Chapter 110： We're going to be dragon slayers

"Hello, I'm a scout for the Chicago Bulls. Welcome to Chicago."

"Hello Zuo Li, you're so cool tonight. I'm Jaeger, a scout from Memphis. Are you interested in coming to see us?"

"Your style suits Wade, come to Miami, the beaches here are the best."

"Although it is cold here, the scenery of the snow-capped mountains is good. We can also help you find a house at the foot of the mountain, and you can see the snow-capped mountains at any time. How about it? The Minnesota Timberwolves welcome you to try out."

This is what happened next to Zuo Li after attending the press conference. One of the teams with the highest pick in the league came forward to shake hands with Zuo Li, and presented them with various business cards.

The draft is about a rookie like Zuo Li, who has long been famous in the United States, has a large number of fans, and has obvious strength. It is more about win-win. , Everyone's face is not good-looking, and it is not conducive to the development of the team and individual.

So a rookie at Zuo Li's level is very popular on the eve of the draft.

Zuo Li gave a polite response, but didn't make a promise, just said that before the NCAA game ended, he didn't think about these things.

Zuo Li will make the final decision after discussing the draft with Rich Paul and going to each team to see it, but in Zuo Li's mind, he actually already has a rough choice.

First of all, of course, it is better to go to a weak team. It is best to have no absolute core in the team, and the team's record in recent seasons has been smashed.

No matter how good the rough jade is, it also needs to be polished. This sentence also applies to rookies. The tragedy of Milicic reminds us that sometimes it is useless to draft to a strong team, but it will miss the best growth time.

Look at the treatment of Milicic in the Pistons, that is really not given playing time, a few minutes per game, and how to expect him to grow, plus the pressure of the outside world and the attention of the fans, and finally successfully crushed him. Become a proper role player now.

Look at James, Anthony, Boss and Wade in the same period. Their teams undoubtedly regard them as the absolute core of the team, with unlimited firing rights and tactics. Look at Durant in Seattle. also the same.

They may not be able to lead the team to achieve much in their first season, but vulgar development is the best result for a rookie.

So Zuo Li doesn't think much about the Heat, who have a big brother, but looking at the No. 1 pick and the team's status quo, in fact, the Bulls are indeed the best choice for now.

But don't worry, it's still early, Zuo Li's attention is still on the next opponent.

Although leading Davidson College, which has never achieved such results, all the way to the final four has proved his strength, but he will not stop there. Whether it is internal or external, Zuo Li has repeatedly emphasized that they will strive to go further.

After all, who doesn't want to go to the finals to see it?

However, this time, unlike in the past, the approval rate was often 55 to 50, and at most 64 to 64. Davidson almost got a one-sided approval rate.

"Yes, almost no one is optimistic that we can advance. ESPN found 16 people to predict that we will lose, and there are two others that predict that we will lose by at least 15 points."

"Come on, I'll never watch ESPN again." Curry, who returned to the hotel after a day of training, said gnashing his teeth while looking at the prediction in the newspaper.

NCAA started from the semifinals, and the standard for selecting gymnasiums is 30,000, because the venues are too small to meet the requirements of the audience.

In fact, for a long time, the NCAA Final Fours, semifinals and finals were made by temporarily remodeling the home field of professional football or professional baseball teams.

The venue for the game was AT&T Stadium in Texas, the fourth largest American football stadium in the United States.

This is a stadium of 100,000 people. Two semifinals and one final will be played here. You must know that the NBA has never used such a large venue before, which is enough to see how attractive the NCAA Final Four is.

Some people may say, do you want to be so exaggerated?

Let's take a look at the data.

The tickets for this time have already been sold out. The average ticket price is as high as 838 US dollars, and the highest ticket price exceeds 20,000 US dollars. The total ticket revenue is expected to exceed last year's 123.5 million US dollars.

During the live broadcast of the CBS event, every 30 seconds of advertising bids start at $1.2 million, and the event is expected to bring in a total revenue of $300 million to the venue.

The brand value of the event reaches 150 million US dollars, ranking far higher than the NBA Finals on the Forbes "Global Sports Events Most Brand Value Ranking"...

Although the charm of the NCAA men's basketball FinalFour Final Four is far from being described by the above-mentioned simple and boring numbers, it can give a glimpse of the gold-absorbing magic of the NCAA.

Take this time, for example, in the area of ​​the game, from fan parties of various names to three-day free music carnivals, from quiz games with rich prizes to light-hearted basketball skills challenges, from NCAA to give back to the community. From youth camps to highly professional USA Basketball Coaches Association Symposiums…

The NCAA turned it into a three-day carnival.

In this way, fans can go to the city to participate in various carnival parties in the commercial district in their spare time while enjoying the game. According to incomplete statistics, in the past three years, the NCAA Final Four can bring more than 100,000 people from other places and a total income of 300 million US dollars to the host city.

This is the unique charm of the NCAA Final Four And on April 1st, the Davidson players set off for the venue and will have a few days of targeted training there, while their semifinal opponents It is famous all over the world, and it can be regarded as the number one favorite to win this competition. North Carolina, which has won all seasons in both divisions and knockouts before!

This season, their team is luxurious. Of course Kansas has a balanced strength, but in the eyes of the outside world, North Carolina has a more balanced strength and more shining stars.

They have a dual core of Lawson and Hansbrough inside and outside, supplemented by Danny Green, Wayne Ellington and other excellent pitchers.

In the top 64, they beat St. Marys with 39 points. North Carolina shot 60.6% from the field and won 46-16 rebounds. 14 of the 15 players scored. Hansbrough and Lawson both scored 21 points.

Among the top 32, they beat Arkansas with 31 points, Hansbrough with 20 points, Ellington with 17 points and Lawson with 19 points.

These four players also scored in double figures in the Sweet 16 win over Washington State.

Hansbrough scored 28 points and 13 rebounds in the top 8 of the elite. It is no wonder that he is as famous as Jordan, Carter and others in the history of the North Carolina team.

In that game, Ellington, Danny Green, and Ty Lawson also scored in double figures, and Lawson added 9 assists.

Along the way, in the four games, four players in the team scored in double figures, two scored 20 points per game, hit an average of 56.6% per game, and averaged 21 points per game. The season remains unbeaten.

So it is not surprising that others have such one-sided predictions.

"Calm down, it's not normal, the president is all their fans, let alone other people, we just know it, we don't need to argue with outsiders, just talk about all the strengths." Zuo Li remained calm: "Being a dragon slayer, Wouldn't it be better?"