Chapter 1 Encounters

San Diego State University isn't a traditional basketball powerhouse. They've missed the tournament for several years, and their most famous players, like Xavier Thames, are from the 80s and 90s.

However, San Diego State is pretty good this year, with two NBA-caliber players on their team.

Kawhi Leonard is 2.01 meters tall, weighs 102 kilograms, and has a similar build to Tang Tian. This player, who played football until his sophomore year of high school, has unusually large hands, making him aggressive on the defensive end.

As a sophomore, he's averaging 15.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. His rebounding ability is especially outstanding for a player just over 2 meters tall.

Simply put, he's a swingman (capable of playing either the small forward or power forward position) with an offensive game similar to Jimmy Butler, but even stronger defensively.

And unlike Marquette University, where Butler plays, Leonard has a helper: Jamaal Franklin, a 1.96-meter small forward with excellent athleticism and penetration skills, who is averaging 10.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

In addition, their center, DeAndre Wright, is also well-known, but unlike Leonard and Franklin, he's known not for his skills, but for his playing style: trash talk and dirty tricks that make him extremely disliked by opponents.

In the first round, UConn has encountered a stronger version of Marquette University.

Most of the tournament matchups have already been released, but not all.

Theoretically, 64 teams advance to the Round of 32, but there are actually 68 teams in the tournament. To warm up for the tournament and give more schools a chance to showcase themselves, the extra four teams compete for a spot before the tournament officially begins. This is the reason for having 68 teams.

The extra four teams are the No. 17 seeds from each region. They need to play a single-elimination game against the No. 16 seeds from their respective regions to determine who will play the No. 1 seed in the region.

This is the beginning of March Madness.

Eight teams and four games will be held in the same city, which this year is New Haven, Connecticut.

Providence College, as the No. 17 seed in the East region, is one of these eight teams.

In the hearts of Connecticut fans, UConn is undoubtedly their first team to support, but Providence College, also a member of the Big East Conference, is also a team they support on this day.

Even Calhoun organized UConn players to go to the game in person.

Although Providence College isn't in their region, by watching these teams play and reviewing previous matchups, they can still get a glimpse of the strength of opponents in other regions.

The game is tomorrow afternoon. After extra practice that night, Tang Tian and Walker sat in the training hall with laptops, studying the details of playing against San Diego State.

After they finished studying, they watched some NCAA-related news for a while.

With the 68-team tournament confirmed and about to begin, the NCAA's visibility across the country is rapidly increasing.

ESPN, TNT, and other major sports media outlets have begun their annual predictions and strength analyses. Betting websites have also released odds for each team to win the championship. Many NBA players have also started making predictions, most of whom are from the NCAA. Although they've left their alma maters, their feelings remain.

The predictions from the media and betting websites are generally consistent, with Duke and North Carolina being in a league of their own in the rankings.

After them, Kansas, with the Morris brothers; Kentucky, whose strength isn't as great as in previous years but still has many NBA-caliber players; and the University of Arizona, with the super scorer Derrick Williams, closely follow these two schools.

The third tier includes the champions of each conference and some teams with considerable strength. UConn is in this tier, and they are considered a very competitive team, but because they are grouped with super teams like North Carolina, Kansas, and Arizona, their chances of advancing are relatively slim.

However, the predictions of NBA players are more casual than those of the media, and they almost unanimously support their respective alma maters.

Richard Jefferson: Derrick Williams will be the No. 1 pick this year, and the University of Arizona will undoubtedly win the championship!

Luol Deng: Duke will definitely beat North Carolina to win the championship this year. Don't ask me why, because there's a blue called North Carolina losing to Duke Blue!

Vince Carter: Duke is overrated this year. North Carolina is the real king this year. I love Barnes. North Carolina will regain the championship this year!

John Wall: You're all underestimating Kentucky. Knight is stronger than you think. Kentucky is the ultimate king.

Ray Allen: I like Walker, I like Lamb, I like Tang, I really like this UConn team. They may not necessarily win the championship, but they are already the strongest team in my mind.

…

Walker and Tang Tian were enjoying these news stories.

For them, it's also a way to relax before the tournament.

After watching for a while, their attention was quickly drawn to a Fox Sports article titled "NCAA Tournament Position Rankings."

In this article, Fox ranked the players at each position for the 68 tournament teams.

Among the point guards, Kyrie Irving ranked first. Although he was sidelined for a while due to injury, Irving is 1.91 meters tall, slender, and has unparalleled ball-handling skills, making him one of the top contenders for the No. 1 pick this year.

After Irving, Jimmer Fredette of BYU, Brandon Knight of Kentucky, Alec Burks of Colorado, and Iman Shumpert of Georgia Tech ranked 2nd to 5th, respectively.

"You're ranked sixth, haha, I remember Shumpert mainly plays shooting guard, right? You're even behind him." Tang Tian couldn't help but laugh after reading it.

Laughing aside, it was mostly just teasing. Because Walker had been struggling due to injury, it wasn't that surprising that he was ranked here.

In fact, compared to the beginning of the season, Walker's experience and strength have improved significantly, especially after recovering from his injury and adjusting his way of generating power, his shooting percentage has greatly increased. In terms of hard power, he's now at least in the top three among point guards, and in the top fifteen overall.

"You're laughing at me, look at yours." Walker pointed at the screen and said.

Tang Tian was ranked at the power forward position.

The player ranked first in this position is Derrick Williams. As the core of the University of Arizona, he averaged 19.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in the regular season. His strong body and excellent scoring skills make him Irving's biggest competitor.

After Williams, Harrison Barnes of North Carolina, Tristan Thompson of Texas, Markieff Morris of Kansas, and Leonard of San Diego State ranked 2nd to 5th.

Seeing his ranking, Tang Tian laughed even louder, because he was directly outside the top 20 on the list.