On the afternoon of March 14th, the NCAA officially announced the participating teams and divisions!
All the teams participating in the NCAA Tournament would fight each other for the next 20 days. This was commonly known as March Madness!
One of the reasons why the competition was so crazy was because of the single-elimination system.
It was an elimination match. The winner would be decided in one match, and every match would end.
The winning team would immediately advance, and the losing team would have to pack up and go home!
Cruel and exciting!
Moreover, it was often unexpected!
This made the game very entertaining and suspenseful.
The NCAA Tournament was divided into four divisions: the East Division, the Mid-Western Division, the South Division, and the West Division.
Starting from the top 64, the 16 teams in each division were ranked from the first to the 16th seed according to their division records.
No. 1 versus No. 16 seed.
No. 2 versus No. 15 seed.
so on
The winner of each round would enter the next round.
The 16 teams that advanced after the third round were called the Sweet Top 16.
The eight teams that advanced after the fourth round were called the top eight.
In the end, each of the four divisions would decide on a champion team to form the final four.
In the end, the top four would fight each other, and the winner would enter the finals to compete for the championship!
March Madness's competition ranged from the president of the United States to a three-year-old child.
The attention of thousands of families and the participation of the district.
It was almost a grand event for all the people!
As soon as the schedule was announced, the uniform teams of each team began to get busy, collecting information on their opponents, game videos, player data, player status, playing style, and technical characteristics.
Entering March Madness, the NCAA's uniform team was no less professional than the NBA!
A year ago, Marquette University suffered a crushing defeat in the first round, losing to the University of Tulsa.
Therefore, a few days ago, Wade had sealed all his social media applications and was fully prepared for March Madness!
Although one could often hear the phrase 'youth is filled with regrets', reality proved that this was just a comforting phrase for losers.
True youth should be about going all out without leaving any regrets!
This year was Wade's last year in battle, and he didn't want to have any regrets.
A few days ago, Marquette University had submitted the list of participants to the NCAA.
According to the coaching team's discussion day and night, Zhang Yan was finally put on the substitute list.
There were two reasons for this. One was to maintain the chemistry that the team had spent a year building. The other was that although Zhang Yan performed perfectly in the training match, he had no official game experience as the number one player.
Zhang Yan had no objections to this. His goal was to enter the team's roster. Anyway, the main mission was to let him play as a point guard in March Madness. It did not matter whether he was the main player or a substitute.
Moreover, Zhang Yan believed that as long as he was given the time to go on stage, he would definitely be able to shine in March Madness. Before that, there was only one thing he had to do, and that was to wait!
......
......
March 18th, 7:15 PM.
The opening match of the NCAA Tournament had officially begun!
The two teams were Marquette University versus the University of Illinois-University!
In this game, the players who received the most attention from the outside world were none other than the University of Illinois-based superstar, Deron Williams, and the Marquette Golden Hawks 'star player, Wade!
For the sake of fairness, it was rare for one side to play at home in the NCAA Tournament. Usually, a neutral venue was chosen, and today was no exception.
The venue for today's match was the American Airlines Center, the home stadium of the Dallas-Mavericks.
“GO! Marquet Golden Eagles! GO!”
"Fight for honor and bring victory back to Marquet!”
"Get rid of those troublesome opponents! Go, Illini!"
“......”
The game had not yet started, and the cheers of the fans on both sides rang out in the stadium.
Tonight, more than 20,000 fans squeezed into the 19200 seats in the American Airlines Center. The scene was very lively!
In addition to the enthusiastic fans, many NBA stars appeared in the audience.
As the home court of the Mavericks, there were naturally local star players.
The Mavericks 'troika of Nowitzki, Nash, and Finley sat in a row. Nick van Exel also appeared beside the three of them.
These four players were all NBA All-Stars!
March Madness's first knockout match was watched by four All-Stars. Many players on both sides felt nervous.
Little Cattle and the other generals had satisfied expressions.
These star players usually played the role of running on the field. It was rare for them to be spectators. Tonight, all of them had relaxed smiles on their faces.
In addition, their boss, Robin, also came to the scene.
This boss really loved basketball. Usually, the Mavericks would play every game at home. When he heard that there was an NCAA Tournament tonight, he immediately asked for a front row ticket.
Before the start of the game, Marquette University's star player, Wade, was interviewed by reporters.
The reporter asked," Dwyane, you are the favored team in this match. The Golden Hawks are far superior to your opponents in terms of overall strength and experience. Have you started considering your opponents for the next round?”
"We won't think so much. The opponents in this knockout round are all very strong. We have to give it our all to have a chance to advance to the next round!”
At this time, Wade was not the Act Tough King. He answered the reporters 'questions very conservatively.
After all, it was easy to have problems with one's mentality in front of tens of thousands of spectators. There were many unexpected surprises. Last year, he lost to the agile Salta in the opening match and was eliminated. So it was better to keep a low profile.
Elsewhere, the University of Illinois-based superstar, Deron Williams, was also being interviewed.
"Delon, the University of Illinoisis has a strong momentum in the second half of the season. Experts from all walks of life predict that you are very likely to become a dark horse team.”
"A dark horse would never call itself a dark horse.”" I can only say that we are not afraid of any opponent. As long as we play to our best, we have a chance to defeat any opponent!"”
Delon was very confident, and his tone was very imposing, just like his nickname, Little Tank.
After saying that, Deron looked at Wade and Dina on the other side of the court. He had done enough homework before the game. The two main opponents he would face were these two.
Delon glanced at Marquette University's bench.
When Delon's gaze landed on Zhang Yan, he didn't even stop. He didn't think that this big Chinese guy would cause them any trouble in the game. Delon didn't even know the name of this big Chinese guy!
It was normal for every team to have a few of these small transparent players.
"Wow! Dirk Nowitzki!"
"Damn it! Michael Finley is here too!"
"Zhang, look at them. It's Steve Nash!”
Novak squeezed beside Zhang Yan excitedly.
"Steve, you don't have to introduce me to them one by one. Do you think I don't have a TV at home or that I haven't watched the NBA?”
Zhang Yan looked at Novak speechlessly.
"I'm sorry! Zhang, this is the first time I've seen so many star players. I'm so excited!”Novak apologized as he massaged Zhang Yan's legs and shoulders.
After a few days of training, Novak knew that Zhang Yan was his thigh!
Both of them were currently in the team's second lineup. If Zhang Yan could pass a few passes to him at the same time, giving him a few more chances to open up a three-point gap, wouldn't his score increase?
With the start of the ceremony, the cheers in the stadium immediately increased by dozens of decibels!
"The atmosphere of university basketball is so awesome!”
Looking around at the enthusiastic fans, Nowitzki could not help but sigh.
As an international player, he did not have the experience of playing in the NCAA, but even sitting on the sidelines, he could feel the enthusiasm of the audience!
"This is March Madness. The atmosphere here is not something an NBA regular season can compare to!”
Nash smiled and looked at the group of young people not far away. His eyes were filled with the image of him representing Santa Claras University in the NCAA.
"This atmosphere is at least at the level of an NBA division final.”Felix echoed from the side.
Just like that, amidst the cheers and discussions of the crowd, the opening match of the 2003 NCAA March Madness was about to begin!
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