Chapter 18 Scholarship and Skills

After playing the game against the University of Pittsburgh on the road, the team returned to Connecticut.

After practice ended that day, Calhoun called Tang Tian to his office alone.

"Tang, you may not know how difficult it is for non-scholarship players in the NCAA to apply for a full scholarship. There's a story about that here." Calhoun gestured for him to sit down before telling him the story.

Tang Tian listened patiently. Calhoun wouldn't have invited him just to listen to a story.

"There was a student named Jerome who joined an NCAA Division I team. He trained very hard and persisted for four years, but in the end, he didn't get a full scholarship. The team gave him 30 seconds of playing time in the last game as a reward. His story eventually became a motivational story in the NCAA, but it's also an unwritten rule in the NCAA that players without scholarships basically don't get playing time."

Tang Tian nodded after listening. Calhoun was using this story to remind him how special he was.

"Of course, you're not an ordinary player. You've proven your strength, so I've been working hard to try. Finally, the school gave me an answer yesterday. They agreed that you will become the ninth full scholarship recipient on the team."

After a period of buildup, Calhoun finally told Tang Tian the news.

"Thank you, Coach. I will work hard to play and live up to your recognition." Tang Tian smiled and stood up, saying calmly.

Calhoun, an old-school coach, just likes to go through the motions. Doing this is nothing more than wanting him not to forget his mentor in case he becomes successful in the future.

Human nature, Tang Tian didn't care too much. Anyway, he achieved his goal of getting a full scholarship.

"Good, very good." Calhoun smiled happily.

"Oh, right, I also applied for a nutrition package for you from the school." Calhoun suddenly remembered and said.

Nutrition package?

Tang Tian looked a little puzzled.

"I know you've been working on your physical fitness, and the method is good, but in addition to the method, nutrition must keep up, so that there will be better results." Calhoun continued.

"Thank you, Coach." Tang Tian was truly grateful this time.

Calhoun has his old-school style, but just like he knew before, he is essentially a good coach.

Calhoun just told Tang Tian the news. Not long after, someone from the school came to communicate with him and asked him to go to another place to receive the scholarship.

As a well-known university in Connecticut, UConn still invests a lot in scholarships. Taking the full athletic scholarship as an example, it is 50,000 US dollars a year, which many other universities cannot compare to.

Of course, it is only relative to other universities in Connecticut. On a national scale, there are still many schools with more than UConn. Schools like Duke and Kentucky probably have twice as much.

But, with 50,000 US dollars in hand, Tang Tian is completely satisfied.

Back in the dormitory, his roommates were all in class. He then pulled up the system interface.

He glanced at his krypton value.

$50,600.

50,000 was the money he had just received from the full scholarship, and 600 was his salary as a ball boy.

Because he has become a member of the school team and won a scholarship, 600 is also his last ball boy salary.

But the tail number is not important, the important thing is the bulk.

With 50,000 US dollars of krypton value, he can krypton a wave in the mall and directly exchange it for a white skill.

Compared to other levels, white skills are the least and weakest, but when he first saw the system, he actually had a decision.

Among these white skills, the King of Bounce (James White) is the most useless. Not to mention in the NCAA, it is estimated that it will not work well in the low-level leagues. It can only be played during exhibition games. As for the Diving Actor (Varejao) and the King of Free Throws (Calderon), they are also temporarily unavailable.

He actually already has a goal.

Open Three-Pointer (Novak): The skill of the three-point shooter Novak. It enables the owner to have a 97% hit rate on open three-pointers, but when encountering confrontation, the hit rate will plummet to below 30%, and as physical strength declines, the open hit rate will also decay from 97% and continue to decrease to 50%.

This is a very strange skill, and it matches Novak's ability.

In Novak's most accurate season, his three-point shooting percentage reached 75%. Even throughout his career, his three-point shooting percentage exceeded 43%!

This is a very terrifying statistic. You must know that many top three-point shooters have never had a season exceeding this value in their entire careers.

In NBA-level games, you are already an absolute sharpshooter if you exceed 40%.

But such a shooter has been wandering around in the NBA almost the entire time, because he can't do anything other than shoot. He has no defense, no confrontation, no passing. Except for the opportunities created by his teammates through tactics, he doesn't even have the ability to run without the ball.

To put it bluntly, this is a machine that can only shoot, and can only shoot at a fixed point.

But for Tang Tian, this is enough.

What he now has is exactly what Novak lacks most, defense.

With defense and this almost perfect open shot, he can completely gain a foothold in the NCAA.

Although UConn has recently ushered in a three-game winning streak, he has also slowly begun to be targeted by opponents. In the game, he is often left open.

This is also completely normal. At first, the opponent doesn't know your ability, so naturally they don't dare to do this, but as your playing time increases and your reputation rises, the opponent will definitely study you and then target you.

For example, after the game, look at your data statistics. You have defense, steals, and rebounds, but the score is always 0. This is definitely not normal!

If it's not normal, they will try. If they try and find that you really can't shoot, or you basically don't shoot, then leaving you open will naturally appear.

So this open three-pointer exchange will definitely be the most effective.

Moreover, there is a very important point for Tang Tian. Unlike the NBA, players can do endorsements and advertise to make money. In the NCAA, players are not allowed to make money in any form, even if it is given privately by the school. As long as they violate it, they will most likely be kicked out of the league directly.

This is also something that the NCAA has always been criticized for. You must know that the money earned by this league's March Madness every year is more than the NBA playoffs!

But this is the rule, and it is not something that individuals can influence.

So this 50,000 krypton value may be the biggest head he can get. In this case, he should choose this open three-pointer even more.

With this open three-pointer and training his body, he will definitely be a 3D player.

With the increasingly rapid development of basketball in the future, this is quite popular, even scarce.

Moreover, he is only 18 years old now, and his body will normally increase a little more. At that time, a space-type power forward, a 3D wing swingman, these are all completely possible for him.

This wave of krypton is definitely a sure profit.