"Damn it, Brandan Wright! You talked all that shit before the game, and now you're just going to let him walk all over you?"
As the number one supporter of the Tar Heels, Michael Jordan was fuming on the sidelines. Other NBA personnel might have been there to scout prospects, but Jordan had only one identity at this moment—a lifelong, loyal Tar Heel. Naturally, he was there to support his alma mater. Even if his discerning professional eye unconsciously dissected every player on the floor, right now, all that burned inside him was white-hot rage at Wright's spineless display.
Right as Jordan raged, Xu Ling faced Wright on offense once again. With a simple shot fake, Xu Ling easily baited Wright, whose center of gravity was far too high, into the air. Sliding to the side with a single dribble, he pulled up for a silky-smooth mid-range jumper.
Swish!
The moment the ball ripped through the net, the referee's whistle blew—a defensive foul on Wright. And-one for Xu Ling!
This scene had practically become the epitome of the first half. None of the talk Wright had directed at Xu Ling before the game earned him any respect; instead, it felt like repeated slaps across his own face. He was not only completely locked down by Xu Ling on offense, but on defense, he had turned into an ATM where Xu Ling could cash in at will.
"How did North Carolina end up picking him?" an NBA scout muttered to a colleague courtside. "They passed on Kevin Durant."
That offhand complaint echoed a well-known story across NBA circles. Before Xu Ling's freshman class entered college, aside from Greg Oden, who stood alone in a tier of his own, the remaining top recruits were generally seen as being on roughly the same level. Kevin Durant and Brandan Wright in particular shared similar builds, wingspans, and athleticism; what set them apart was their skill set.
Durant looked like Tracy McGrady—an unpredictable freak of nature—while Wright was compared to Kevin Garnett and Chris Bosh, deemed to have an undeniably safer development trajectory.
Ultimately, North Carolina, which had produced countless stars, chose Brandan Wright. At the time, they genuinely believed Wright was the superior prospect, but that notion had become a laughingstock once the new season got underway.
Durant was putting on a historic display of offensive firepower, while Wright exposed more and more flaws within UNC's loaded roster: an awkward shooting form, a lack of shooting confidence, a lack of hustle, and a fragile ego paired with unwarranted complacency. Scouts graded his raw talent a 9, but when it came to the "intangibles," he earned a failing 6.
Watching Wright look so clumsy and helpless in front of Xu Ling now, Jordan's anger mingled with a bitter pang of regret and disappointment. The future star his alma mater had banked on was putting on his most embarrassing display on the biggest stage.
Jordan, who had always taken immense pride in his alma mater, couldn't help but think of Kwame Brown after seeing the scouting reports his team had gathered on the UNC standout.
He loathed players who didn't play hard.
It wasn't until Wright initiated the trash talk against Xu Ling before the game that Jordan's opinion of him had briefly improved. Yet before Wright could back up a single word, Xu Ling had pinned him to a pillar of shame.
Having crushed his opponents' fighting spirit countless times during his playing days, Jordan knew all too well that Wright was on the verge of a mental collapse. And that breakdown would deal a devastating blow to the Tar Heels.
Right then, Wright clanged a high-post jumper off the rim. Jordan's face darkened even further. "Is that bastard just trying to prove he's a coward? Dammit, what is Roy waiting for? Yank him already!"
Wright's complete dysfunction sent North Carolina into early disarray. Unable to establish any rhythm, they ceded control of the game to TTU.
Yet UNC head coach Roy Williams seemed even calmer than a Zen-besotted Phil Jackson, showing zero inclination to call a timeout. Tar Heels fans had a love-hate relationship with this habit of his; it was Williams's signature quirk. As long as his players weren't in total despair, and as long as the coaching staff's game plan hadn't gone off the rails, he rarely called timeouts to halt the flow of play.
TTU raced out to an 11–4 start.
Just as they looked to widen the gap, UNC starting point guard Ty Lawson had seen enough.
Shifting into high gear, Lawson blew past Jarrius Jackson in an instant. Wary of the zone defense, he didn't drive deep into the paint, pulling up from the perimeter instead to sink a long mid-range jumper, delivering two sorely needed points for North Carolina.
Xu Ling hadn't expected Jackson to stop Lawson anyway. Lawson was likely the only player from North Carolina's starting lineup who would carve out a serious name for himself in the NBA—not only becoming a multi-year NBA starter, but even having his signature dribble packages motion-captured into the NBA 2K series. For now, though, Xu Ling had other priorities.
Wright seemed to realize he wasn't going to be the star tonight, so he channeled everything into defense, determined to lock Xu Ling down.
Xu Ling cut backdoor and popped out to the perimeter to catch the ball. Wright spread his long arms, closing in like a human spider. "You're not doing a damn thing!"
Wright barked loudly, looking like an elite defender for a split second. But Xu Ling's jab step immediately knocked him off balance, sending him jumping like a monkey. Xu Ling drove past him with a dribble, gathered after two strides, elevated, and laid it in.
"Nice defense," Xu Ling quipped sarcastically. "Just good enough to let me do whatever I want."
The worst part wasn't being beaten; the worst part was Wright realizing that his opponent was simply on a higher level. Once that realization set in, it was catastrophic to his competitive will.
Because this was the very person he had been using for self-motivation.
Whenever scouts doubted him, he comforted himself with thoughts of Xu Ling—telling himself that if he played on a weak team, he could put up those numbers too.
Yet now, facing off head-to-head on the court, Xu Ling had dismantled him effortlessly.
There was no greater irony, and no greater humiliation.
Meanwhile, North Carolina continued to lean on Lawson's individual brilliance on offense.
He demonstrated an offensive potency that was more than a tier above Jackson's.
First, a drive into a pull-up jumper, followed by calling a pick-and-roll, driving, and kicking it out to Wayne Ellington for a three-pointer.
When TTU missed a shot in their half-court set, Tyler Hansbrough pulled down the defensive rebound and fired an outlet pass to Lawson, who went coast to coast for a rapid layup.
He was putting on a clinic on how a primary playmaker impacts a game.
Bob Knight was no Roy Williams; he wasn't about to sit back and watch his backcourt get torn to shreds.
Letting players just "figure it out on their own" was a joke at any level of competition!
This was the NCAA, not the AAU. If players could solve every problem themselves, what the hell was a coach for?
In fact, that was precisely why Knight held so-called blue-blood coaching legends like John Wooden and Dean Smith in contempt.
Just because you were a powerhouse program, you could recruit top prospects in your sleep, and then toy with whatever schemes you wanted using an overflow of raw talent. What UCLA system? What "letting players express themselves"? Try doing that here at a place like TTU!
Knight signaled for a timeout.
He subbed Jackson out and inserted senior big man Darryl Dora, then turned to Xu Ling. "Find a way to shut down Ty Lawson."
Xu Ling asked, "No game plan?"
Knight replied cryptically, "I think that little bastard is virtually unstoppable at the college level, but you have to keep him under wraps! If you could handle Acie Law, you can handle him! If I have to give you advice, I'd say dare him to shoot the three. Compared to everything else he does, his three-point shooting is just average."
Xu Ling knew full well just how much impact a nation-leading point guard could wield in a game.
Having watched Lawson from the floor earlier, he genuinely hadn't spotted many flaws.
Steady shooting, ambidextrous handles, excellent passing vision and touch.
No blind spots.
On the other side, TTU inserting Dora gave them two big men, which seemed to grant Brandan Wright a brief reprieve, as Xu Ling had been thoroughly dominating him.
"Rookie, our coach is sick of seeing a freshman drop buckets on your head!" Dora barked at Wright. "Let me show you a good time from here on out!"
The beauty of veterans was that they always knew exactly how to dismantle a freshman's psyche.
Next, Xu Ling matched up with Wayne Ellington, North Carolina's premier perimeter scoring threat. Ellington's defense was glaringly weak; had Xu Ling not been tasked with targeting Lawson, attacking Ellington would have been the optimal path.
However, real targeting often begins on the offensive end.
Xu Ling stepped up to set a screen for Zeno, pivoted, crisscrossed, and successfully forced a switch with Lawson onto him. Zeno zipped a pass inside, creating the mismatch: Xu Ling against Lawson.
Lawson was not a great defender; if Xu Ling simply wanted to score on him, it wouldn't take much effort.
But what Knight wanted wasn't a scoring duel between Xu Ling and Lawson.
So Xu Ling turned his back, slamming his frame of over ninety kilograms forcefully into Lawson.
Lawson was knocked back a full stride. Instead of using the opening to make a move, Xu Ling gathered his weight again and plowed backward into Lawson a second time.
It was the most unapologetically brutal way to attack in basketball.
As long as you had superior mass or brute strength, you could physically impose your will in the post on anyone outmatched in those physical metrics.
Xu Ling's second bump sent Lawson crashing to the hardwood. Resistance was out of the question; hitting the floor was almost a mercy for Lawson—at least it spared him a third collision.
Wright rushed over in a frenzy to provide help defense, only for Xu Ling to snap a crisp bounce pass past him, assisting Darryl Dora for an easy basket.
Xu Ling had lost all interest in Wright. He shot Lawson a provocative glance, a silent sneer, before turning and jogging back.
"That fucking Number One!"
Lawson's temper flared visibly, compounded by frustration with Brandan Wright's porous play.
Rattled and provoked by Xu Ling, Lawson saw Xu Ling take the initiative to guard him and burned to settle the score on the spot. He stepped hard on the gas, bent on tearing through this nationally renowned super freshman in one fell swoop.
Yet Lawson's impatience left his handle exposed. Xu Ling swiped downward with his long arms, stripping the ball away.
"Great defense!"
Martin Zeno shouted as he scooped up the loose ball. Seeing Xu Ling already streaking downcourt, Zeno flung an outlet pass ahead.
The arena erupted in cheers as the TTU faithful chanted his name.
"The Michael Jordan of TTU"?
He no longer needed that kind of hype.
With no one in front of him on the fast break, Xu Ling abruptly slammed on the brakes.
Bob Knight threw his hands up, grumbling, "That bastard... here he goes again!"
The TTU fans were already accustomed to it: turning his back on the guaranteed two points, Xu Ling greedily pulled up for a transition three.
Swish!
"In all of college basketball, Eli is the only player brazen enough to pull up for three on a breakaway and still shut his coaching staff up!" the announcer's voice echoed beneath the rafters. "Either embrace the madness, or change the channel to golf—that's the Eli Rule!"
As soon as Xu Ling jogged back on defense, Bob Knight bellowed at him from the sideline. The veteran coach's face was flushed red, gesturing with both hands. "Dammit, Eli! You should've taken that to the rack for two! I want the safe two points!"
Having grown accustomed to this routine, Xu Ling let the facts speak for themselves. "But I made it."
Knight glared at him, momentarily choked by the utter simplicity of the answer. In the end, he just waved his arm dismissively. "You'd better never miss one of those damn circus threes!"
Xu Ling could only take that as a warm blessing from the GOAT of college coaching.
Still, why did these self-proclaimed GOATs always love spouting such nonsense?
That was a question for another day.
Chapter 36