Chapter 50 Spring Season
Saier's openness, Di Giulio's happiness, Mkerchian's loss, Gawain's fighting spirit, and the bustling celebrations and cheers all around, even though it was just the announcement of the main lineup, one could still feel the cruelty of competitive sports and the cohesion of team spirit.
Martin, I saw it all.
"And there is also..."
Martin raised his voice again and glanced at Gawain and Mkelchian, whose eyes were colliding with sparks. The latter had cheered up, and then he looked at Thompson again.
"Klay Thompson."
At this time, much later, the players realized that Thompson's name was not in the main lineup just announced by Martin.
Everyone took it for granted that Thompson was the undisputed number one singles player on the team and how could he be absent? Even if they didn't hear Thompson's name, they would have automatically included him in the main lineup, and all their attention was on DiJulio and Gawain.
Until now.
Martin belatedly announced the sixth name of the main lineup, and everyone finally reacted.
Then you can see Thompson doing a very exaggerated Hawaiian hula dance celebration. The greasy and awkward dance moves look like they could win the Golden Raspberry Awards and successfully caused everyone to burst into laughter.
Martin also had a smile in his eyes, but this time, he controlled his expression and gave earnest instructions.
“Thompson, you should know that for the six players in the starting lineup, nothing is taken for granted. This is all the result of your hard work. So, after becoming a starter, you should train harder and take on the court with the responsibility of a substitute player.”
At this point, Martin's words gained a little more weight.
"Thompson, being the No. 1 singles player is an honor and a responsibility."
This is undoubtedly one of Martin's biggest concerns and worries about the new season.
From last year's No. 6 singles to this year's No. 1 singles, can Thompson withstand the test of pressure? This time, Thompson did not continue to play tricks, but straightened his back and said loudly, "Yes, coach!"
The loud sound echoed over the stadium, and the expressions of the other players also became solemn. Faintly one could feel the tension of impending storm. The tension and excitement of the upcoming season came upon them, gripping their hearts tightly and making them breathless in an instant.
Martin also felt the tense atmosphere, waved his hand again, and said in a sarcastic tone, "This is not the army, there is no need to be so serious."
The tense atmosphere collapsed in an instant, and everyone burst into laughter. Grant, who was standing nearby, just shook his head repeatedly with a look of grief on his face.
Regardless, the season is about to begin.
NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, is an association of more than a thousand four-year universities in the United States and Canada. Its main activity is to host various sports leagues. Its influence is even greater than that of the football league, which is not valued in North America.
Every year, major TV stations broadcast NCAA games live. The live broadcast attention of popular sports such as basketball, football, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, etc. is even comparable to that of professional leagues. Especially in May Madness, when major sports enter the national championship competition, the attention is off the charts.
The reason is very simple. Not every city has its own professional team, but every state has its own university.
Regardless of whether they like competitive sports or not, every local resident has a sense of belonging to the university in their state. The university team is the parent team that they fully support and cultivate from a young age. It is even like a belief. Moreover, professional teams may relocate their urban bases. After all, it is a business, but university teams will not. Once they take root, they will continue here for generations.
To some extent, the loyalty of college team fans even exceeds that of professional team fans.
It is also because of this that the NCAA national championship games in May Madness attract more attention than some professional league competitions.
NCAA competitions are divided into three levels and dozens of leagues. The six Level 1 leagues are the highest level. UCLA is one of them and is affiliated with the Pac-12 Conference.
As the name suggests, this league has a total of twelve teams. After entering the spring tennis season, these teams will play home and away games respectively. The games include matches within the league and matches with teams from other leagues. The ranking within the league will be determined based on the number of wins and losses.
Generally speaking, the entire season includes twenty-four to twenty-six games, all of which are team competitions, and there are no separate singles matches.
Finally, at the end of April, four teams will advance to the playoffs based on the rankings to compete for the Pac-12 Conference's season championship.
At the same time, in addition to the league's internal rankings, the NCAA will also separately list a national ranking.
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In NCAA games, the strength of teams in the first-level league and the second-level league is far apart; similarly, in the first-level league, there is a certain gap in the strength of teams in different regional leagues. Therefore, in the regular season, the number of wins and losses is not that important, and the strength of the opponent also needs to be referred to.
In other words, a victory over UCLA and a victory over an unknown university in the second division league cannot be compared. Both games are victories, but when included in the ranking data, the score ratios are very different.
It is precisely because of this that the reference data for the national rankings is very complex and diverse. When you look at the final rankings, there may be a team that remains undefeated throughout the season, but may only rank fourth in the league; at the same time, the second-ranked team may have fewer wins than the fifth-ranked team.
In any case, after the NCAA lists the national rankings, in May, they will select 64 teams based on the rankings to enter the national championship game.
Among them, there are four events, including men's team competition, women's team competition, men's singles, and women's singles. After two weeks of competition, four champions were decided. They are also well-deserved national champions! Because the schedule is intensive and the intensity is huge, there is no time to breathe, and it is a severe test of energy and physical strength, so it is called "Mad May".
Things always have two sides. "May Madness" is crazy enough, but at the same time, it is precisely because of this madness that it has attracted national attention. From fans to the media, the discussion has always been hot. Even the NBA Finals always avoid the schedule and dare not confront it head-on.
The winner will be under the attention of the whole country! Reach the top overnight! On Wednesday, January 22, 2014, UCLA hosted its first opponent of the spring season, the University of California, Irvine. They went all out and officially started the long journey of the new season.
(End of this chapter)