nodded and said, “Old Xu, the first match is this weekend. Are you coming to watch?”

Xu Jie smiled. “The very first match is Zhenzhong versus Hongyuan. Of course I have to go watch.”

“This is a rematch of last year's quarterfinal.”

“The people at Hongyuan must be harboring thoughts of revenge, wanting to wash away their humiliation in this year's tournament and step over our Zhenzhong to advance, right?”

Thinking of this, Xu Jie already found it highly amusing.

In last year's tournament, Zhenzhong had Yi Li and those star players with distinct height advantages, crushing Hongyuan.

In this year's tournament, unlike Zhenzhong, Hongyuan's starting lineup remained intact, and they certainly wanted to settle the score on the court.

Unfortunately, they would never expect that this year's Zhenzhong team was even more terrifyingly strong than last year's!

Hearing Xu Jie say this, Lin Lei also laughed.

“Old Xu, what you said makes me look forward to next Sunday's match even more.”

“I can't wait to see the expressions on the Hongyuan players' faces when they face Lin Weirui and the others on the court.”

“Hahaha.”

After laughing for a moment, Lin Lei suddenly thought of something.

“Oh, right, Old Xu. Since you're free, go pay a visit to Teacher Wang.”

“The city sports meet is about to start. Your Class 9 originally had three sports-recruited students, but now, thanks to you, only one is left.”

“You should at least give Teacher Wang an explanation.”

Class 9 originally had three sports-recruited students.

Su Xiaoran, specialized in long jump, had quite good results previously, but was now playing football abroad.

Liu Peng, specialized in the 5000-meter run, had recently poured all his mind into studying, so while his academic grades improved, his 5000-meter performance dropped.

Only Zhou Dao was left, specialized in the 800-meter run, and his performance had improved significantly.

Xu Jie smiled and nodded. “Alright, I got it.”

“I will definitely give Teacher Wang a satisfactory explanation.”