Chapter 26 - Before the Semifinals (1/2)

Tokiwadai team was having a meeting for the semi-finals.

Coach: ”Tomorrow, we will face Meiho Middle School as our semi-final opponents. I have to say this I can't believe Meiho Middle School got to the semi-finals.”

The team was confused, a team that reached semi-finals must be good, but for the coach to say something like this was unusual.

Coach: ”It's not like they are not a good team, they are a National level school who regularly join the Nationals, but this year I didn't think they would be able to come this far.”

Coach looked at his team's confused faces and explained with a sigh.

Coach: ”This year's Meiho Middle School is a one-person show. They have a single player who pulled them to this height, rest of the players are good but not to reach this level if I was to predict they should have been eliminated after their first round.”

The coach played the video of Meiho's round-four game. The people watching could see the coach's point.

Shun recognized the player who had caught the coach's eye. The player on the screen was one of the Uncrowned Kings, Nebuya Eikichi.

The current Nebuya Eikichi had bleached blonde-brown hair. He looked muscular for someone his age.

The team saw Nebuya Eikichi score in the post with pure strength. The opposite center was taller than him, but he couldn't move Nebuya one bit.

Nebuya Eikichi was like a rock in the paint. No matter what the opposite team did, they couldn't stop Nebuya Eikichi.

Coach: ”As you can see, a single player couldn't hold down Nebuya Eikichi, so they put two players on him. Even with that, they couldn't hold him down.”

Nebuya Eikichi, even while being double-teamed, scored like there was nothing in his path.

Coach: ”It doesn't stop here, Meiho utilized Nebuya in their defense as well. Nebuya has a good height, and power, he can even jump well. Their opponent couldn't even put a dent on the inside-game of Meiho. To put it simply, playing against Nebuya Eikichi is like fighting a bull, he is so much stronger for his age that he can ignore possibly all defense.”

Shun could see it, the power that got Nebuya Eikichi his status as an Uncrowned King. Nebuya Eikichi was the only player amongst the Uncrowned Kings that didn't have any special skills.

Kiyoshi got his right of postponement and his point guard like passing ability, Hanamiya had excellent ball-handling skills with his terrifying skills, Mibuchi had his distinct shooting form, and Hayama had his dribbling skills and speed.

Nebuya Eikichi was the only member of the Uncrowned Kings that forgo technique and choose the path of physical strength. Nebuya had power and the stamina to last all game long against multiple defenders.

Otsubo and Aone were worried if they could stop Nebuya. At that time, Mibuchi spoke up.

Mibuchi: ”Otsubo-senpai and Aone-chan can focus on stopping Nebuya Eikichi. Ishida-senpai, Kageyama-chan, and I will handle the scoring.”

Coach: ”This is the correct strategy; tomorrow, we will be scoring from outside.

Let's talk about the other semi-finals, the winner of that match will be one of the finalists. Who do you think will win in that match.”

Shun was the first to speak up,

Shun: ”Teiko Middle School will win, without a doubt. Kamata Middle School is a strong team, and they have the genius twins in their team, but this year's Teiko is lead by Nijimura Shuzo, he is the best power forward in Middle School level, plus from the match videos I have seen, this year they are extremely dangerous.