This man named Villanueva never expected that he would meet Wayne.
When did he start paying attention to Wayne?
It was probably when his elder brother Okafor first talked about Wayne with reporters that he casually said, "My teammate Villanueva is also very accurate in three-point shooting."
Since then, the media has compared Villanueva and Wayne from time to time.
The following season, Villanueva won Big East Rookie of the Year.
But looking back, Wayne won the Big 12 Conference regular season MVP.
Since then, Villanueva, who has been compared to Wayne, has become less confident.
Villanueva is not a confident person.
At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with alopecia universalis, which was not life-threatening, but for a child, it was close to a disaster.
The kids around him always gave him all kinds of ugly nicknames and played tricks on him.
His height, which was a head taller than others, made him look more like an alien.
This made Villanueva very inferior and he was even unwilling to interact with other children.
Because he disliked his appearance, he often wore a hat or headscarf to class.
During that time, he almost closed himself in his own world.
Later, he found himself again on the basketball court.
After winning two high school state championships with Luol Deng and being selected to the McDonald's All-Star team with Paul, becoming a highly-regarded basketball star, Villanueva's mental health got back on track.
But deep down, Villanueva is still a sensitive and insecure person.
At least that's the case now.
He was really worried that people would point fingers at him after being beaten by Wayne and that scouts would be disappointed in him.
There's nothing he can do about it. After all, he's Charlie Villanueva, the one who gets what he fears the most.
"Charlie, are you still worried?" At this time, a strong hand was placed on Villanueva's shoulder.
"Well... a little bit." Villanueva looked up and saw it was Okafor.
Seeing Okafor, Villanueva felt a lot more at ease.
This season, Villanueva has been with Okafor through all the battles, and Okafor has been leading him like an older brother.
So psychologically, Villanueva also developed some dependence on Okafor.
With him around, Villanueva feels safe.
"Tsk, what are you worried about? Didn't Emeka say he would help you deal with him? Besides, even if the game goes into the final moments, we can't keep missing like North Carolina did."
Across from Villanueva, another teammate, Ben Gordon, smiled and flexed his biceps.
As Connecticut's king of clutch plays, Ben Gordon even outshines Okafor, the No. 1 pick candidate, in terms of offensive firepower.
Although he is an undersized shooting guard, Ben Gordon has never fallen out of the top five in mock drafts this year, which shows how outstanding his offensive firepower is.
"Well, I've already talked to Coach Jim. On the defensive end today, I will take the initiative to match up with Wade.
Don't worry, Charlie, in 40 minutes, we will cut the net as champions in front of more than 60,000 fans!"
Okafor smiled at Villanueva, a smile as great and glorious as Superman.
He is indeed Mr. Perfect!
Villanueva nodded obediently.
With two big guys leading us, there shouldn't be any problems, right?
He just needs to seize the opportunity of open shots as he usually does.
On the other side, in the Cowboys' locker room, Teacher Tony was nervously pacing around the locker room.
Wayne looked at Tony, speechless.
This guy is really two different people in the locker room and outside the locker room.
Tony is always nervous when there is a big competition.
But no matter how nervous he is in the locker room, as long as he is on the court, Tony will show his "calm and tough" image.
"Tony, stop shaking and take a break." Wayne couldn't bear to watch it anymore.
"Aren't you nervous Wayne? Damn, this gym is so huge! Do you think I'll be able to find the basket when we go on the court? Will I get lost during the transition offense?"
Teacher Tony gestured as he spoke.
"No matter how big the gymnasium is, the basketball court is only that small. Don't worry, no one will hide the basketball hoop."
"Yeah, calm down, calm down. Speaking of which... this is our last college game..." Teacher Tony said, and his eyes suddenly became deep.
It seems that the next sentence will be: "Awei, I can't bear to part with you. I will never forget you."
Can you forget?
Those damn weekends when Wayne dragged me out for a one-on-one duel early in the morning, those nights when I practiced until I couldn’t stand up, and that pizza on Christmas Eve!
Well, especially that pizza, Teacher Tony will never forget it for the rest of his life.
This is not about feeling bad about the money spent on pizza.
It doesn’t matter about money...but mainly I can’t forget the pure brotherhood and that romantic Christmas Eve.
"Well, it's the last game in college. So, we can't leave any regrets. This is the only chance, take the championship." Wayne touched Teacher Tony's head.
Then, old Sutton came on the scene.
"The chit-chat time is over, guys, cheer up!"
As soon as old Sutton opened his mouth, the originally noisy locker room instantly became quiet.
“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, you’ve come this far, you’re no worse than any other team!
I won't say shit like 'It doesn't matter whether I win the championship or not, just do my best'.
We are here to win the championship!
Go out there and do what you did to Wake Forest, Illinois, North Carolina and Duke.
Go kick Connecticut's ass!"
Wayne nodded approvingly.
Yes, I came here to win the championship.
Saying things like “getting this far is already a success, just do your best in the finals” is just for fun.
If you really want to have fun, you have to win the championship!
Wayne and his teammates walked out of the locker room, although it was not the first time they played a game in a large stadium.
But this time, Wayne truly experienced what it meant to communicate basically by yelling.
In a stadium that can accommodate more than 60,000 people and was fully occupied.
Speaking at a normal volume is almost the same as being muted.
"Hello, dear viewers. We are broadcasting the 2003-04 season NCAA finals matchup for you! The two teams are Oklahoma State University and the University of Connecticut.
The starting lineup of Oklahoma State University is guard John Lucas, Tony Allen, center Frank Holmes, forward Joey Graham and Chinese teenager Wayne! "
At this time, in a studio far away in Beijing, Sun Zhengping and Xu Jicheng brought the first live broadcast of NCAA games to Chinese fans.
Countless Chinese fans were watching in front of their TVs.
Today, they don’t look at Yao Ming, the Mavericks or the Lakers.
Everyone's eyes are on the Chinese player who is about to enter the NBA.
When Sun Zhengping introduced the starting lineup, he deliberately left Wayne for last.
For the first time, Chinese fans finally saw the mysterious player named Wayne on TV.
A rising star who had never been heard of in China before but suddenly appeared on the other side of the ocean.
During this period, don’t worry about whether it is the NCAA or the NBA.
Just seeing a Chinese person playing ball among a group of foreigners is enough to attract attention.
As soon as Wayne came out, he saw Coach Zhang and the others. He also smiled and waved to the team of reporters from China.
Wayne already knew that this game would be broadcast live simultaneously on CCTV-5.
In Wayne's previous life, although the NCAA had held competitions in China, they had never been broadcast live on television.
I have created a historical precedent.
At this moment, I don’t know how many pairs of eyes are staring at me.
Wayne can understand some of the pressure that Chairman Yao faced when he first entered the NBA.
But after seeing his opponent, Wayne instantly forgot all the pressure.
People are right about Wayne - he is a competitive player.
When Emeka Okafor saw Wayne, he took the initiative to walk up to him like a general, ready to have a friendly chat with Wayne.
Otherwise, how about saying that he is a perfect gentleman with both good character and good academic performance?
Unlike a certain rude guy named Rashid, who is only thinking about how to fuck Wayne to death.
"Wayne, it's nice to see you here." Okafor opened his arms, ready to hug Wayne.
"Uh... I can't be happy. I'd rather meet a weaker opponent."
"I..." Wayne's words left Okafor speechless.
Damn, this guy doesn't play by the rules.
Although he accidentally told the truth, Wayne still responded to Okafor and hugged him.
After all, there are more than 60,000 people watching here, so we have to give them some face.
Wayne is not someone like Paoer who would yell at his teammates in public.
"Ahhh!" Paul, who was sitting in front of the TV, sneezed for no apparent reason.
Paul: Meow?
"You are really... direct." Okafor smiled. He thought Wayne would be as humble as Yao Ming.
“Actually, it’s nice to meet you. You’re a candidate for the top spot, Emeka.”
"So you want to step on me?"
"There's nothing I can do. The championship isn't awarded to just one person. One of us has to lose, and I don't want to lose anyway."
"I like your honesty, Wei. Well, see you at the game."
Okafor parted with Wayne with a smile, but in fact, a fire in his heart had been ignited by Wayne.
Mr. Perfect is not someone who can be bullied!
How dare Wayne bully the No. 1 pick candidate? To be honest, Okafor is a real low-post killer in the NCAA.
Wayne knows what's going on in his mind, and he doesn't want to complain about everything for no reason.
But after playing a season in the NCAA, Wayne also learned a rule of survival on the American basketball court.
The more humble and polite you are, the more people will bully you!
So, Wayne did not show his friendliness in front of Okafor.
After the game, he will have plenty of time to show his friendly side.
Twenty minutes later, the much-anticipated NCAA finals officially began.
Because Ohio State University made it to the finals, the school gave students three days off to make it convenient for them to watch the game.
Brother Teddy, who has the "money power", naturally sat in the front row.
But... why are there so many big men around him? Where are the female fans?
Suddenly, the big men around him became restless.
The game has begun.
This time on the jump ball, Holmes won the first attack ball from Okafor.
Okafor is 2.08 meters tall, the same as Holmes, and athletic ability has never been Okafor's selling point.
In most people’s minds, the Cowboys are the underdogs.
But right from the start, the Cowboys' offense was extremely powerful.
Tony Allen took the ball and broke through. Ben Gordon's defense could not limit Tony's impact at all.
When he entered the NBA later, Ben Gordon was actually a bit like players like Crawford and Lou Williams.
They all have scoring abilities that are not inferior to All-Star players, but are limited by their huge weakness in defense, so no team will take them as their real core.
Are you talking about Curry and Nash?
Nash's ability to lead his teammates is unmatched by these players. And Curry's scoring ability is by no means "just" at the All-Star level.
After Gordon was knocked away, Tony Allen went straight to the penalty area and prepared to make a layup.
But at this time, Okafor rushed back to the penalty area, stretched out his arms and pounced on him.
Okafor averaged 4.7 blocks per game this season, more than Wayne. Therefore, Tony was still shocked and his layup was not very complete.
The basketball hit the rim and bounced out. Okafor was feeling secretly proud of himself when he heard a loud noise coming from the basket.
"Good shot, Wayne scored a tip-in! Although his teammate didn't make the shot, his sense of rebounding is very keen!
The Cowboys scored first, and Wayne was very aggressive! "
Chinese fans were so happy. Wayne served the No. 1 pick candidate a delicious dish right from the start.
And this momentum is not weak at all!
"Huh, that guy..." Okafor silently picked up the basketball and shook his head.
In that case, I have to show off my skills.