Volume 1 Western Cowboy Chapter 026 Market Soaring
Wayne became a huge hit in Russia. Of course, after Zhang Weiping and Yu Jia returned to China with a bunch of reports, Wayne also became somewhat well-known in China.
Since the main channels for news dissemination are still newspapers and television, it is naturally impossible for Wayne's news to spread quickly in China in a short period of time.
However, some die-hard fans got to know this Chinese student who is currently playing in the NCAA through Zhang Weiping and Yu Jia's articles.
"In the college basketball arena, he is undoubtedly a respected star. He has many fans and is used as a tactical core by the coach. He is almost universally recognized as one of the best players in Ohio State."
Zhang Weiping praised Wayne highly in the article, using almost all the compliments he could muster.
After reading this report, Ma wanted to ask only one question: "Who recognized it?"
Although the scope of information dissemination is still relatively small, it is a good start.
Because it turns out that there are still some fans willing to pay attention to Chinese players playing in the NCAA.
What’s more, Zhang Weiping wrote this sentence at the end of the report.
"If Wayne can continue this performance, then by 2004, he will have a high probability of being selected by an NBA team in the draft."
Many Chinese fans at that time did not understand what NCAA was.
But when it comes to the NBA, everyone knows what's going on.
As long as there are Chinese players involved in the NBA, there will be no shortage of attention.
Of course, on a bigger stage and under the spotlight, people will be more demanding of Wayne.
Now if he doesn't play well in even one of his games, he'll be labeled a flash in the pan.
The greater the fame, the greater the pressure and criticism you will naturally face.
In fact, when The Oklahoma Post published the headline "Oklahoma's Two Young Players", many media were waiting for the Cowboys to fail.
Because in the eyes of many other local media, The Oklahoma Post is simply flattering its own players.
The Russian duo? They dared to label themselves like that after just winning one game?
Generally speaking, teams that can be labeled like this in the NCAA are extremely strong teams.
For example, in the early 1990s, the team composed of Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King, which represented the glorious symbol of the NCAA, was called the Michigan Five Tigers.
For example, this year, Duke, composed of Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Sheldon Williams and J.J. Redick, is affectionately called the Duke Four.
The most famous combination this year is undoubtedly the "Illinois Three Musketeers" consisting of Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head.
They and UConn are considered the two top contenders for this year's NCAA tournament title.
Compared with these well-known combinations, the status of the "Russian and Asian duo" is somewhat not up to par.
After all, Tony Allen and Wayne were not stars or high school geniuses before this season.
Moreover, people do not think that the Cowboys have the strength to make it to the end of March Madness.
Therefore, many reporters outside Russia kept their eyes on Wayne and Tony Allen.
As soon as they lose, they will be greeted with countless sarcasm and ridicule.
Again, a bigger spotlight and stage also means more demanding requirements.
But what is surprising is that throughout the entire month of November, the Cowboys managed to maintain an undefeated record of 10 wins and 0 losses!
Facing various challengers in the Big 12 Conference, the Cowboys put together a perfect first month performance!
And among these, 8 games were big wins with a score difference of more than double digits!
The Cowboys' dominance in the Big 12 Conference has been proven.
Wayne and Tony were unsurprisingly the two best performers for the Cowboys in these 10 games.
After the first 10 games of the new season, Tony Allen averaged 22.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists and an astonishing 2.3 steals per game!
His defensive ability is so impressive that countless media outlets have said when referring to Tony Allen: "He can now defend NBA-level athletes!"
Teacher Tony's predicted draft pick also reached the top three in the second round.
In the draft report, besides his organizational ability being questioned, the most frequently mentioned shortcoming of Tony is his age.
Many people believe that he has little potential to develop, so his draft pick is so low.
If it weren't for this factor, Tony Allen would probably be able to make it to the lottery in a matter of minutes.
Wayne's average statistics in the past 10 games are naturally not bad. He can score 20.3 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.2 blocks.
A pretty versatile statistic!
His average number of blocks per game ranks first in the Big 12 Conference, making him the current league block leader, and he surpasses second-place Harrison by 1.3 blocks.
Wayne has now become the nightmare of every Big 12 Conference player. Anyone who enters the restricted area guarded by him must be prepared to be humiliated.
Now every time Wayne completes a block, fans in the Gallagher Eibar Arena will shout the Chinese word "盖火锅".
Since "盖火锅" and the word "Block" in English both have three pronunciations, the fans at the scene shouted it very smoothly.
Wayne didn't know where these Americans learned this word, but every time the audience shouted like this, Wayne felt a sense of accomplishment.
This has even become a unique home cry for the Cowboys.
Thanks to his outstanding performance during this period, Wayne was selected as the Big 12 Conference's Player of the Month for the first month.
And just as many people predicted, he successfully made it into the draft prediction rankings!
In the latest rankings, Wayne ranked in the upper middle of the second round.
Even though it's only a second-round pick, it's not easy for a sophomore player to go from obscurity to make the list.
The reason why Wayne is only ranked in the second round for the time being is reasonable .
First of all, people think that Wayne still has too few games in which he performs at a high level.
Because he is a player who suddenly exploded this season, some people are worried that Wayne's explosion cannot be sustained.
Secondly, Wayne's physical condition makes people worry that he will not be able to adapt to the intensity of NBA-level games.
As the most talented player in China currently, Yao Ming took a lot of time and overcame many difficulties to adapt to the intensity of the NBA game, let alone Wayne.
And the last point is also the key point - people are afraid that Wayne's versatility will become utterly incompetent after entering the NBA, and they are worried that Wayne's eccentric playing style will make him completely lost in the NBA.
There are two types of players in the draft who can be called black holes, the all-around player who is neither good nor bad and the combo guard who is not good at either of the two.
Wayne is seen as likely to become the former.
As a power forward, Wayne is too slow and has poor ball-handling skills by NBA standards.
As a number four player, his body is too thin.
So, in the NCAA, you can't easily make it to the first round just by putting up some stats.
If you carefully study the second-round picks and even undrafted players each year, you will find that many of them had impressive statistics in college.
But when the NBA selects players from the NCAA, it is not as simple as just looking at who has better statistics.
If Wayne can make it directly to the lottery with just 10 games, it would be too much of a disrespect for other talented players.
What's more, there are also high school geniuses competing with Wayne and others.
However, at the end of Wayne's report, there is a special note: "Wayne still has a lot of room to move up. He is likely to be the player with the biggest change in the final ranking on this list. As long as he can continue to perform in the next game, we may really see Wayne's name in the first round."
Wayne looked at his evaluation in the draft predictions and was quite satisfied with the results he had achieved during this period.
They have made it to the early to middle stages of the second round after just 10 games. Is the goal of entering the first round still far away?
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Although they are only ranked in the second round in the NBA draft predictions, in the NCAA, Wayne and Tony have undoubtedly proved that they are one of the top combinations.
Those media who wanted to see the "Russian and European duo" fail are now very depressed.
Because in ESPN's latest strength rankings, the 10-0 Cowboys were ranked eighth in the United States!
They are also the highest ranked of any team in the Big 12.
Just imagine how exaggerated this achievement is to be ranked in the top eight out of hundreds of schools.
If the Big 12 itself wasn't considered a little less competitive, the Cowboys wouldn't have had a problem finishing in the top five.
Sutton was very happy when he saw the power rankings. This is the highest ranking the Cowboys have ever received on this list in recorded history.
Even when the Cowboys made it to the 1995 March Madness Final Four, their ranking was never this high.
But then again, such a ranking does not necessarily mean that the Cowboys will be able to achieve their goal of reaching the Sweet 16 this year.
Because the schools ranked ahead of the Cowboys all have quite terrifying strength.
North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke...and of course, how can we forget the University of Connecticut and the University of Illinois, which are currently leading the power rankings.
This season, Connecticut has No. 1 pick candidate Emeka Okafor and another No. 1 pick candidate Ben Gordon, so you can imagine how strong the team is.
The University of Illinois has their "Three Musketeers", who are equally talented.
The Cowboys will face a challenge if they meet any team ranked above them early in the tournament.
Although a team only needs to play six games from the start to the championship in March Madness, those six games are the real test and the most valuable confrontations.
The current 10 wins and 0 losses is nothing at all.
The teams that can be ranked in the top ten in the country are basically the teams that have no losses in their respective leagues this month.
Old Sutton closed the documents in his hand and did not continue to revel in his current achievements.
Because next, a real test awaits his cowboys.
On December 2, the Cowboys' first game in December, they will face their strongest opponent in the Big 12 Conference this season, the defending champion Texas Longhorns, at home.
This game is also considered a preview of the Big 12 Conference Finals.
The Cowboys' ranking of eighth in the country this season is already such a sensation, but the Longhorns were ranked second in the country last season!
So far this season, the Longhorns have a record of 9 wins and 1 loss. Facts have proved that even if T.J. Ford is gone, they still have a strong dominance.
Sutton has been waiting for this opponent for a long time!
It's time to seize the league's dominance from the defending champions.
Of course, it’s not just Sutton and fans of both teams who are paying attention to this game.
The eyes from the NBA and across the ocean are all focused on this high-level matchup, on Wayne and Tony Allen...
