In the final Associated Press poll of 2006, Texas Tech climbed to No. 20 in the nation, knocking out Marquette on the strength of their showing at the Pete Newell Invitational.
In its profile on Texas Tech, the AP wrote: "With Jarrius Jackson's academic eligibility resolved, TTU possesses the firepower on paper to tear through college basketball—Eli, Jarrius, and Martin Zeno. If they get into a rhythm, even Florida would tremble before them."
Yet things did not unfold as the AP had anticipated.
Following Jackson's return, TTU had two tune-up games left on the schedule, carrying all the momentum of a twelve-game winning streak.
The outside world expected them to enter the Big 12 Tournament undefeated, but instead, UNLV shattered their unblemished record, and Arkansas blew them out soon after.
As team captain, Jarrius Jackson averaged twenty field-goal attempts across those two games, but shot a dismal sub-forty percent from the floor.
"Jarrius Jackson might be burying what little draft stock he had left."
Xu Ling was perhaps the only player exempt from blame in the two-game skid. Against UNLV, he poured in a team-high twenty-four points on just fifteen shots. Against Arkansas, for reasons unknown, Knight limited him to twenty-two minutes, and the game slipped out of reach before he could make a meaningful impact.
Even though neither game affected their standing in the conference tournament, Xu Ling could clearly sense Jackson competing against him.
A starter since his freshman year, hailed as a Texas Tech legend, Jackson was unwilling to see his status on the squad usurped by a freshman just because he had missed a dozen games over academics.
Naturally, he wanted to make an immediate statement.
In truth, that was an uphill battle.
Before Jackson's return, the team had rattled off twelve consecutive victories, with Xu Ling leading the way as the undisputed centerpiece, averaging 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists with balanced two-way play. It was that very run that had propelled him into national first-round mock drafts.
By that standard, Jackson's performance was virtually a negative.
He couldn't score, couldn't defend, and showed none of a captain's poise, instead letting his inner frustration spill onto the court.
Xu Ling wasn't angry; he just thought Jackson was being foolish.
A player like that was either blindingly conceited or utterly blind to reality.
If the former, he was a lost cause; if the latter, he might still be salvaged.
With the tournament right around the corner, if Jackson refused to change, Xu Ling would indeed have to usurp him just as Jackson feared.
At the end of the day, the role of team leader belonged to whoever had the game to back it up.
Back in the locker room, before Xu Ling could even speak, Knight burst in fuming and roared, "If you bastards don't think these games are worth taking seriously, we can forfeit right now! If this chickenshit performance is who you really are, I swear to God you'll be the laughingstock of the conference just like last year!"
"J.J.!" Knight barked. "You're playing like a stray cur running with wolves! If this is all you've got, pack your bags and get the hell out! I'd rather play without you, understand? If you can't even guard a clown like Wink Adams, how the hell do you expect to stop D.J. Augustin and Mario Chalmers?"
Knight then whipped around toward the rest of the room and snarled, "If you keep playing basketball like this, you won't win a single game on the Big 12 schedule. Not one! I couldn't find an opponent weak enough for you to beat!"
Knight's tirade bounced right off Xu Ling's ears.
His mind was already somewhere else—just as McGrady had once said, he was already thinking about their first opponent in the Big 12 Tournament.
That indifference acted like a needle, puncturing Knight's boiling temper.
"And you, Eli!" Knight's voice shot up an octave, his fury flaring as if someone had dumped gasoline on it.
"Huh???" Xu Ling looked up.
"Don't you dare think tonight's loss had nothing to do with you! You didn't step up! You said you wanted to be the Jordan of college basketball, but college Jordan wouldn't stand around doing nothing for twenty-two minutes!"
Xu Ling's stat line that night was fourteen points and five rebounds.
"My plus-minus tonight was plus-four," Xu Ling replied evenly. "In other words, in the twenty-two minutes I was on the floor, we weren't outscored. Instead of calling me out, maybe you should explain why you only played me twenty-two minutes."
The locker room instantly froze.
"Kid!" Knight growled, barely holding his rage in check. "You think you can tell me how to do my job? You think you call the shots around here?!!"
"Someone has to take responsibility for the loss," Xu Ling said. He possessed a rare talent for getting under the skin of anyone trying to pick a fight, all without uttering a single curse word. "But that person isn't me. I would hope you can tell right from wrong, Coach."
"You...!"
The assistant coaches looked on with racing hearts.
Several had followed Knight for years, and none had ever seen anyone dare challenge The General so openly.
"I mean no offense," Xu Ling said. "I simply refuse to take the blame for something that isn't mine. That's all."
Knight drew in a ragged breath. *How much longer do I have to put up with this kid? Why am I even tolerating him?*
Deep down, Knight knew why: Xu Ling was right.
Making an example of star players to keep the rest of the roster in line—whether the star had actually messed up or not—had always been Knight's signature move. But against Xu Ling, it had failed.
Xu Ling had the guts to talk back, and because he genuinely hadn't made any mistakes, Knight had no real ammunition left to tear into him.
In the end, Knight shifted from the one-on-one confrontation into a blanket berating of the entire team: "I'm goddamn sick of yelling at you every night! Sick of it! Hit the showers and get the hell out of my sight! I'm done wasting my breath! This was complete horseshit! None of you want to play hard! I have never seen a team with so many excuses!"
And just like that, a miserable night came to a close.
Aside from Jarrius Jackson, everyone else was quietly grateful to Xu Ling.
By taking the brunt of Knight's wrath on his own, Xu Ling had prevented the coach from dragging every single culprit responsible for the losing streak out for an individual execution.
Now, the Texas Tech Red Raiders had to return to Lubbock to regroup.
The final tune-up game was behind them.
Their sole focus now was preparing for the conference tournament.
The following day, Knight ran the practice session himself.
Usually after a loss, Knight would punish the team with brutal extra conditioning.
Today, however, it was as if he had developed sudden amnesia, acting as though nothing had happened the night before.
When their standard two-hour practice concluded, Knight tossed a basketball to Xu Ling and said, "Make a shot from right where you're standing into the far basket, and practice is over. I'll give you three tries!"
"From here?"
Xu Ling glanced down. While not quite a logo shot, it was easily thirty feet from the target basket.
"If you think it's too tough, I can give you five tries," Knight said. "Make it and you rest. Miss, and you lead these idiots through thirty baseline suicides!"
"From here..."
Knight asked, "Too tough for you?"
Xu Ling pulled up and let it fly, drilling the deep three on his very first attempt.
"Too close," Xu Ling said, wiping the sweat from his palms onto his chest jersey. "That's what I was going to say."
Knight broke into a grin.
That brief exchange captured the essence of their dynamic.
If Xu Ling had to describe it based on his few months of life after transmigration, the best analogy was a piece of Hollywood tabloid drama from 2006—Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. One minute they were inseparable best friends; the next, Paris was ridiculing Lindsay's private life to the press while Lindsay went off to date Paris's ex-boyfriend. Then they inexplicably made up, only for Lindsay to accuse Paris of attacking her at a party a few days later. Just when everyone thought they had cut ties forever, paparazzi caught them partying together and sharing a car, with Lindsay vehemently denying she had ever said those things. But in the blink of an eye, Paris was back on television calling Lindsay a "sick bitch."
Compared to that, their player-coach relationship was practically wholesome.
A few days later, the calendar turned over.
2007 had arrived.
For the college basketball world, the real feast was about to begin.
Division I teams across the country were set to embark on the high-stakes battle of conference tournament play, fighting for coveted bids to March Madness. For an elite conference like the Big 12, opening day fell squarely on New Year's Day.
Texas Tech was featured in one of the opening matchups, pitted against in-state rival Texas A&M University. The Aggies were a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team—not quite elite, but calling them second-rate felt unfair, especially when they boasted the consensus top point guard in the conference, Acie Law.
At four o'clock that afternoon, both squads assembled at United Spirit Arena.
During warmups, Acie Law sauntered over with a jab: "J.J., didn't realize you were still around. The other day, I almost thought TTU was that No. 1 freshman's team now."
Jackson scowled. "I don't have anything to say to you."
Law clearly knew how to play mind games. Having rattled Jackson, he happened to see Xu Ling clang a casual three-pointer off the iron and let out a scoff: "Rookie, you're about ten years too early to be calling yourself Jordan!"
"Excuse me," Xu Ling replied, looking at the player who sat high in the lottery on ESPN's fresh New Year mock draft. "Who are you?"
***
Sidebar:
ESPN Mock Draft 1.0
Author: Chad Ford
Published: December 9, 2006, 9:40 AM ET
Pick | Team | Player | Class | School / Country | Position
1 | Boston Celtics | Greg Oden | Fr. | Ohio State | C
2 | Memphis Grizzlies | Kevin Durant | Fr. | Texas | SF
3 | Milwaukee Bucks | Joakim Noah | Jr. | Florida | PF/C
4 | Seattle SuperSonics | Brandan Wright | Fr. | North Carolina | PF
5 | Philadelphia 76ers | Julian Wright | So. | Kansas | SF
6 | Atlanta Hawks | Al Horford | Jr. | Florida | PF/C
7 | Sacramento Kings | Yi Jianlian (International) | — | Guangdong Southern Tigers (China) | PF
8 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Jeff Green | Jr. | Georgetown | F
9 | Charlotte Bobcats | Mike Conley | Fr. | Ohio State | PG
10 | Chicago Bulls | Spencer Hawes | Fr. | Washington | C
11 | Indiana Pacers | Corey Brewer | Jr. | Florida | SG/SF
12 | Philadelphia 76ers | Acie Law | Sr. | Texas A&M | PG
...
28 | Dallas Mavericks | Eli Xu | Fr. | Texas Tech | SG/SF
Chapter 12