บท 9: Chapter 7 Frye - The Top High School Student in America
The next day, the four-day Nike Regional Invitational officially began.
The format of the official games was quite interesting; each game was divided into two halves, each lasting 10 minutes, with each team playing an average of two games per day.
Due to time constraints and the large number of participating teams, the organizers introduced such a rule to accommodate all teams.
And this format was particularly suitable for Yu Fei, whose stamina was still not up to the challenge of playing two full games in one day.
Before today's games started, Hank Sylvan had already received the rosters of their two opponents.
Although it was an official competition, the levels of the participating teams varied widely. Among Royal Team's two opponents that day, one was a weaker team, while the other was acknowledged as a tough team in the invitationals.
A team with two top state-level high school players—the Cheeseburger.
Yu Fei felt they'd sound more televisually impactful if they were called the Cheeseburger Snow Leopards.
The Cheeseburger team boasted Seattle's leading Point Guard, Chris Hill, as well as Michael Fey, one of the top hundred high school players in the country.
Let's not talk about Hill for now. Although Fey was among the top hundred high school players in the nation, he was just barely on the list.
Because he was ranked exactly one hundredth...
Just like Jeffrey Dai, who Yu Fei had handled easily the day before, was ranked 88th amongst high school players. Logically, Yu Fei, who defeated Dai effortlessly, should have no trouble defeating Fey too.
But Sylvan didn't think it would be that simple, because Fey was a seven-foot tall player, the first seven-footer opponent Yu Fei had encountered since he started playing.
His low ranking was because scouts believed a giant like Fey, who lacked speed, couldn't survive in higher-level games, yet his current ability was among the top for high school players.
Yu Fei wasn't that worried because it wasn't difficult to deal with big, clumsy players. It was the one called Seattle's top Point Guard who could be problematic.
If Yu Fei blew up Fey in the paint during the game, but was completely outplayed by Hill on the outside, the outcome of the game would be uncertain.
Sylvan reassured him, "Don't worry, Chris Hill is a traditional Point Guard, and going solo on the offense isn't his forte."
Yu Fei, inexperienced as he was, didn't know what a traditional Point Guard was, but he knew how such guards, who didn't specialize in offense, played the game. There were plenty in the history of China's men's basketball team—reliable and disciplined.
With a good understanding of their opponents, Royal Team's first game of the day began.
As per the pre-game plan, Yu Fei purposely conserved his energy during the first game.
He barely ran across the court, participated in pick-and-rolls only at the perimeter, hardly handled the ball, and let Bobby Jonas and the others play.
In terms of possession play, Royal Team's success rate was not as high as their opponents', which disappointed the professionals who were impressed by Yu Fei the day before.
They began to doubt whether Yu Fei was a jumping jack who couldn't play offense at all.
However, they hadn't forgotten how Yu Fei had blocked Jeffrey Dai the day before, took the ball, pivoted, shook off his guard, and went up the court to complete a windmill dunk.
Having such skills, why didn't Yu Fei show them off?
This game did not give them an answer.
With a leisurely 4 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 blocks, Yu Fei led Royal Team to victory on the strength of impregnable interior defense and efficient defensive counterattacks.
After a two-hour break, they would face their second opponents of the day—the Cheeseburger.
During the two hours of rest, Yu Fei finally met Seattle's top high school player, Brandon Roy, as described by Sylvan.
Roy's team consisted of five players from Garfield High School, so they named their team Five Tigers.
Yu Fei watched the Five Tigers play for a while and felt they should be the strongest team in the tournament.
All five members of the team were superior in ability and teamwork compared to any other team.
Roy, without a doubt, was the best among them. While he didn't seem as versatile as what Yu Fei would learn later, his style as a high school player was already very mature.
Watching the Five Tigers dominate their opponents to the point of running up the score, Yu Fei felt the pressure, realizing that winning MVP of the tournament wouldn't be easy.
After resting for a while longer, Yu Fei returned to his teammates to seriously prepare for the second game of the day.
During the warm-up, Yu Fei practiced his mid-range shots.
In his past life, his shooting was hit-or-miss. Having traveled to this life for less than half a year, there was so much to practice—fundamentals in the paint and physical fitness took priority, so his shooting, which could be improved gradually, had fallen behind.
Yu Fei felt that the player called Fey wouldn't easily leave the paint to guard his shooting, so using the warm-up to get a feel for his shots as much as possible would help with the game. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the right touch. This meant he would need to rely more on speed and rhythm, as well as the floaters he had developed in his previous life specifically for dealing with taller players, when challenging Fey.
Before the game started, Sylvan strategically did not include the team's top shooter, Quinn Thomas, in the starting lineup.
Although she was a female player, Quinn had proven herself in the last two days of the competition with a performance that was not inferior to the men's. Despite struggling with physical confrontations, having Yu Fei as a shot blocker in the paint meant all she needed to do was shoot three-pointers, and she did that job well.
For this game, Sylvan changed tactics. Besides Anthony Lawson, who had been consistently paired with Yu Fei, he also put in Mohammed Hilly, an undersized frontcourt player from the same grade as Yu Fei.
If it weren't for Yu Fei joining the team, Hilly and Lawson would have been the starting frontcourt duo for the new Royal Team.
But a frontcourt starting pair both under two meters in height lacked competitiveness.
Thankfully, Sylvan no longer had to worry about the team's height issue.
Hilly starting was meant to let Yu Fei completely showcase his talent in front of the professionals present at the venue.
Yu Fei made his debut as a small forward in the starting lineup for the first time at the invitational.
Since the Royal Team and Cheeseburger Team's game was one of the last few matches of the day, and the court featured three stars of hope that had garnered much attention, it received the most focus.
There were professionals from colleges and the media, as well as team members who had finished their matches.
Before the game even started, Michael Fey mocked Lawson, who was about to jump ball with him, "What do I see? Just a measly shrimp, thinking they're a roadblock. Where's that Chinese guy who claimed to have blown Jeffrey Dai away? Doesn't he dare to match up with me?"
"You!" Lawson, aggravated, looked as though steam was about to burst from his nostrils.
At this point, the referee signaled that the two sides were not allowed to communicate.
During the jump ball phase, Fey easily won possession for his team.
Following that, Chris Hill, recognized as Seattle's top point guard, called for a pick and roll to break through Bobby Jonas's defense. His absolute speed wasn't fast, but his height of 1.9 meters was a giant among high school basketball, and he directly lobbed a high pass to Fey.
Fey violently pushed Lawson aside and dunked with force, tauntingly pulling on the basket after landing and roaring, "So you want to be a roadblock? Ha!"
Fey's dominance inside led to a flurry of discussion among the crowd.
Brandon Roy's teammates lamented, "That jerk plays too easily inside; I don't think the Royal Team can stop him. That Frye doesn't even dare to go inside. So much for Washington state's lost star, I think it's all media hype!"
The others voiced their agreement, while Roy remained silent.
Because he had noticed something unusual.
That "Frye" was actually calling for the ball from the backcourt and dribbling it to the frontcourt himself.
Suddenly, the Cheeseburger Team didn't know who should defend him.
Fey's speed wasn't suitable for leaving the paint, and the others weren't tall enough.
Chris Hill made his judgment; he thought Yu Fei was showing off, trying to hype himself up, when in reality he didn't have that good of ball-handling skills.
So Hill suddenly pressed up aggressively as Yu Fei crossed halfcourt.
However, Yu Fei maturely chose to back him down defensively, then executed a beautiful spin move to shake off Hill and drove straight inside the three-point line, making a floater over Michael Fey's outstretched hand to score off the backboard.
Looking at Fey's face, which clearly showed he hadn't expected that, Yu Fei taunted, "A roadblock? Heh!"
On the way back to defense, Yu Fei said to Lawson, "Tony, you'll have to buy me some time, or else I can't help you with the defense!"
Lawson replied, "I'll try my best!"
It was indeed a tough ask for Lawson, standing only at 1.96 meters barefoot, to guard Fey, but this was a calculated decision by Sylvan. If Yu Fei were to take on the defense, it would be too draining for him.
From the stat sheet, it was clear that when Fey got the ball, all he did was attack the basket without any playmaking ability.
Thus, having one person act as a punching bag to guard him, with Yu Fei supporting defense from the wing, was the best strategy.
Afterward, Sakuragi Hanamichi's low center of gravity in the single-defense against Little Riverfield became a reality in Yu Fei's perspective.
In order to buy time for Yu Fei to help on defense, Lawson hunkered down and took the hits, practically battling with his life on the line.
It was worth it.
Fey's offense was no longer the simple catch, pump, and slam dunk.
His attack was delayed, and when he lifted the ball again, Yu Fei was already there with the help defense, and under the double-team, Fey made an errant pass.
Bobby Jonas scored on the counter.
After that, Yu Fei exploited Fey's weakness against fronting defense and had Lawson front him. Hill risked a lob pass, which was intercepted by Yu Fei.
When Fey finally caught the ball and pushed Lawson aside with his rear, ready to power dunk and release his frustration, Yu Fei had already returned under the basket. With a single-foot takeoff, he jumped nearly a meter high and slapped the ball out of Fey's hands and out of bounds, unleashing a tsunami-like cheer from the crowd.
Fey, knocked to the ground with the ball, looked unsettled trying to spot its location, only to see Yu Fei already at the ball's spot, grabbing it with one hand, and taunted softly, "You're ranked a hundred in the nation for a reason, Jeffrey Dai is already on the road to sex reassignment surgery, do you want to join him?"
Due to Yu Fei's insulting trash talk, he received a T from the referee.
Furthermore, the referee warned that a repeat offense would result in ejection from the game.
Yet this T had no impact on the situation.
Michael Fey was completely broken down.
His teammate, praised as Seattle's number one point guard, Chris Hill, attempted to salvage the situation with his individual skills, but as Sylvan said, he was a pure point guard without the ability to switch into a one-man carry mode.
Meanwhile, Yu Fei showed another aspect of himself in this game.
When he had the ball, his performance was entirely different, like a player on a completely different level.
"The top player from Washington state?"
A sports journalist at the venue thought for a moment, scratched out that line, and wrote in his notebook instead, "Frye Yu is one of America's top high school players."
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