Chapter 17: Post Game And Entering The First String
After all the practice matches are over, coach Chu Lin immediately announced the results after a bit of deliberation with the 2nd string's coach. True to what Hyuuga said, almost a tenth of the 40 or so freshmen applicants managed to enter the first string while the others was assigned to the 2nd string. The players who managed to enter the first string is almost all of Seiji's teammates during the practice match, with Yagi Toru being left out as they didn't need a shooting guard right now.
Coach Chu Lin didn't mince his words as he said to Toru that he needed to atleast learn how to better create opportunities for him to get open looks on the basket. Or better yet, he needed to learn how to make shots off the dribble or during a pick and roll situation. He ended his speech by saying that these will all be taught by the 2nd string coach so he better learn well.
Meanwhile, Morita Tomotsu, Saeki Takeo, and Nagata Izanagi were pulled to the first string due to the fact that they lack substitute players for the Center, Small Forward, and Point Guard positions. Kyōsen needed another center to train as Akagi is already at his senior years so they took Tomotsu.
Chu Lin is thinking of actually making Wakamatsu take the center position after Akagi graduates but he also think that he needed a traditional big to fill that role at certain situations. Wakamatsu is a great and athletic hybrid kind of big man on the court but he's just far too impulsive at times. Thus the decision to add a quiet and calm center as a bench player.
In Saeki Takeo's case, coach Chu Lin thinks that this guy is better suited as a small forward. If Seiji is a small forward that could be called a wing player since he could have the same responsibilities as a shooting guard, a player who is responsible for creating a high volume of shots in offense. Chu Lin is planning on molding Takeo into someone who is great at cuts to the basket in offense and is a good defender and rebounder on the defensive end.
Yes, he's already planning ahead, thinking of things that could be done to the future pieces of this team. These new additions will all be trained to better suit a team composition that will all revolve around the player who Chu Lin thought could be a great position less player through and through, the future main piece of this Kyōsen team.
"A player who could do almost anything on the court, that's who I wanted to be when I was still a kid. To think that I'd come across someone who could be just that in this twilight years of my life, I'm really lucky."
Chu Lin is a really ambitious person. Similar to every coach in the IBA, they are always searching for a player who could be a positionless player who they could use as the cornerstone of their team. This is why hybrid big men, and many other hybrid players has been popping out left and right in the league.
Take Germany's Barbarians for example. DeAndre Paul is like a mix between Shooting Guard, Small Forward, and Point Guard. The team is built around him and aside from the German Center, every single one of his teammates are all role players. It worked for them somehow as they had a few great playoff runs but there's just something missing from their team.
In Kyōsen Private Middle School's case, Chu Lin wanted Seiji to be the ace that his team can rely on.
"Arisugawa Seiji will be entering the first string as the team's Small Forward. He will be in the starting line up."
When Chu Lin announced this news, everyone on the court rejoiced as they are happy to see that there will be a strong addition to the team. Looking on at his players who are congratulating the new additions to his team, Chu Lin couldn't conceal the smile that is slowly creeping up to his face.
"A new age of basketball is coming in Japan. I wonder if every team is ready to face us in this year's Nationals."
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Small undercurrents are rising in the middle school basketball scene and no one have noticed it yet. In the Kantō region, many middle school basketball fans are looking forward to the upcoming Nationals qualifiers.
Teams from Kannagawa, Miyagi and Tokyo are viewed as teams to watch out for during this year's Nationals. The team of the reigning champions, Shiratorizawa Junior High, are from Miyagi Prefecture. While the first runner up, the Teiko Junior High, and the team from the same prefecture as them, Shōei Junior High, is one of the current favorites to win this year's Nationals.
If Tokyo and Miyagi have Shōei Junior High, Teiko Junior High and Shiratorizawa Junior High, Kannagawa Prefecture have Tsubakihara Junior High with their two stars who facilitates the plays of their team. The current captain is a great Point Guard who is known to be a very great rival of the Point Guard from the reigning champions.
They almost took down the defending champions last year with their two super rookies. Everyone is looking forward to what this dynamic duo can do after they have gathered such a precious experience from last year.
Aside from that, there are also the teams from other regions like the Dōjimazaki Junior High from the Tōhoku Region, located in the Akita Prefecture. They have a prolific Shooting Guard in their midst and is also a major contender in this year's Nationals.
In Kyūshū Region, located in Kagoshima Prefecture, there's also a main contender team in Yōmi Junior High. They have a great Point Guard and a powerful Center, a very powerful one in every sense of the word, and is looking to topple the reign of the current defending champions, claiming the throne of champs as their own.
Everyone is looking forward for these teams to clash, completely overlooking Seiji's team, Kyōsen Junior High. This team have a very bad reputation of choking hard during the quarter finals and has never reached any higher than 8th place. This caused them to become a laughing stock, especially when their school's motto is, "Crouching Tigers, Hidden Dragons!".
Well, coach Chu Lin quite like the lack of attention being given to his team, being the person who proposed the motto and all. He believes that revealing all your cards without hiding a few things under the table is not the way to go. Your plays could be analyzed by other teams and you'll become an open book, especially when the competition is quite tight.
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"Congratulations, Arisugawa-kun. Your performance today is spectacular. You are a great addition to this team. With you here, winning the championship will no longer be a pipe dream!"
This is the first thing Akagi Takenori said to Seiji when he approached him. Akagi's teammates also agreed with him, saying a few complements of their own. The only one who said a different thing among them was Hyuuga.
"That last three point shot was crazy. Is that your maximum range? Man, shooting from 27 feet deep is really freaky."
"Oh, that? That's not my maximum range. It's just the range that I felt most comfortable on shooting."
Hyuuga was not surprised by this reply as he just saw how comfortable Seiji was when he pulled up from that range. However, he is still a little bit curious.
"By comfortable, you mean…"
"What I meant by comfortable was, I am 100% sure I can sink a shot from that range."
""""SERIOUSLY!?""""
Hyuuga, Kogure, Izuki, and Wakamatsu unwittingly shouted after hearing Seiji's declaration. Only the quiet Fukuda and the calm Akagi remained relatively silent throughout the whole exchange.
"Well, you're all gonna laugh once you hear the reason but… well… I purposely increased my range so that I can see the look of envy and frustration from my trainer's face. He's recently been quite harsh lately with his training régimes so I wanted to get back at him a little bit. It just so happens that he's a Shooting Guard in the past so I did something that he would envy."
Hyuuga is the first one to react at this reasoning.
"Yeah, I saw the drills that he made you perform. It was so hellish that a normal person would drop dead after a few reps."
"It's that hard?" Wakamatsu inquired with a bewildered look on his face.
"It is. It's probably a few levels higher than what coach Chu Lin make us do normally."
As if he received some kind of enlightenment, Wakamatsu nodded his head before looking at Seiji with admiration.
"You're awesome man."
This is how the first formal conversation of the players from Kyōsen Junior High went. The building of team chemistry aside, this team is currently the strongest team that the Kyōsen Private Middle School has ever gathered.
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To be continued…
[A/N¹: Well, that's about it for this chapter. Man, I had a pretty hard time searching for players that I could use for this team. I wasn't planning on adding Fukuda but I couldn't think of anyone I could replace him for at the time. I already wrote a few chapters with him in it before I decided to add Wakamatsu so I just rolled with it.]
[A/N²: Seriously guys. The Miracles probably wouldn't have it easy during their first year. Thankfully, I didn't add any more teams in Tokyo so their competition there is quite okay but in just their region, there's three teams that I made that could probably defeat them with their talents unawakened.]
[A/N³: I just assumed that Kagetora is a shooting guard during his golden days since his height is pretty much the same as, correct me if I'm wrong, Hyuuga. Just three centimeters off, but you get the point.]
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