Volume 1 Western Cowboy Chapter 049: The broadcast has been arranged?
Any team that makes it to the Sweet 16 in the March Madness tournament will receive tremendous exposure.
Generally speaking, March Madness is divided into two stages in the minds of fans.
The first stage is the round of 64, the round of 32 and the round of 16.
After entering the Elite Eight, the March Madness tournament will enter the most anticipated second stage, and the attention to the event will reach a whole new level.
The round of 16 marks the finale of the first stage and is also the period when popularity sees its first surge.
As one of the top 16 teams in the country, the Cowboys are naturally extremely popular.
After defeating Wake Forest, Wayne, who performed the best in that game and almost defeated Paul single-handedly, won the favor of many reporters.
In just one day, he received interview invitations from several media outlets.
Now, fans all over the United States have shown great interest in Wayne, a Chinese student studying abroad.
Wayne also benefited from Yao Ming's outstanding performance in the NBA .
There is still some market for Chinese players in America now.
"This... there are too many media inviting me for exclusive interviews." Wayne was dazzled when he saw the invitation letters in front of him.
Is this what it feels like to be famous?
"Hahaha, you can actually ignore many small media. You just need to pick a few well-known media to accept exclusive interviews." Old Sutton smiled. This is really a happy trouble.
Even in 1995, the Cowboys didn't have such a high-profile player.
Wayne touched his chin. It’s so hard to choose!
Besides, you have to train and accept interviews at the same time, can you really handle it?
It's really troublesome not having a manager to arrange things.
However, NCAA regulations stipulate that players who register for the draft can only sign with a manager after the season ends.
In other words, Wayne can only arrange everything on his own now.
The NCAA did this under the pretext of "preventing premature commercialization of student players and returning basketball to a clean environment."
But in fact, March Madness is one of the largest commercial events in the United States, and the NCAA itself makes a lot of money every year.
Damn capitalism!
But no matter how much he complained, there was nothing he could do. Without a manager to help him, Wayne could only figure out a solution on his own.
It seems that it is necessary to learn some time management techniques.
"Okay, don't worry. I will recommend a few well-known media to you. Accepting their interviews will be of great help in increasing your fame.
Of course, you can also choose a few media outlets that you want to be interviewed by. You will be an NBA player in the future, so you have to get used to this kind of thing.”
Old Sutton's words made Wayne feel a lot more at ease, which is why it is said that most college coaches are respected by their players.
In Wayne's previous life, he often heard players say that his college coach had a great influence on him, like a father.
Now Wayne knows that this is not an exaggeration. College coaches are often closer to their players and are more willing to consider the future of their players.
This is very different from coaches in professional leagues.
Many coaches of NBA teams don’t even know their own future.
"Well, thank you, coach."
"Okay, don't be so formal, Wei. Also, in the last game... it's a good thing you were there."
"You can always trust me, Coach."
"Yes, of course. Then you should go see if there are any media outlets that would like to be interviewed. But don't be too greedy. You can't delay your training because of an interview."
After coming out of Sutton's office, Wayne was still overwhelmed when looking at a bunch of media invitations.
It seems like there is no media outlet that particularly wants to be interviewed.
Otherwise, just let old Sutton help arrange everything.
etc……
What if some Chinese media also invites us for an interview?
Wayne then rushed back to the dormitory and looked through all the invitation letters.
Hard work pays off, and Wayne actually found a Chinese media among a bunch of interview invitations!
"Sports Weekly? It looks so familiar." Holding the invitation letter, Wayne looked at it carefully and opened the envelope.
"Wayne, it was great to see you do well in the March Madness tournament.
The fans in your home country have always been paying attention to you and hope you can continue to move forward!
Of course, Chinese fans also need more information and news about you. So, I hope you can accept our interview.
Don't worry, this won't take up too much of your time.
Director of the basketball department of "Sports Weekly", Su Junyang. "
After reading the content of the invitation letter, Wayne immediately decided that it was him.
At this time, "Sports Weekly" should be considered one of the most influential sports publications in China.
If his interview could really be published in "Sports Weekly", it would definitely be a big hit.
Wayne never expected that one day he would be troubled by not being able to arrange interviews.
This is just the Sweet Sixteen.
What about reaching the Elite Eight? Or even the Final Four?
Wayne found that his ambitions were growing.
At first, he just wanted to use the NCAA as a springboard for the draft. As long as he could start and become a little star, that would be enough.
But now, Wayne really wants to lead the team to achieve results.
Sure enough, desire is a bottomless pit.
In the latest mock draft rankings, Wayne's ranking is between 25-30 in the first round.
Basically on the same level as Teacher Tony.
The gap from being predicted to be eliminated to entering the first round is quite exaggerated.
But to be on the safe side, Wayne wants to move up the ranking further.
Besides... wouldn't it be great if he could be selected in the lottery?
Although the possibility is not high, we still have to have dreams.
So as soon as he defeated Paoer yesterday, Wayne was looking forward to the next game.
But...the title of "champion candidate" for the University of Illinois is a little scary.
※※※
The latest issue of "Sports Weekly" is as hot as ever.
Many students opened the basketball section of the newspaper in their desk drawers with great anticipation. This newspaper, which was published three times a week and retailed for 2 yuan, was a favorite of student fans of that era.
After all, in 2004, international sports advice was not as readily available as it would be 16 years later.
This newspaper is the only way for many people to learn about sports news.
Basketball fans turned to the basketball section and were surprised to find that this time it was no longer Yao Ming's news that dominated all the pages.
In this issue of the basketball section of "Sports Weekly", in addition to Yao Ming, there is also a very new character.
"Wayne, the next Chinese player to land in the NBA."
This title alone is enough to attract the attention of many fans.
After Yao Ming went to the NBA, Chinese players playing in the NBA became the most talked-about topic among fans.
Previously, the Chinese player Mo Ke was widely reported by the media for a while just because he was included in the draft list.
And now, the newspapers actually use the title "The Next Chinese Player to Land in the NBA", which shows how much shock this has brought to the fans.
Therefore, this exclusive interview report done by Su Junyang himself was presented to countless fans.
At the end of the report, Su Junyang also added information about Wayne's next opponent.
"Although Wayne's current predicted ranking is between 25 and 30, this ranking is not necessarily the final result.
If Wayne can do better in the next games, his ranking will definitely rise.
The Cowboys' next opponent, the University of Illinois Warriors, is considered the favorite to win this year's March Madness.
This team has three giants: Deron Williams, Luther Head and Dee Brown. These three players are among the best players in the current NCAA league and are also considered to have the potential to play in the NBA.
Therefore, the next game will be a big challenge for Wayne and the Cowboys.
Because the March Madness tournament is a single-elimination system, the next game will be a life-and-death battle for Wayne and the Cowboys!"
The words "battle of life and death" make the fans excited!
They also want to see whether this Chinese player named Wayne can overcome the difficulties.
But damn... fans discovered in despair that you can't find any NCAA games to watch in China.
Want to see a wild horse, but my TV is not broadcasting it, which makes me desperate, Wei Xiaoshuai.
In fact, fans have complained about this more than once. Ever since CCTV-5 reported on Wayne, his popularity has been increasing.
Much higher than Coach Zhang originally expected.
Therefore, CCTV-5 was actually discussing one thing internally - since there was no NBA game on the day of the NCAA finals, could they broadcast a game of Wayne?
Given Wayne's current popularity in the country, it doesn't seem like a bad thing to broadcast the NCAA finals while it's hot.
Of course, the prerequisite is that Wayne can make it to the finals.
"Does the station really have such an arrangement?" Yu Jia looked at Coach Zhang in disbelief. If this was true, then this would be the first time that the NCAA would present an event to fans in China via live television broadcast!
"It hasn't been finalized yet, but we do have this plan. After all, Wei's current fame has surpassed many domestic players."
Coach Zhang was grinning from ear to ear. By then, he will definitely be there to give a live interview to the fans!
Wayne didn't know at this time that his existence was subtly changing the NCAA's status in the country.
Since accepting those media interviews, Wayne has continued to devote himself to preparations.
Sutton has already given the players a detailed .
Although Wake Forest's Paul is very strong, Paul is his only strong point.
Illinois, on the other hand, has three star players at the same time.
But Wayne's focus is not on Deron, Dee Brown or Luther Head.
It was a player on the Warriors named James Augustine.
This 2.08-meter-tall white power forward is Wayne's opponent in the next game.
Judging from the scouting report, Augustine is basically a poor version of Wayne.
The two are most similar in that they are both poor at low-post offense but accurate in shooting.
And there is one item in Augustine's scouting report that Sutton thinks is the entry point for the next game.
"Augustine's weakness and indecision when facing a strong opponent are his weak points. His 'small heart' often makes him the target of complete defeat under heavy pressure."
Wayne, who was sitting on the plane, was also thinking about this sentence.
A soft persimmon...of course you have to squeeze it hard and burst it!
