The Big Three

Taking Bob Knight's advice to heart, Xu Ling threw himself into studying post-up offense. He specifically dug up game tape of the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls. His original goal was to study Michael Jordan's post play, but he found himself unexpectedly captivated by the GOAT's off-ball movement. The way Jordan drifted into open space like a phantom and struck from critical spots like a stalking cheetah held Xu Ling spellbound. Only after watching for hours did his focus return to the post. He alternated between breaking down film and dragging teammates onto the practice court to drill against them. It didn't take long for him to realize that post play was easy to pick up but notoriously difficult to master—a truth that applied to most skills that didn't demand years of grinding basic fundamentals. On day one, Xu Ling came to understand that post-ups were an art form tailor-made for big men. From the moment basketball was invented, it was destined to be a giant's game. But what were those early giants actually like? They were slow, clumsy, and utterly unrefined, resembling nothing so much as a draggy, terrible eighties action flick. Coaches quickly figured out that to get any value out of them, they had to park them under the basket. Down low, their sole advantage—pure size—could do the work. It was basketball's simplest law of physics. This very "gravitational pull" gave birth to the post-up, a skill embodying the court's most primal law of survival: tall crushed short, and heavy bullied skinny. When a physical freak combined height, strength, and raw athleticism, he could take over games at will. Players with that kind of God-given hardware had no need for intricate footwork; they simply used their bodies to bulldoze defenders into the paint and do whatever they pleased at the rim. The history of basketball was filled with such dominant interior forces. George Mikan had retained an elegant hook shot, but soon Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain ruled the 1960s on sheer physical brilliance. Just as that era of giants drew to a close, a technically sublime Lew Alcindor burst onto the scene with his unstoppable skyhook. By the 1980s, Ralph Sampson and David Robinson arrived as the sport's first "unicorn" big men. A few years later, Shaquille O'Neal—the ultimate genetic lottery jackpot—redefined interior dominance through devastating power, terrifying explosiveness, and uncanny coordination. Shaq hardly needed complex post moves; a guard who could feed him the entry pass and an unpretentious baby hook were all it took to make him the most feared low-post monster the game had ever seen. Post play was really that straightforward. Naturally, there were outliers like Hakeem Olajuwon and Kevin McHale who defied convention with dazzling footwork, but at its core, the post was a contest of pure physical force. This left Xu Ling questioning whether he truly needed to master it. Even without practice, he could already punish smaller guards in the low post through sheer size, and against bigger, stronger opponents, failing to back them down would hardly derail his game. Knight, however, insisted on it. "No matter how much time it takes, you master this craft," Knight told him. "Otherwise, you'll never catch Michael Jordan competitively." He paused, then added, "Hell, you won't even see Kobe's taillights." Even though Xu Ling's head was full of progressive small-ball concepts from a later era, he had no intention of lecturing Knight with them. Knight understood the demands of this era far better than he did. With seven games remaining in the Big 12 regular season, Xu Ling evolved from an initiator who operated strictly on the perimeter into a versatile wing alternating between the high and low post. His first testing ground came against Iowa State. While considered one of the Big 12's weaker programs, they weren't to be taken lightly, thanks to a freshman named Wesley Johnson. Like Xu Ling, Johnson had been an unheralded recruit who earned an immediate starting spot in his debut season, and in a few years, he would go on to be a top-five NBA draft pick. Xu Ling remembered the name, though not much else. Knowing only that the kid would eventually reach the league was reason enough to use him as a sparring partner. Wesley didn't dare underestimate Xu Ling either. Though both were freshmen, Xu Ling's meteoric rise had already cemented him as a projected lottery pick in the 2007 NBA draft, regarded nationwide as an elite newcomer. Yet for reasons nobody could figure out, Texas Tech's version of Jordan seemed obsessed with forcing low-post touches all night. His shooting percentage was mediocre, but his rhythm was impeccable. Wesley couldn't withstand Xu Ling's bumps down low, getting shoved back on multiple possessions. Even so, Xu Ling often failed to convert around the rim after creating separation. Eventually, though, he caught the feel. Bumping his defender back and rising into a textbook turnaround fadeaway, the motion looked straight out of a grainy 480p Michael Jordan highlight reel. *Swish!* A rush of satisfaction washed over Xu Ling. The sensation of bumping off contact and flowing seamlessly into a shot was incredible. On the next possession, he tried to recreate that exact rhythm, but the touch vanished. Whenever his post game grew stagnant, he drifted out to the perimeter to clear his head, casually firing a few three-pointers to reset his mindset before heading back down low. Poor Iowa State never realized they were serving as live practice dummies. Their resistance crumbled, ending in a twenty-point blowout defeat to Texas Tech. After the game, Knight reminded Xu Ling not to become dogmatic. He needed to explore every scoring angle rather than hyper-focusing on just one. Xu Ling took the critique in stride. From then on, he poured extra hours into the post during private workouts, while in actual games, he only brought it out once the team had built a comfortable cushion. He discovered that whenever his jump shot and on-ball creation were clicking, his post game fell naturally into place as well. His breakout performance soon followed against Colorado State, the cellar-dweller of the Big 12. Slashing inside, pulling up from deep, and punishing defenders in the post, Xu Ling converted 80 percent of his shots on his way to a school-record 44 points. "I know Coach Knight might not like hearing this, but the truth is the truth—Eli played like the undisputed best freshman in the country tonight!" Colorado State head coach Ricardo Patton gushed during his postgame press conference. "He shouldn't waste any more time in college. As soon as this freshman year is done, he needs to jump straight to the pros!" The comments instantly ignited a media frenzy. At the same time, ESPN's updated mock draft sent fresh shockwaves through the basketball world. The Chinese phenom cracked the top five for the first time, establishing himself as the draft's biggest riser. Longtime NBA draft analyst Chad Ford marveled in his column: *"Eli's development curve is unlike anything I've witnessed in two decades on the beat! What's truly terrifying is that this young man still possesses unimaginable upside."* Across the Big 12, the traditional hierarchy was crumbling. Defending champion Kansas suffered a surprise upset against Texas A&M. Though the Jayhawks retained first place via tiebreakers, their slim 1.5-game cushion looked increasingly fragile. If Texas Tech ran the table while Kansas dropped another contest, the Red Raiders would pull off a stunning coup, dethroning the conference's perennial powerhouse. Every matchup was beginning to carry seismic implications. Still, regular-season dominance guaranteed nothing in March. NCAA Tournament bids would ultimately hinge on the conference tournament, making every remaining contest critical. Xu Ling's explosion unmistakably lit a fire under the country's other two premier freshmen. It was hardly surprising. In the storyline analysts had envisioned, this freshman class was supposed to be a two-man race. Greg Oden, hobbled by injuries, had yet to reach his full potential, while Kevin Durant was putting together one of the most prolific freshman campaigns in NCAA history. Until Xu Ling's deep buzzer-beater stunned the Longhorns, those two had stood in a tier of their own. Ever since Xu Ling drained that historic game-winner over Durant's outstretched arm, the narrative had shifted. Discussions of a "Big Three" began spreading across sports forums nationwide. Even more daunting was Xu Ling's recent production. Pumping in 25 points per contest, trailing only Durant's 26, he had firmly positioned himself on equal footing. That reality clearly stung the Texas phenom. Durant, who had traded blows with Xu Ling in their first meeting, fired back with a 40-point masterpiece against Missouri State. In his postgame interview, he offered a pointed comment: "Greg is a beast. Eli is like a create-a-player out of *NBA Live*. Me, I just do my job—grab rebounds, knock down shots. Hook 'em Horns." When Xu Ling heard the quote, he nearly sprayed his sports drink all over the locker room whiteboard. *A create-a-player?* Coming from a guy who stood six-foot-ten barefoot with a seven-foot-five wingspan, possessed blinding speed, elite body control, absurd ball-handling, a lethal touch, and athletic tools that shattered the charts? How could someone with those cheat-code attributes say that with a straight face? It was the most ridiculous thing Xu Ling had come across since his past life, when he had seen clips on Bilibili of Tony Ooki singing better than Jay Chou. Before long, Oden broke his silence as well—even while playing through lingering ailments. In Ohio State's next matchup, the prodigy center exploded off the floor in the final seconds, soaring like a rocket to swat a game-winning layup attempt into the stands. The home broadcast lost its collective mind: "Greg's rejection was like a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth! Ballgame!" That was the breathtaking ceiling Oden offered. He had been touted as the fourth coming of Bill Russell—following in the footsteps of Patrick Ewing and David Robinson—and while such weighty labels were often a curse, being hailed as the reincarnation of the ultimate champion virtually guaranteed an eighteen-year-old the number-one overall pick. Oden's dominant display provided emphatic validation for Chad Ford, who had slotted him atop mock drafts time and again: *"Whenever Greg Oden decides to take over, he becomes a supernatural force on the floor!"* Yet when the cameras found the big man after the final buzzer, he remained characteristically grounded. "I really don't pay attention to that stuff," Oden said softly. "My wrist is bothering me. All I care about is staying healthy. My only wish is to get back to a hundred percent and give everything I've got." As the college regular season drew to a close, Oden laid his heart bare to the press. Nobody realized his modest plea carried the same haunting weight as Pete Maravich's chilling line—*"I don't want to play ten years in the NBA and die of a heart attack at forty"*—a dark omen foreshadowing tragedy. From that point forward, the hype surrounding the Big Three surged relentlessly. The spectacle reached a fever pitch in Texas Tech's regular-season finale: a road rematch against the University of Texas. It marked the second showdown between Xu Ling and Durant. With Kansas having won out to secure the conference's top spot and Texas Tech locked into second, the standings were already decided. Stripped of tactical gamesmanship and seeding pressure, the finale transformed into a pure gladiatorial arena under the national spotlight. This time around, Texas Tech brought an entirely different dynamic to the court, beginning in their backcourt. After months of growing pains, team captain Jarrius Jackson had finally figured out how to thrive alongside Xu Ling. No longer viewing the freshman as a threat, Jackson embraced him as the catalyst that elevated his own game. Neither disappointed. Xu Ling caught fire from the perimeter, answering the hostile crowd's deafening boos with daggers from beyond the arc. Jackson, meanwhile, showcased the form of an elite national scoring guard. He abandoned low-efficiency isolation sets in favor of sharp two-man synergy with Xu Ling. When Xu Ling drew defensive gravity through his off-ball cuts, Jackson slashed through the vacated lanes; when Durant switched onto him, Jackson exploited his superior burst and change of pace to attack the rim. The two barely needed eye contact. A crossed cut or a single hand gesture was all the communication required. Jackson delivered an efficient 22 points while dishing out seven assists, more than half of which set up Xu Ling on his way to his second 40-point outing of the season. Durant found himself locked in a grueling battle against Xu Ling. His perimeter jumper ran cold, yet the gifted freshman found another way to exert his terrifying dominance. Following a Longhorns miss, Durant towered over two Texas Tech forwards, snatching an offensive board out of the sky before powering through Xu Ling's rotation for a putback score. "You can contest my jumper!" Durant barked, panting heavily as he landed and glared at Xu Ling. "Think you can stop me on the glass?!" Before Xu Ling could answer, Jackson's voice cut in from behind. "He doesn't need every rebound, Kevin." Jackson jogged over, pulled Xu Ling to his feet, and met Durant's glare head-on. "Because he's knocking down every damn answer-back shot." "That's right," Xu Ling grinned at Durant. "Do yourself a favor and chase a few more boards." At that moment, Texas Tech held a six-point cushion over the Longhorns. Yet it was Durant's sheer dominance on the glass—hauling down fifteen rebounds, seven of them on the offensive end—that kept Texas within striking distance down to the final buzzer. In the end, Texas Tech's sharper execution and cohesive teamwork carried the day. 86–82. Finishing with an impressive 15–1 conference record, Texas Tech locked up the second seed in the Big 12 tournament, needing just a single postseason victory to punch their ticket to March Madness. Stinging from the defeat, Durant tracked Xu Ling down as the court cleared. "I'll be waiting for you in the Big 12 championship. Don't you dare miss it." "Nobody cares about the Big 12 title," Xu Ling replied with a faint smile. "My goal is the national championship."