Hansen gave a wry smile.
To ensure that the League Committee could select wild card teams more fairly and objectively, the NCAA officially issued a power rankings list nad "Public Opinion Poll" each season.
This list rated the strength of each team, updated weekly, with the first issue integrating the team's performance from the previous season and their roster. Each subsequent update ranked teams based on their performance over the past week.
The North Carolina team Hansen referred to had been at the top of this list since the season started, and after more than half a month of play, they were still number one.
Actually, North Carolina dominated the top spot for an entire season the year before but unexpectedly lost to the University of Kansas in the Final Four of the championship.
This season, all of North Carolina's core players stayed, and this was also the senior NCAA season for the team's lead, Taylor Hansbrough. It was their last chance to chase the overall championship.
That was also why Hansen brought up North Carolina. In terms of both strength and morale, North Carolina was comparable to the 1998 Chicago Bulls.
In fact, in Hansen's mory, North Carolina did end up winning the championship that year, creating a wonderful tale.
If they faced them, his pre-ga trash talk would definitely maximize the hate-effect.
"You seem almost regretful?" Tois noticed Hansen's mood.
"No, this news is indeed quite bad."
Michigan State University, while not as strong as North Carolina, started the season ranked in the top six and had now broken into the top five.
Barry University stood no chance against North Carolina, and they stood no chance against Michigan State either.
"Just perform well and don't put too much psychological pressure on yourself," Tois said, patting Hansen on the shoulder to comfort him.
Hansen nodded with a relaxed expression.
There's no way there could be pressure—it's not possible to have pressure from a ga you can't win, right?
The key was how to earn more haters.
Speaking of which, compared to North Carolina, Michigan State didn't have top-notch periter defenders, which could be advantageous for him.
"Right, I've also invited a friend to co and watch the ga. He's a reporter for ESPN," Tois originally refrained from telling Hansen for fear of adding pressure, but seeing how at ease Hansen was, he felt his worries were unnecessary.
"Coach, I love you to death!" Hansen was so excited that he imdiately gave Tois a big hug.
He had just earned a huge amount of "Hater Value" from Barkley's show, and now Tois was delivering another dia person right to him—how could he not be thrilled?
"Although he's not a scout, as long as you perform well, I believe there's a chance to be noticed by the NBA," Tois said, pushing Hansen away.
Hansen nodded emphatically.
Whether it was for "Hater Value" or exposure, this was a ga he had to play well.
After the team's practice was over, Hansen prepared to stay at the gym to continue practicing his passing.
This had been his routine ever since the opening ga.
It was good to be established as the core player by Tois, but this also ant that he was increasingly targeted by opponents during gas.
What he hadn't expected was that today, he wasn't the only one staying behind.
Rondo, O'Neal, and the others were all ready for additional training.
"What's all this?" Hansen was sowhat unused to this scene.
"We can't lose too disgracefully, right?" Rondo said with a smile.
Hansen felt sowhat moved.
Could extra practice erase the gap in strength between Barry University and Michigan State University?
The answer was obviously no.
Talent was an insurmountable chasm, not to ntion the tactical differences.
Rondo and the others were surely aware of this too.
But what felt different now was their ntality.
Compared to the start of the season, they had sothing called a "Desire to Win."
This certainly hadn't appeared overnight but had slowly ford over the course of many gas.
This was naturally good for Hansen as well.
Because if they were crushed, his stats, no matter how good they looked, wouldn't be worth much in the eyes of the ESPN reporter.
But if the ga was a back-and-forth battle, the perception would naturally be different.
After finishing the extra practice and returning to the dormitory for a shower, Hansen took his phone out for his habitual browsing of Facebook.
The heat in his comnt section had died down.
Such was the information age, with rapid turnover of news; no one would keep discussing the sa thing endlessly.
Hansen ticulously scanned the new comnts to see if there was anything he could use to rekindle the buzz.
Soon, he discovered one, and it was a very special one.
"We're about to start catching mice!"
In the comnt section swarming with haters, this comnt wasn't anything unusual, especially since the person posting it was using his main account.
Draymond Green.
Hansen's brows involuntarily furrowed at the sight of that na.
Of course, he knew who Green was—the "small ball era's insider answer," the cornerstone of the Warriors' small lineup, the master of directing play from the top of the key...
And even more famously known as the expert at pursuing stats, the creator of the 'Green Formula,' and the number one guy clutching onto Curry's coattails.
But that was the NBA-era Green.
The NCAA-era Green was just a four-star high school graduate ranked No. 95 in the class of 2008.
His ranking was even lower than "Hansen" back in the day, but his luck, or perhaps it was better to say his choice of school, was better than "Hansen's." He had the opportunity to get on the court at Michigan State.
Of course, as a rookie, even if he got ga ti, it was very limited—he was the kind that wouldn't attract much attention.
Entering into Green's personal profile, there weren't many followers, but the number was continuously growing.
Besides that, Hansen also saw other comnts on his profile.
"I've played against Davidson College, and Stephen Curry is truly the number one shooter in the NCAA. This guy isn't worth one of his fingers."
Well, I'll be damned, Green was licking Curry's boots even back in the NCAA!
Hansen continued to read on.
"What he's saying is utterly baseless; Davidson College would never want a piece of trash like him."
"Don't worry, we are about to face him and I will teach this loudmouth a lesson for Stephen."
Seeing these, Hansen frowned even more.
The tendencies of these comnts were very strong, it was hard for Curry's fans not to be drawn over.
Hansen hadn't known anything about Green during his NCAA days before.
Now it seed he had t a colleague.
...
Ti flew, and before long it was December 6th.
The players from Barry University arrived in East Lansing, Michigan, after a weary journey.
They would face off against their opponents at the Breslin Student Activity Center, the ho court of Michigan State University, the following evening.
But after their arrival, they encountered a problematic issue.
The main court had a leak and was undergoing repairs that wouldn't be finished until the next day. Michigan State University personnel wanted to use their practice gym and didn't leave any space for Barry University to train.
If they insisted on training, they had to find a gym elsewhere.
This caused dissatisfaction among the players, and Hansen frowned as well.
He wasn't upset about the training venue, but because of this, there wouldn't be a pre-ga press conference either.
This ant he would miss an important opportunity to earn "hater value."
However, not all was bad news.
On the way back to the hotel, Tois shared a piece of information.
Two days prior, Michigan State University had played an invitational ga on their ho court against the University of North Carolina and suffered a crushing defeat of 63 to 98.
Their adversaries were at the nadir of their morale.
...
The evening of December 7th, Breslin Student Activity Center.
The arena, capable of seating well over six thousand people, had only about half its seats filled.
The massive loss to North Carolina wasn't the point; the point was that many fans lacked interest in a ga against a second-tier league team.
This lack of interest was not only among the fans but also extended to so players of Michigan State University.
The team's star player, Kalin Lucas, only ward up for a bit before sitting on the sidelines to rest.
After a while, the starting center Goran Sutton also took a seat at the sidelines.
Standing 2.11 ters tall and weighing 115 kilograms, his stature already stood out in the NCAA.
"Kalin, why do you think the coach scheduled us a ga against a second-tier league team?" Sutton complained as he sat down.
Lucas glanced at the Barry University players who were warming up on the other side, a trace of helplessness flashing in his eyes, "Probably because of the tight schedule; they couldn't find any other teams."
"We shouldn't be playing against a second-tier league team. This is even worse than having an intrasquad scrimmage," Sutton said, obviously unimpressed.
"Just treat it as a warm-up," Lucas responded, withdrawing his gaze, his mind still preoccupied with the ga against North Carolina.
Losing to North Carolina wasn't a big deal, but the psychological shadow cast by a heavy defeat couldn't be shrugged off so easily.
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