Once they arrived in Detroit, Xu Yong and his friends' lives suddenly became richer.
First of all, the number of times they were interviewed by the media doubled compared to before, or to be more precise, they went from being "occasionally noticed" to being "the focus of attention".
One of the reasons for this is that, on the one hand, the team itself will get greater exposure in the third and final stage.
On the other hand, there is the new draft prediction list.
The Devils now have three lottery picks, and even if the media don't rush to report on them, scouts will pay more attention to them.
Then they were dragged to shoot a team promotional video for the Final Four.
It is worth mentioning that, unlike the other three teams with deep cultural heritage, they are the only "dark horse" among the top four this year because their ancestors were not wealthy.
Therefore, when shooting promotional videos, they became the targets of "attention" by reporters when taking photos.
This feeling of being the center of attention made them feel uncomfortable but also very enjoyable.
Finally, during the preparations for the game, a piece of news that broke out from Michigan State University made the upcoming semifinals full of controversy.
"No one can beat us in Michigan, and we're going to win our third championship here."
These confident remarks were made by a freshman on the team when a reporter was covering Michigan State University's training.
This man's name is Draymond Green.
Green is a four-star high school student in the same class as DeRozan. DeRozan ranked 5th and he ranked 95th.
As a rookie, he had a low presence in the regular season, averaging 11 minutes per game, 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds, making him only a marginal bench player.
But since the start of the tournament, Green has earned himself playing time with his tough defense and aggressive play.
In the four games of the past two stages, he averaged 21 minutes per game, contributing 9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game with a shooting percentage of 64%, becoming the well-deserved sixth man of the team.
Especially in the conference finals against the top-seeded University of Louisville, he was responsible for defending the opponent's top scorer Earl Clark. Not only did he complete the task brilliantly, he also scored 6 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, playing a personal masterpiece of the tournament.
It can be said that without him, Michigan State University would not be able to reach the third stage, which also made his self-confidence extremely inflated.
Of course, there is a background for his words. When the reporter was interviewing him, he asked questions about defense, and his words kept hinting that the Devils' foursome would enter the NBA after the championship game.
So Green's original words were: "I don't care what their names are, Earl Clark, James Harden, Xu Yong or anything else, no one can beat us in Michigan, and we will win the third championship trophy here."
However, the media's usual style is to remove some unnecessary words and let UC be what it wants.
And Green is not blindly confident. In addition to his confidence in the team's strength, another more important reason is the "home advantage."
Detroit is in Michigan, and Michigan State University is also in Michigan. The timing, location, and people are all right. This is the same situation that Arizona State University experienced before.
After Green's words were reported by the media, they quickly ignited the enthusiasm of Michigan fans.
The last time a Michigan team won the championship was in the 1999-2000 season, and that season also happened to be the season when Michigan State University won the championship.
Nine years have passed, and now we are winning the trophy at home. Everything is the best arrangement.
Even Michigan State University's most famous alumnus, NBA Hall of Fame member Magic Johnson, expressed his support after hearing Green's remarks and announced that he would be present to support his alma mater.
Such a scene also makes the NCAA organizers happy. Although the attention to the tournament has been very high by the semi-final stage, it is just like the money in your pocket, who would complain about having too much?
The stage, lights, and sound are ready. Time: April 4; Location: Ford Field in Detroit; Protagonist: Michigan State University; Supporting role: Arizona State University, the show is about to begin.
The attention paid to the third phase is also unprecedented.
When Xu Yong came out of the player tunnel, he was shocked by the scene in front of him.
Ford Field is the home stadium of the NFL team Lions. It can accommodate 80,000 people to watch the game, and now it is full.
Eighty thousand people. He had only seen so many people when he attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last year.
The dense crowd, the simultaneous gaze of tens of thousands of people, the endless feeling of being surrounded, it was no longer just a matter of the air being thin, it really felt like an ant in a frying pan.
Moreover, nearly two-thirds of the fans at the scene were from Michigan, which was even more exaggerated than when they were at the University of Phoenix Stadium before.
Xu Yong quickly adjusted his mentality and after seeing his teammates who were still in shock, he gathered everyone together.
"They say no one can beat them in Michigan, but we're not 'little guys.'
Xu Yong used a relaxed way of speaking at this time, and the team members couldn't help laughing after hearing it.
“Nobody” has two meanings in English, one is “no one” and the other is “little person”.
Xu Yong's words not only cleverly cracked Green's primary formula, but also eased the team members' original nervousness.
"Guys, smash them right from the start!"
After seeing his teammates relax, Xu Yong raised his hand and shouted again.
"Come on, Devil Team!"
The team members followed suit, folded their hands together and shouted the slogan again.
After they finished shouting, they no longer paid attention to the surrounding environment, but focused on warming up, with high morale on their faces.
They didn't know Green's original intention when he said that, but what they heard was Green's arrogance.
A first-year player was so arrogant, they had to give him a good beating.
After the opening ceremony, the starting players of both sides came on stage one after another.
Travis Walton, Lulin Lucas, Delvin Roy, Remar Morgan, and Goran Sutton, this is the starting lineup of the Michigan State University Spartans.
Glaser, Harden, DeRozan, Xu Yong, and Ayers, this is the starting lineup of the Arizona State University Devils.
Sandek replaced Cooksix with Glaser as the starter tonight. The height of the lineup was reduced, but the speed and control ability were improved.
That was also the characteristic against the Michigan State Spartans.
The Spartans' tactics are simple, which is to defend and counterattack, even press the whole court, and then rely on an excellent rotation lineup to exert pressure.
Previously, Michigan State University was able to beat the University of Louisville by relying on defense, limiting the University of Louisville, which was known for its offense, to 52 points.
So the key to the game is whether the Devils can penetrate the Spartans' defense.
If they fail to do so and are dragged into a war of attrition by the opponent, they will be the next University of Louisville.
Therefore, "destroy the opponent at the beginning" is also Sandek's strategic thinking.
The game is about to start, with a jump ball in the center circle between Als and Sutton.
Amid the cheers of 80,000 people, Suton won the Spartans the opportunity to attack first.
Then the Spartans immediately showed off their poor positional offensive capabilities.
A team with both offensive and defensive capabilities is rare in the NBA, let alone in the NCAA.
Students have little physical fitness, so they can generally only focus on one aspect, attack or defense. Since the Spartans are good at defense, they are naturally not very good at attack.
Although they actually had a lot of pick-and-roll cooperation, the Devils could switch defense endlessly because they had no strong offensive point, which meant they never got easy shooting opportunities. In the end, the ball was killed in Lucas' hands, and Lucas' forced breakthrough layup was directly pressed on the backboard by Xu Yong.
Xu Yong took the rebound and turned around to pass it to Glaser on the outside.
The Devils took the lead in launching a defensive counterattack. Glaser advanced to the frontcourt three-point line for a two-on-one situation and threw the ball directly into the sky.
“Bang!”
DeRozan followed up and jumped into the air, starting the game with an alley-oop slam dunk!
The scene instantly erupted into deafening cheers from Arizona fans.
Although the fans were at a disadvantage, the Devils' shocking opening was enough to ignite their enthusiasm.
The gap of 20,000 crickets is nothing!
The Devils scored, and the Spartans could only play positional defense again.
However, they did score this time. Although they still didn't create good opportunities, their white center Goran Sutton fired from the outside and hit a three-pointer facing Ayres.
Sutton is the only player on the Spartans' field to be selected by the NBA in history, with the 50th pick in the second round.
The three-pointer gave the Spartans a chance, a chance to show their defensive energy.
Glaser advanced to the frontcourt and was immediately double-teamed by the Spartans. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and passed the ball to Harden.
But Harden didn't get an open opportunity because the Spartans returned to defense quickly after the double-team.
This defensive style was also the key factor in their ability to reach the final four.
However, they soon discovered that something was wrong.
Because the moment Harden touched the ball, the Devils' biggest advantage was revealed. All five of their starting players were able to handle the ball!
Including center Ayers, he also has the ability to coordinate.
Especially when the ball comes into Harden's hands, double-teaming and recovery tactics are useless.
Because if you dare to clamp him, the speed at which he passes the ball will prevent you from recovering it in time.
“Swish!”
Xu Yong received a pass from Harden on the outside, hit a three-pointer, and immediately returned an answer ball.
The Devils didn’t even run a pick-and-roll!
Then, the game became one-sided as the Spartans failed in defense again and again and played poor positional offense.
When a venomous snake's most powerful venom loses its killing effect, it is like encountering a honey badger, and its fate is reduced to nothing.
The game had just started for five minutes, and the score was 17 to 7, and the Devils had already expanded their lead to double digits.
Pregame: Nobody can beat Michigan State in Michigan.
During the game: What a bunch of useless people, they are so vulnerable!
It's not surprising that the game has reached this point.
Because in the previous invitational stage, Michigan State University had played an invitational game with the University of North Carolina. The result of that game was that Michigan State University lost by a full 35 points and was defeated by the University of North Carolina.
The rhythm of that game was very similar to this one, because with the double-team defense strategy, when you encounter multiple strong offensive points on the court, you will not know who to focus on defending, and you dare not let anyone go. The final result is that you are like a headless fly, constantly mobilized by the opponent, and exhausted.
What? How did Michigan State make it to the Final Four?
Because they are lucky.
The luck here does not mean that all their opponents in the division are weak, but that they have never encountered opponents like North Carolina or Arizona State who have multiple strong starting lineups.
Or you can also understand that Arizona State University is one of Michigan State University's nemesis.
Of course, since no one has ever encountered a tournament before, the true effect will only be known after the game.
And it turns out that Sandek's adjustment was very masterful, and he grasped the essence of the start.
Seven minutes into the game, the score was 7 to 21.
This game is going to be a mess in the first half!
At this time, Michigan State University made substitutions, with Darrell Summers, Chris Allen and Draymond Green coming on as substitutes.