章 14: That's Rough
Ten in the morning.
All eighteen members of the Illinois men's basketball team had finished their morning practice drills, and were now assembled in the middle of the hardcourt.
Coach Mike Roughan stood in front of them, wearing his usual plain collared shirt and denim, along with his two assistant coaches.
His straight, unreadable face, and his posture gave the players an eerie sense that he would be breathing fire like a dragon once he started talking…
"That scrimmage impressed me, keep it up."
This tough, unyielding group had weathered many storms, they've braved the toughest of seas, and the cruelest of waves.
They were ready for the ceaseless amount of scathing remarks their level of play deserved.
What they weren't ready for was a simple heap of underhanded praise.
It made their stomachs fill with butterflies, good feelings, and emotions so beautiful it was like a pipe dream.
"There were mistakes here and there, but it was a fantastic tuneup game nonetheless." Roughan walked back and forth, still not reading the papers he had on hand.
Every Illinois upperclassman was in cloud nine.
Most of the freshmen were in cloud nine as well, except for one.
Tremaine Mills.
'No way the coach is spewing such beautiful sounding bullshit…' He was stunned of course, knowing how compliments from him were as rare as big pieces of diamonds, so he can't take his statements at face value.
Coach Roughan looked at the faces of every single satisfied player of his, and was glad too.
"Those good things are what I wanted to tell you after that game, but…"
Everyone heard the massive 'but' and slowly tensed up.
Are you really gonna plunge us to the depths of hell right after you showered us with your rare, hard earned words of praise?
"What I really feel is dissatisfaction."
The team's brightened spirits experienced a massive crash after their coach's true statement.
"First, it's sloppy." Coach Roughan detailed how for extended periods of time, both of the teams were sloppy to an almost unwatchable degree. No coach wants to see that on a consistent basis. "It might be exciting for you, but turning the ball over that much is never a good sign, even if it ends with a win."
Twenty three and twenty five turnovers respectively? Even if that was an indicator of great on-ball defensive intensity, turnover numbers like that should not be tolerated.
"Second, you all are forcing a lot of tough shots." Coach Roughan focused on the several players that were hoisting low percentage shots like the game had returned to the hero ball era. "Move the rock, this is not the early 2000's of my youth anymore."
Jaylen was the most guilty player here, and he knows it. His field goal percentage plunged because of several tightly contested attempts he would usually bury in high frequencies in high school. Although several others, including Tremaine, were guilty about it, no one was as affected as him.
The upperclassmen had already recovered their composure and started thinking about what their coach was talking about. They were, after all, used to this kind of behavior from their rough coach.
"Third, why are you all fouling a ton?" Coach Roughan had his hands up. "Even if it's just a team scrimmage, defensive discipline is key. Free throws are free points, and in this day and age, free throws should not be given away like candy."
More than half of each team were in foul trouble. That was unacceptable.
Roughan did not mention anything about either team's free throw shooting, which was undeniably excellent throughout the game.
"Fourth, some of you underperformed." He looked at some of his upperclassmen, and some of the freshmen. Luckily for Tremaine, he was not among the targets of that gaze. "It might be just a scrimmage, but this would be the starting point of your season, and underperforming here is not something I wanted to see from you."
Mike Roughan did not allow the players to catch a break.
"Next, us coaches will talk to all of you one by one, for five minutes each, while the rest could do whatever they want until lunchtime." Coach Mike turned away, and called the first person to follow him.
"Legend, follow me."
"Of course, coach!"
One by one, Tremaine watched as his seniors got called by the coaches and talked with them. All of them returned with either a blank expression, or a determined one on their faces. It's like they wanted to prove something was wrong in their assessment.
"What did they tell you, Khalil?" Deshaun mustered up his courage to ask their vice captain about what was told to him by the coaching staff. The freshmen huddled up around him in the blink of an eye.
"Nothing much." Khalil was disappointingly tight-lipped about the overall situation.
"I'm dying from curiosity over here!" Deshaun started running around the court to calm his curiosity and nervousness.
After the last upperclassman was called, Tremaine was the first freshman— sans Jaylen— called.
Deshaun lit up, he was surely going to ask his best friend about what's up afterwards.
***
"Tremaine Mills, the man of the moment." One of the two assistant coaches, a blonde woman in her mid forties surnamed Simmons, said with a laugh.
"Yeah, he really is the man of the moment." The other one, a younger man in his early thirties named Atkins, approved.
"You were the best player out there when you're on the court." Coach Roughan spoke without any frills. "In the limited minutes, what I saw from you was a very high skill ceiling, a starting caliber potential, and a praiseworthy level of play for a walk-on freshman."
"Tempering your expectations though, there's a lot left to be desired." Assistant coach Simmons started talking. "We still haven't seen you play in an official capacity. Even if we've managed to watch your high school tape, it wasn't enough to get a good read about how you play."
"Yeah we are in a consensus that you are still not ready for a rotation role, not based on your skill, but because of your physical attributes." Assistant coach Atkins added.
"I know you're working on building your frame, improving your agility, stamina, and strength, more than your skill the past month. Keep at it. Use the entire preseason if you can." Coach Roughan gave Tremaine a rare amicable smile. "You should know that we are always watching your progress in the hardcourt. Keep moving forward. That's all."
"Please call Mitchell here." Coach Simmons said.
Tremaine would only improve from here.
クリエイターの想い 
Konkey_Dong
Konkey_Dong Damn... the Bucks functioned as a team tonight... although it's still mostly Giannis...
Horrible shooting night for D-Book, he wasn't legendary today.
I still enjoyed it though, hope y'all did too!
Enjoy the chapter!!!
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