"Yu's absolutely right. I've seen countless talented players destroyed by fame—they were once the media's darlings, but in the end they completely lost themselves to the decadent lifestyle, crushed by the cheers, women, money, and alcohol."
"Now, all that nonsense is coming for you."
Steve obviously didn't want Yuuto's performance affected by these distractions.
The Bruins needed Yuuto if they wanted to go further.
"The cheers, autographs, cameras... they'll turn you into a celebrity, not a winner."
"As a player, you have only one identity. On the court, you're just a player—a warrior."
"Go out there and keep all that crap outside!"
With that, Steve called the team together.
The next day.
The Bruins departed as a unit.
The third round of the NCAA Tournament was being held at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, a multi-purpose arena that could hold over twenty thousand people.
That evening, a massive crowd flooded into the venue.
"It might be unfair to say this about Kansas, but I have to—fifteen thousand fans here tonight came to see Yu," remarked the broadcast commentator.
"That's right, Yu has become one of college basketball's brightest stars!" the other analyst added. "His free-throw line dunk against North Carolina has been on replay for days."
Yuuto entered the court for warm-ups.
This year's Kansas team was difficult to evaluate.
Their roster depth wasn't as good as North Carolina's—that's why they were only a three-seed.
Their core was undoubtedly Thomas Robinson.
Scouts described him as having Kobe's speed and LeBron's body.
Yuuto thought that description was complete nonsense.
Because LeBron was actually faster than Kobe—using "Kobe's speed" as a descriptor was totally redundant.
Still, the scouting reports made it clear that Thomas Robinson had an impressive physical profile.
Standing 6'10" with 238 pounds of muscle, ESPN had initially projected him as a top-three pick.
But then again, true future superstars showed their potential in their freshman year.
And Thomas Robinson? He'd been a bench player until this season. So claiming he had "LeBron's body" was definitely overselling him.
The game began.
The Bruins focused their defensive attention on Thomas Robinson, but Tyshawn Taylor found opportunities to score consecutively from the perimeter.
Tyshawn Taylor suffered from "Sunday Syndrome"—a tendency to struggle in weekend games.
But today, something was different. He was locked in.
Yuuto understood perfectly—the game where Taylor broke out of his "Sunday Syndrome" was against North Carolina.
And today, UCLA had taken that spot and become his new target.
Tyshawn Taylor went 3-for-3, forcing UCLA into a timeout.
"Yu, get on that guy. Hound him like a rabid dog," Steve said, noticing Taylor's different energy tonight.
When facing this kind of offensive threat, Steve's solution was simple: hand it over to Yuuto.
Then...
"On offense, attack the paint and destroy them. Stop trying to solve everything with jump shots—that's not realistic. If they were that weak, they wouldn't be here."
"Yu, get the ball and attack them. Don't tell me they're too tall. Thomas's athleticism is impressive, but there's nobody in the country more athletic than you!"
"If you can't handle him, how am I supposed to expect you to deal with Anthony Davis?"
This was Steve's tactical philosophy, and it had always been effective.
Truth be told, Yuuto was planning to do exactly that even without being told.
His shooting touch had been inconsistent today—both mid-range attempts had clanked off the rim. He needed to find his rhythm through other means.
Sometimes too much rest wasn't a good thing; it could make players lose their game-time feel.
After the timeout, the Bruins' adjustments quickly took effect.
Yuuto had noticed during pre-game that despite being ranked second nationally in rebounding, Thomas Robinson's defense was similar to Stoudemire's—he relied on physicality to solve problems.
His defensive instinct was always to go for the block, showing off his athleticism.
Yuuto called for a pick-and-roll with a teammate, drawing Thomas Robinson onto him.
A series of early crossovers threw his opponent's footwork into chaos. Seizing the opening, Yuuto executed a between-the-legs dribble and accelerated past him on the right side.
Thomas Robinson immediately spun around in pursuit, chasing all the way to the paint. When Yuuto elevated to shoot, he jumped with him, his massive hand descending like a canopy.
What he didn't expect was that Yuuto seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He contorted in mid-air to avoid the block while extending his arm for a reverse layup that kissed off the glass and through the net.
It all happened so fast that Kansas clearly hadn't anticipated Thomas being "executed" so easily on that defensive possession.
Kansas needed to respond, but Yuuto had already locked his sights on Tyshawn Taylor.
Naturally, they fed the ball to Thomas.
The forward drove past Norman Powell with a single step, then threw down a poster dunk right over Reeves Nelson.
Reeves simply didn't have the physical tools to match up with Thomas—he was slow as a moped by comparison.
Powell had the speed to keep up, but he was outmatched in every other way.
Thomas Robinson had the prototypical NBA power forward build—strong, explosive, always able to score around the paint through sheer mobility.
Steve started barking again, demanding more focus from his players.
They weren't afraid of Thomas Robinson scoring this way—in fact, it was exactly what they wanted.
If Kansas kept feeding Thomas, UCLA had a great chance to win this game.
A player averaging fewer than 18 points per game couldn't carry a team to victory on his own.
Sure enough.
On the next possession, Thomas settled for a contested mid-range jumper under the Bruins' defensive pressure. He missed badly.
The Bruins pushed in transition.
Yuuto received the outlet pass, leading the fast break while looking for opportunities.
His shooting touch was off tonight. If he faced the same kind of defensive scheme North Carolina had used, he couldn't rely solely on his scoring—he'd need his teammates to step up.
Just past half-court, Yuuto spotted an opening and whipped a pass to Mosely.
Mosely accelerated into the paint for an easy layup.
This was exactly what NBA front offices wanted to see.
How would Yuuto handle things when his shot wasn't falling?
And now, Yuuto had delivered a perfect answer through his penetration and passing.
He wasn't what scouts had suggested—a player whose assists came simply because his individual ability was too overwhelming. He genuinely knew how to make his teammates better.
"That's it, keep it going!"
Steve clapped encouragingly from the sideline.
Kansas quickly identified the problem: the Bruins' targeted defense on Thomas was working.
They called a timeout, attempting to shift ball-handling duties to the hot-handed Tyshawn Taylor.
But under Yuuto's defensive pressure, Taylor's "Sunday Syndrome" came roaring back.
After several passes around the perimeter, Taylor forced up a contested shot over Yuuto, who read it perfectly and sent it back with a thunderous block.
Then.
Yuuto called for another pick-and-roll, once again targeting Thomas Robinson.
Against this type of shot-blocker, there was a simple recipe.
A pull-up jumper off the drive—but it was a fake. Thomas bit hard on it. This was his defensive flaw, especially when switched onto perimeter players: he bit on every pump fake.
Yuuto got him airborne and drew heavy contact, earning a trip to the line.
...
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