Chương 21: Perfect Preseason: USC's Dominance

"Stop, stop, stop!" Lian Dao shouted anxiously in the system space as the pointer was about to cross the purple area.

However, the pointer did not follow Lian Dao's will and moved slowly across the purple area, eventually stopping at the upper limit of physical talent in the blue area.

Though Lian Dao was a bit disappointed at not winning Griffin's all-talent template, securing the upper limit of his physical talent was still a significant gain. This was one of the talents he needed most at the moment. Griffin's upper limit of physical talent was graded at an A+ level in the NBA.

Of course, Griffin's current physical strength had not yet reached the A+ level. His current physical fitness had just reached an A. The upper limit represented Griffin's potential, which had not yet been fully tapped.

Griffin's upper limit of physical talent was rated at 89 points, just one point shy of reaching the S level. This was already remarkable. Excluding the few physical monsters in the NBA, Griffin's physical ceiling ranked among the top 20 in the league.

Ranking in the top 20 among the roughly 450 active NBA players was quite impressive.

"Congratulations to the host, you have drawn the upper limit of Blake Griffin's physical talent. Do you want to equip it now?"

"Equip."

As the voice fell, the physical talent in the column of Stamina changed to: 64 (89).

...

Flying back to USC, the next four games were held at the Galen Center, the home of USC, and they all resulted in victories.

On Monday, December 15th, USC faced the Pepperdine Waves and secured a 91-77 win. The team clocked in for 30 minutes and won by a large margin on their home court.

On Saturday, December 20th, USC played against the North Dakota Bison and won 61-57. Despite struggling with their shooting touch in the first three quarters, USC's ironclad defense kept the game close. In the fourth quarter, Lian Dao and DeRozan found their rhythm, leading USC to victory with a strong finishing push.

On Monday, December 22nd, USC competed against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, winning 76-57. The only notable players for Georgia Tech were shooting guard Iman Shumpert and forward Gary Laver. Shumpert, who would later be selected by the New York Knicks with the 17th overall pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, struggled against DeRozan's superior talent. Laver, who would be picked by the Phoenix Suns with the 46th overall pick in the second round of the 2010 NBA Draft, couldn't bridge the gap in overall team strength. USC won the game comfortably.

On Sunday, December 28th, USC easily defeated the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at Galen Center, 66-56. This game took place just three days after Christmas.

With these wins, USC completed a perfect preseason with a 12-0 record. They faced many strong teams, including Missouri State University and the University of Oklahoma.

This undefeated streak was the best preseason performance USC had achieved in recent years, giving hope to USC basketball fans and drawing the attention of many USC students to the Trojans. The other nine universities in the Pac-10 Conference also took notice, exclaiming, "The wolves are coming!"

Before the start of the Parker Ten regular season, ESPN released the NCAA 08-09 season strength rankings.

USC was ranked 19th. ESPN's evaluation noted that the addition of DeRozan and the rise of Lian Dao have minimized the impact of senior graduates leaving, but the team still has weaknesses at the center position and relies heavily on outside and mid-range shooting. This dependence on shooting makes them vulnerable to off-nights. Three of the team's main players are freshmen this year (Vucevic becomes the starting center), and they will lack game experience.

The first place is Michael Jordan's alma mater, North Carolina. After losing in the semifinals of the National Championship last season, all their main players chose to stay in school. This year's comeback is bound to be even stronger, led by senior center Tyler Hansbrough, 1.96 meter small forward Danny Green, junior 6.93 meter shooting guard Wayne Ellington, and 1.80 meter point guard Ty Lawson.

Lian Dao felt his scalp tingling when he saw these four players. Their presence guarantees a high baseline performance for North Carolina. Three of these four players were selected in the first round of the 2009 draft, with Danny Green being selected 46th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round.

Although the 2.03-meter power forward Deon Thompson in the junior year participated in the draft in 2010 because he was too old, his strength is still considerable. He started 38 games last season and averaged 8.4 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and had a shooting percentage of 48.1%, which is quite good.

The key is that this season they recruited 2.08 meter power forward Ed Davis and 2.13 meter center Tyler Zeller, making North Carolina's bench lineup stronger than ever. This is the effect of famous basketball schools; they never lack basketball talents who come especially for their name.

The second place is another traditional basketball school, Duke Blue Devils. They also retained the lineup from last season, with Gerald Henderson, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Lance Thomas, and Jon Scheyer staying in school to ensure the overall strength of the Duke Blue Devils.

This year they also recruited good high school players: 1.93 meter shooting guard Elliott Williams and 2.08 meter forward Miles Plumlee. This allows Duke University not only to retain its original strength but also to strengthen its bench lineup.

And the rival University of Southern California, which also belongs to the Parker Ten League, is ranked third. The University of Southern California and UCLA are both in sunny Southern California, but their rivalry dates back to the Victory Bell incident in 1941, creating a longstanding feud between the two schools.

Whether it's rugby, campus life, enrollment, or basketball, they always compete for superiority.

Of course, in terms of basketball, USC has been lagging behind, and UCLA is a traditional NCAA basketball school.

Their head star is Darren Collison. In the 06-07 season, Collison became the team's starting point guard, with Russell Westbrook as his substitute. In the 07-08 season, Collison once again led his team to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament last season, only to be stopped by Derrick Rose and his University of Memphis team.

This also made Darren Collison very unwilling to settle. He chose to stay in school instead of participating in the draft with Westbrook. Collison's decision set the stage for a comeback.

This year, they recruited the 2008 best point guard, genius high school student Jrue Holiday, and McDonald's high school All-American point guard Malcolm Lee. With the addition of these two talents and the presence of Darren Collison, this season's guard lineup makes up for the loss of Russell Westbrook to a certain extent.

Also a member of the Parker Ten League, USC and UCLA will play against each other twice in the regular season, once at home and once away, and they will likely meet again in the playoffs.

Although ESPN highly praised UCLA, Lian Dao knew that their strength had declined significantly this season. Although Holiday and Malcolm were excellent, they could never replace Westbrook. Game experience is the first thing they have to gain.

On top of that, Kevin Love and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute entering the draft has made UCLA's interior weaker than ever before. Alfred Aboya and Nikola Dragovic are not adequate replacements for Love and Mbah a Moute.

...

Fourteenth place: Michigan State University. This team was the nemesis of USC in a previous season when USC suffered a defeat at their hands. A significant part of that loss stemmed from USC underestimating their opponent. Michigan State University is poised as a major dark horse this season, with their true strength often being underestimated. While ESPN acknowledges the players' hard skills, they often overlook the impact of their championship-winning coach.

The Spartans lack standout individual talent, except perhaps for Draymond Green, who joined them this year as a freshman and ranked fourth in USA TODAY's All-American High School Rankings.

However, Green is still in the process of adapting during his freshman year, and much of the Spartans' success hinges on the depth of their bench.

One name synonymous with Michigan State is Tom Izzo.