And on the defensive end.
Without a Generation of Miracles level player to distract them, Seiho began their Iron Wall defense again.
2-1-2 defensive stance. Yuuto stood at the central axis responsible for sweeping inside and out. At the start, he held Senshinkan to 0-for-5 shooting.
Seiho took the opportunity to go on an 11-0 run against Senshinkan!
Seeing this, even the fans were desperate.
Although both held the title of King, Seiho and Senshinkan looked like teams on completely different levels.
"The structure of the Three Kings has been broken this year."
"It should be that the structure for the next three years has been broken."
"That's true. Seiho with Yuuto and Shutoku with Midorima have already pulled a gap from Senshinkan."
"Plus, there's Tōō in Tokyo. The possibility of Senshinkan advancing in the future is too low."
The audience discussed animatedly.
The origin of the Three Kings of Tokyo was because these three teams—Seiho, Shutoku, and Senshinkan—monopolized the qualifying spots in the Tokyo district for a long time.
But looking at it now.
Seiho and Shutoku remained strong, capable contenders for the championship, but Senshinkan had completely fallen behind.
By the end of the first quarter, Seiho led the King of the West, Senshinkan, by a whopping 20 points.
The score of 30:10 was simply piercing to the eyes of Senshinkan fans.
The fans who were clamoring before were now obedient.
Some silently left the arena, while others turned off the TV—out of sight, out of mind.
They saw absolutely no hope of Senshinkan winning.
After all.
That Seiho Number 10's hair hadn't even turned white yet, and they couldn't hold on.
What was the point of playing?
Senshinkan's coach was helpless about this.
He tried last year too, but failed.
Those six geniuses were quickly carved up by national powerhouses; he lost the fierce competition with his peers.
Back then, he even despised people like Katsunori Harasawa, thinking it was laughable for a powerhouse coach to forget the pride of a powerhouse for a junior high student.
Result now?
They were simply too visionary.
Having embraced his pride, he could now only sub out all starters to fight for the last qualifying spot.
Thanks to Seiho shooting down Shutoku; otherwise, if three Generation of Miracles teams appeared in the round-robin, they wouldn't even have the chance to fight for third.
Senshinkan's decisive surrender played right into Yamashita Shio's hands.
He also subbed out Yuuto and other main players.
Seiho's starting five rested for a whole quarter, only going up to play a few minutes in the third quarter to maintain form.
Then.
This highly anticipated King vs. King match ended in such a waveless state.
Afternoon.
Seiho played again. This time they faced the dark horse, Ryuzan Academy (likely reference).
They were even more decisive than Senshinkan. Because they had already played Tōō in the morning and knew these teams were simply not something they could contend with.
Therefore.
At the start of the match, Ryuzan decisively played with all substitutes, planning to fight to the death with Senshinkan tomorrow for the final spot.
The predictions of certain media a year ago had come true.
High school basketball for the next three years belonged to those six geniuses; other teams could only run alongside.
Senshinkan fans despised Ryuzan's approach, but turned a blind eye to Senshinkan also choosing to strategically give up against Tōō.
No choice; who could win?
There was no hope against those two monsters from Seiho and Tōō. They could only fight for third place.
Opponent strategically gave up.
Yamashita Shio also graciously "disarmed and spared them."
Just let the starters play a few minutes to keep their touch, ensuring a win was enough.
Therefore.
On the first day of the round-robin, there were no surprises.
Fans wasted a day of anticipation watching several matches with no confrontation.
But what followed was even more intense anticipation. Because tomorrow was the focal battle between Seiho and Tōō for the top seed.
King vs. Tyrant!
Lion King Yuuto vs. Generation of Miracles Ace Aomine Daiki.
This match was scheduled as the last game.
Not at dusk, but in the afternoon, because after all matches ended, there would be a simple regional awards ceremony.
This process would waste about an hour.
Morning.
All members of the basketball club were preparing.
Newcomers could clearly feel that the atmosphere in the basketball club was different.
Especially the third-year members, who were exceptionally serious during practice.
Because recently, their record against Tōō was an embarrassing 0-3.
As a King, such a record was humiliating.
The biggest victim of Tōō's rise wasn't Shutoku or Senshinkan, but Seiho.
Because they always drew Tōō in the group stage.
Yuuto handed the intel to them in advance.
It was the counter-measure predicted after Momoi's predictions.
While surprised, Ryuhei Kasuga and the others realized they had no way out.
They had no reason or excuse to lose the game anymore.
"Yuuto, can you practice with me?"
"Sure."
Tomoki Tsugawa was also infected by this atmosphere and wanted Yuuto to practice with him.
Against Tōō, his opponent was Ryo Sakurai, whose release was lightning fast.
Tsugawa dared not be careless because the opponent was a Hozumi Academy champion member who had fought alongside Yuuto for two years.
Yuuto agreed.
While helping Tsugawa adapt to Sakurai's release speed, he also treated it as contested shooting practice.
The basketball club was exceptionally quiet in the morning.
Then.
...
2:00 PM.
Still the same gym.
The morning matches had already decided the third qualifying spot in Tokyo. King Senshinkan defeated their opponent by 5 points and took this precious ticket.
But fan attention was no longer on Senshinkan. Because even if Senshinkan advanced, they seemed to have no chance of winning the championship.
Fans' eyes were aimed at the upcoming Mars vs. Earth clash between Seiho and Tōō.
After registering, Seiho members went to the locker room for final preparations.
"Today is the final battle of the round-robin. Although we have already secured a spot in the Nationals, I require you to treat it like the finals."
Yamashita Shio was exceptionally serious today.
Always losing to a junior made his face dull too.
He was over fifty years old this year. At his age, wanting to change wasn't an easy thing.
Not all coaches are Gregg Popovich, able to improve closely with the times.
Most coaches are inflexible like Larry Brown.
In this regard, even champion coach Phil Jackson was the same; he just held onto the Triangle Offense for a lifetime.
Yamashita Shio was actually the same.
He would stubbornly stick to defense like Larry Brown, but he wouldn't publicly humiliate players or trample on their dignity like Brown.
Yamashita Shio still hadn't figured things out offensively, but he obtained a player who could help him solve this trouble.
The current Seiho was the team form in his ideals.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"