(Collection is indeed a requirement. As the number of collections slowly climbs up, it feels like Gan Guoyang's strength is gradually improving, and the Vikings are moving forward step by step. So readers will come to the bowl!!!)

On March 17, 1982, the California High School Basketball Championship officially opened.

Among them, in the second-level competition where Palo Alto High School is located, except for the top 8 teams with the best record, the other 48 teams will fight against each other today.

The playoffs in the high school league are different from the NBA. There is no rotational home and away series, but a life-and-death battle in neutral schools. This is the same as the NCAA game, either winning or going home, fully reflecting the cruelty of competitive games and is therefore full of unknowns and excitement.

Because of this, the most unpopular thing in the high school league and the NCAA is the unpopularity, so no matter which popular team is, you must prepare carefully for every round of the game, otherwise you don’t know when you will become a victim of unpopularity.

The competition venues are mainly selected in each university, and the distance between the two sides of the competition must be taken into account. Northern California schools will be concentrated in San Jose to compete in several universities in San Jose.

And Southern California schools will arrive in Los Angeles together, where they will decide the outcome.

Ultimately, the North and South Division champions of California's second-tier teams will compete for the final championship in Los Angeles this year.

Early in the morning of the 17th, twelve Vikings players led by the team teacher and coach, took the school bus to San Jose.

The distance from Palo Alto to San Jose is closer than to San Francisco, so they can set off on the 17th instead of having to fly on the 16th like a school near Sacramento.

The shuttle bus arrived in San Jose soon. Gan Guoyang sat in the car and looked at the city outside the window, thinking that the cities in the United States were all the same, all planned.

When I first arrived in the United States, Gan Guoyang thought that the American cities were clean and tidy, with orderly planning and very good greening.

Later, he felt more and more that every place looked similar, repeated and monotonous. In contrast, although the cities in China were much dirty and messy, the urban characteristics were very strong, especially some ancient cities.

Thinking of this, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but miss the motherland on the other side. He traveled to the past and came to the United States for more than half a year. Until now, he occasionally feels like dreaming.

The car parked at the entrance of a hotel in San Jose, where the players' residence arranged by the organizing committee will gather here this year one-fifth of Northern California's basketball elites will gather here.

And it is rumored that the strongest players in California this year are students from Division II schools.

This naturally includes Gan Guoyang, who led Palo Alto, the bottom of the fish, to emerge and win the championship in the competition area - although Palo Alto is not strong in the competition area.

And this guy is still a yellow man and a transfer student!

Not only in California, but also in Ganguoyang, the whole United States, have begun to attract the attention of the basketball community, especially some Chinese groups have begun to pay attention to this magical Chinese boy.

Because yellow people in the United States have always been considered weak sports, popular sports such as rugby, basketball, baseball, etc. in the United States have no place for yellow people.

But now, all other high schools are also staring at Palo Alto High School and Gan Guoyang. They are going to try whether this Chinese kid is well-deserved in the championship.

Every high school player, especially the center player, wants to compete with Gan Guoyang. Some people want to defeat famous opponents purely for the competition.

Some people are not that simple, the smell of race permeates the calm atmosphere before the game.

Gan Guoyang knew nothing about this, and he was not interested or in the mood to find out what was there.

As soon as he arrived at the hotel room, he packed his things and then lay on the bed. He had been in the car for a long time and wanted to relax.

"Gan, are you not nervous at all?" asked Dippenblock, who lives in the same room as Gan Guoyang.

"It's okay, since I scored the first goal in the first game, I knew that I would never be nervous anymore in the high school league." Gan Guoyang remembered his embarrassment when he played the first game.

Dippenblock looked at Gan Guoyang lying on the lengthened bed, and thought that when he first saw him, he seemed to be so confident and calm in the gymnasium.

And now, he is still the case, but Dippenblock knows that Gan Guoyang's confidence is not rootless and unstoppable, but is derived from his strong strength and firm belief.

Thinking of this, Dippenblock felt full of confidence, and the anxiety in his heart before coming to San Jose was much less.

In the afternoon, after lunch, Bellman took the players to their game venue, the gymnasium at San Jose State University, to learn about the scene.

The gymnasium in a university is different from the high school. The venues for high school competitions are all small stadiums, with only one side of the audience seats and the other three sides are walls. Such a large venue can seat 500 spectators, while the smallest can only sit 2,300 people.

The university's gymnasium is a regular gymnasium, with the auditorium surrounding the stadium, and a venue can seat thousands of spectators.

The gymnasium of San Jose State University can accommodate more than 2,000 spectators to watch the game. Such a venue filled the audience, and the atmosphere brought by the previous regular season is not comparable.

When the Vikings arrived at the gym, they found that there were already teams on the field to conduct shooting training.

"It's a player in the Crusaders of Our Lady High School. Their school is in San Jose, which is half of their home court." Diepembroke said, who has always been a master of everything in the team.

"They seem to be mostly white." Gan Guoyang found that most of the Crusaders were white players.

"Notre Dame High School is a relatively high-end school, so most of them are white students."

At this time, a group of players wearing blue jerseys walked in from another passage in the venue. Their formation was scattered and their steps were scattered, and they exuded a ruffian spirit from top to bottom.

And most of them are black.

"It's from Los Altos High School." Dippenblock's voice also became much smaller, as if he was afraid that those guys would hear it.

These guys who look very evil are players of the Conquerors of Los Altos High School, and they are also watching the Vikings players, especially Gan Guoyang.

It seems that their next opponent is the Vikings, not the Virgin High School.

"I'll go and say hello to them." Gan Guoyang suddenly said, frightening everyone else.

Saying hello to a possible opponent in the game before the game will basically be considered provocative and may cause violent conflict, not to mention that the players in Los Altos High School look difficult to mess with.

Bellman happened to go outside to make a phone call at this time, and no one could stop Gan Guoyang.

The Vikings players looked at Gan Guoyang alone and walked to them in the vigilant gaze of the players of Los Altos High School.

"If the situation is wrong, we will rush forward immediately!" Williams said, afraid that Gan Guoyang would suffer a loss.

However, Gan Guoyang stood there and chatted with the players of Los Altos High School. There seemed to be no problem, and he could even see the smiles on their faces.

Soon, Gan Guoyang came back. It seemed that nothing had happened, just chatting with a few old friends.

"Gan, what did you say to them?" someone asked curiously.

"I told them that I'm going to kick their ass in the game." Gan Guoyang said with a smile, obviously he was joking.

At this time, Bellman happened to be back. Because the Vikings' game was the day after tomorrow, he took the players back to the hotel and prepared to watch the first round of the game tonight, with the Crusaders of Our Lady High School against Los Altos High School Conqueror.

Their winner will be the Vikings' opponent.

At 7 p.m. on March 17, the California High School Basketball League officially began. The first round of 24 teams opened in San Jose and Los Angeles' many colleges.

The gymnasium at San Jose State University was brightly lit tonight, and the gymnasium that could accommodate 1,500 spectators was already full.

In addition to the current students from the University of San Jose, there were also students from Notre Dame High School, as well as some other teams including the Palo Alto Vikings.

"So many students from Virgin High School? They are like the home court of Virgin High School." Gan Guoyang looked at the blockbuster film of the navy in the audience and sighed that it would be better if the school was close.

In comparison, Los Altos High School has no supporters, but they don’t seem to care about their appearance.

There were no gimmicks in the NBA games in the 1980s, let alone a high school game, so there was no messy performance.

After introducing players to the stadium and singing the US national anthem, the game officially began.

The opening game was not as intense as Gan Guoyang imagined. Both sides played a little nervously. After all, it was a knockout match with a certain victory and the loss was not much easier.

There were some mistakes on both sides, and the tactics were not clear. In general, it was quite chaotic.

In this case, it either depends on the coach's ability to adjust, or whether the ace in the team can stand up and use personal abilities to take the lead in holding the situation.

Sure enough, the No. 14 shooting guard of the Crusaders of Our Lady High School took the lead in carrying the team's offense.

When both sides were not smooth in offense and made mistakes, he relied on his outstanding jump shot ability and scored with simple covers many times.

In this situation where the scene is relatively chaotic, the simpler the cooperation, the better, it can reduce mistakes and use effective offense to stabilize the situation.

In comparison, the Conquerors players looked taller and stronger than the Crusaders, but under the entwined defense of the Crusaders, they failed to hit the basket many times, obviously they were a little impatient.

After five minutes of the first half, the Crusaders of Our Lady led the Conqueror of Los Altos with 8 points 14:6, and the Conqueror had to call a timeout.

"It seems that the Conqueror is not that scary either. But the white men in the Crusaders played well, especially the No. 14, who shot very accurately."

Los Alto High School doesn't seem as terrible as the Vikings players imagine, and they were a little breathless by the Crusaders' precise jump shot.

The time for the suspension was soon, and the Conquerors played the frontcourt ball. They made some adjustments to their personnel, but this time the Conquerors still made no achievements. Although they were taller and stronger, they did not have many ways to face the joint defense of the Crusaders.

But when the Crusaders took the rebound and handed the ball to the point guard to prepare for a quick advance to launch a fast break, a figure suddenly blocked the Crusaders' point guard's route.

The two suddenly collided, like a car hitting a big truck, but both the car and the truck were overturned to the ground.

The Crusaders' point guard was observing his teammates' running position while dribbling the ball quickly through the half-court, and did not notice that a person would appear halfway.

When he fell to the ground, his mind was still a little confused.

The person who hit him was a player who had just been replaced. He was tall and big. Although he fell to the ground, it was obvious that he was "brought down by himself." It was nothing at all.

This ball naturally judged the Conqueror's blocking foul, and the Crusaders served the ball.

However, this ball obviously affected the judgment of the Crusaders. He made a mistake in passing while organizing the offense and was intercepted by the Conqueror.

The Conqueror players are all blacks who can run and jump. Of course, they will not miss the opportunity to get a fast break and end the attack with a dunk.

The game continued, and Gan Guoyang discovered that the Crusaders were very distinctive in positional offense.

They do not have strong inside lines, nor do they engage in more complicated tactical running positions, but instead shoot the whole nation, relying on small cooperation to open up the shooting space, so that every player has a chance to jump.

This move worked miraculously at the opening game, but after this timeout, when they wanted to use this method to tear the Conqueror's defense, they found that it was not working at all because the ball could not be taken.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle sounded, and a player of the Conqueror took a hand and fouled before the Crusader shot, and he simply raised his hand to express his obedience to the penalty.

"They made a foul on purpose." Gan Guoyang saw that this kind of foul was not a foul that he had to foul when he couldn't defend himself, but deliberately pulled the other party's hand.

"Yes, they want to disrupt the rhythm of the Crusaders with fouls." Bellman, who was sitting next to Gan Guoyang, had already seen the conqueror's intention.

Shooting depends on the feel and rhythm. If you feel good and have a good rhythm, then you can shoot as much as you want. Once the feel is gone, the rhythm will be destroyed, and the shooting rate will decrease, and the subsequent decrease in offensive confidence.

Once you have no confidence in shooting, you will only get worse and worse, which will lead to a vicious cycle.
To be continued...