On game night, Veterans Memorial Coliseum was packed to capacity.
Wake Forest's strong play through the exhibition stage, together with the team's first appearance in the AP poll since Paul left, had filled the fans with anticipation for this game.
If they could ride that momentum to a win over North Carolina, then topping the A League again like they had in the old days — even capturing the A League title and becoming a No. 1 seed in their NAA Tournament region — none of it would be a dream!
But once the game actually got underway, reality taught them a lesson right away.
Whether in player talent or tactical execution, North Carolina was more than a class above Wake Forest.
The Demon Deacons trailed from the opening tip and stayed smothered right up to the final buzzer, ultimately losing badly, 54–71.
Westbrook went just 3-of-14 from the field for 8 points, and though Curry scored 16, he once again committed 10 turnovers against UNC's high-intensity defense.
After the game, despair was written all over the fans' faces.
To be fair, even though Wake Forest had finished dead last in the A League last season, they had gone 9–3 in the exhibition stage back then — not much worse than this season's record.
Clearly, the intensity of A League play was nothing an ordinary exhibition slate could compare with.
The day after the game, Yang Shuai was in his office watching North Carolina film after getting out of class.
He wasn't watching the game from the night before, though — he was watching North Carolina's exhibition-stage matchup against Gonzaga.
North Carolina had played 14 games in the exhibition stage and gone 13–1, and the only one they lost was the one against Gonzaga.
Yang Shuai was in the middle of it when a knock sounded at the door.
He assumed it was Cole, but when he looked over, the visitor turned out to be Prosser.
Yang Shuai hurriedly got up and poured him a glass of water.
Prosser glanced at Yang Shuai's computer screen, took the water, sat down, and asked at once, "Do you think it's time to get Serge ready for game action?"
What Yang Shuai had done before had won him not only Curry's friendship but Prosser's trust as well.
Yang Shuai looked puzzled, unsure why Prosser would suddenly ask this.
Fortunately, Prosser soon went on: "At lunch today in the dining hall I saw Serge. Even while he was eating, he had an English book in his hands."
Yang Shuai understood at once why Prosser had come.
Unlike the NBA, the NAA doesn't assign players translators; anyone who wants to learn English has to do it on his own.
Ibaka had been in the United States only a little over half a year, yet he could already communicate smoothly with his teammates on the court and off.
What people usually chalked up to a gift for languages had turned out to be the work he put in behind the scenes.
Prosser's reaction to that scene was probably the same as Yang Shuai's own had been when he first learned where Ibaka's basketball skills came from.
Who wouldn't want to give a guy like that a chance?
"Players can only accumulate game experience and grow quickly by actually playing," Yang Shuai said, offering a perfectly sound reason.
Prosser stroked his chin and gave no response.
Seeing this, Yang Shuai added, "And after a blowout loss like that, we need some changes too."
At that, Prosser finally took his hand off his chin, and a smile spread across his face.
An NAA head coach holds a great deal of power, but running a team still means playing by the rules; otherwise the players underneath won't be won over, and the whole team falls into disorder.
The second reason Yang Shuai gave was an extremely fitting one.
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Prosser didn't hurry to stand. Instead, he stared fixedly at Yang Shuai.
His current assistant coach, Vincent, had received an offer to become a head coach with a D2 League team and would be leaving after this season.
Yang Shuai was a senior who would be graduating right when the season ended, and he was also close with Curry and Westbrook. If Prosser could keep him on as his assistant coach, that would be a fine option.
Of course, being an assistant coach and being a scout are two different jobs. The latter prizes an eye for talent — something Yang Shuai had already proven beyond doubt — but the former leans more on an understanding of tactics.
Under that unblinking stare, Yang Shuai began to feel uneasy and was just about to speak.
Right at that moment, Prosser turned his eyes to the computer. "Getting anything out of it?"
At Prosser's sudden question about the game, Yang Shuai didn't panic.
A scout's main job is recruiting players, but understanding tactics is a crucial part of the work too.
The most basic point: if you don't even understand tactics, how can you judge a player's basketball IQ?
A scout who doesn't understand tactics is like a literary critic who doesn't understand grammar — he can pick out individual words, but he can't grasp the true meaning of the sentences, paragraphs, and whole essays those words form when combined.
That was also why Yang Shuai had gone straight to studying Dean Smith's Basketball: Multiple Offense and Defense after crossing over into this world.
"Gonzaga played it smart. They didn't try to grind it out with North Carolina in the half-court game; instead they pushed the tempo as much as they could and dragged the game into transition offense." Yang Shuai gave his read.
As he spoke, he rewound the tape to a Gonzaga defensive possession:
"Take this possession. They put pressure on the ball handler, forced him to give it up, and came away with the steal. UNC's two starting perimeter players, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, are both very capable, but as freshmen they're still a bit short on experience handling the ball."
Yang Shuai fast-forwarded the tape to another defensive possession:
"And here — Gonzaga comes down with the rebound and immediately puts the ball in a guard's hands. The guard pushes the pace at full speed, then hits the teammate trailing behind him to finish the possession."
When he finished, Yang Shuai paused the video and picked up the notebook lying at the edge of the desk. "I ran the numbers. Gonzaga attempted 54 shots in the game, and 35 of them came off transition offense — over sixty percent."
Prosser took the notebook and looked through it. It wasn't just a few bare numbers — it held a detailed record of Gonzaga's shot selection on every single possession.
The thoroughness of Yang Shuai's work astonished Prosser.
He closed the notebook and looked at Yang Shuai. "Do you think this style would work for us?"
There was nothing readable on Prosser's face right then, and it was hard to guess what answer he was looking for.
"Our roster is similar to Gonzaga's — their talent isn't all that outstanding either — but they've leaned on this style to finish in the top three of the W League year after year. And Russell Westbrook fits it perfectly." Having laid out his analysis, Yang Shuai gave his conclusion: "I think it's worth a try."
What he couldn't say, of course, was that this style would become widespread in the future.
As the saying goes, when talent falls short, let possessions make up the difference. Cut down on half-court play and fight instead for a high success rate in transition — a clever way for a weaker team to beat a stronger one.
Granted, because of the high-intensity defense and running, playing this style on a packed schedule can easily set off a wave of injuries — but that drawback is exactly the kind of thing the lighter NAA schedule can avoid.
"Besides, the second half of our season opener against Vanderbilt proved we have the potential to play this way." Finally, Yang Shuai tied it back to the Demon Deacons themselves.
When Yang Shuai finished, a smile resurfaced on Prosser's face, as if he had gotten some answer he was after. He reached out, patted Yang Shuai on the shoulder, and got up to leave.
At team practice the next day, the Demon Deacons added drills on pressuring the ball handler.
And when Yang Shuai arrived at the practice facility, Prosser even called him over to talk through tactical details.
The sight left Cole staring in astonishment.
Prosser might not have been as famous as Dean Smith or Roy Williams, but before coming to Wake Forest he had coached at Xavier, leading the school to three conference titles — an outstanding coach by any measure.
Precisely because of that, he rarely discussed team tactics with anyone.
And yet, against all expectation, Yang Shuai the scout had become the exception.
After three days' rest, Wake Forest traveled to Boston to take on the Boston College Eagles.
The Eagles' AP ranking had slipped a little from the start of the season, but they still sat around No. 20. Their core trio was the perimeter twin guns Tyrese Rice and Sean Marshall, along with Jared Dudley inside.
Dudley especially. A senior averaging 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists per game this season, plus 43.3 percent shooting from three, he was considered a player with first-round NBA draft prospects.
In the first half, riding their overall advantage in strength, the Eagles led the Demon Deacons 51–40, a double-digit margin.
In the second half, the Demon Deacons made their tactical adjustment, applying pressure defense to the Eagles' ball handlers.
The tactic wasn't complicated to begin with, so they picked it up quickly, and the sudden change in defensive intensity caught Boston College off guard.
Riding wave after wave of transition offense, the Demon Deacons fought back, and with three minutes left a fast-break layup by Westbrook tied the game, forcing the Eagles to call timeout.
But coming out of that timeout, Dudley stepped up.
First he caught the ball at the high post, turned, and drove into the paint for two points to steady his team; then he knocked down a three from outside despite the defense. Those five straight points of his rebuilt the lead.
Pressure defense is a heavy drain on a player's stamina, and by now the Demon Deacons' legs were clearly failing them. That final push just wouldn't come, and they came up just short, 75–80.
Though Wake Forest had clearly played far better than they had against UNC, back-to-back losses to open A League play were already a fact — and the schedule gave them no chance to catch their breath at all.
As soon as they returned to Winston-Salem from the Boston College game, Wake Forest had to brace for a visit from their archrival Duke.
And what's more, it would be a nationally televised game.
Chapter 16