November 11
Chicago, Illinois
Following the match they played against NKU, the Wildcats team did not waste time, and the next day they found themselves first thing in the morning at the airport heading toward Chicago, where they would play against their next rival, which was the Michigan State Spartans. The reason why they found themselves in Chicago and not in Michigan was because they were there to be able to participate in the State Farm Champions Classic, a famous NCAA men's college basketball event that gives start to the regular season. Despite the fact that the event is relatively new and its first edition was just in 2011, this event called attention immediately due to the fact that 4 of the most historical and winning programs of all the NCAA participated:
Duke Blue Devils
Kansas Jayhawks
Kentucky Wildcats
Michigan State Spartans
They were the 4 programs which participated in these exhibition games that began in 2011 and that little by little became an event very followed by spectators from various parts of the country. The venue for this year would be the mythical United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls, one of the most popular teams in all the NBA due to the historical legacy of Michael Jordan and all that golden generation of players who won 6 NBA rings in the 90s.
Leaving the airport, the players immediately were received by the cold Chicago air while they directed themselves toward the van, which was organized by State Farm to take them to the hotel where they would lodge before tomorrow night's game. Aaron, who found himself sitting next to the window, could not help but see the streets of Chicago while the van little by little took them in direction toward the hotel. Passing by a street, one building in particular called Aaron's attention, just like the rest of his teammates, who did not pull their sight away.
With its great domed roof and its imposing concrete and brick walls, the United Center rose to the sight of all the people who found themselves inside the vehicle, who could not wait to play in that mythical arena.
"Man, I cannot wait to be able to play there tomorrow," said Andrew, who was sitting one row ahead of Aaron, with his voice reflecting what the majority of them thought at that moment.
Nobody pulled their sight away until the stadium disappeared once the van turned a corner and the players began to talk among themselves about the next game they were going to play against the Michigan team.
"Sincerely, I would have liked to play against Kansas," said Julius, who found himself sitting next to Aaron and had his hands behind his head, calling the attention of each one of the players present by his comment.
"Andrew Wiggins is there," was the only explanation that Julius gave, which seemed to be sufficient for the rest of the people to understand the motive for which Julius had clear desires to be able to face the Jayhawks.
In all their recruitment class, there were only two players who were ahead of him in the classification: his teammate Aaron and the Canadian Andrew Wiggins. Julius knew firsthand Aaron's abilities, and in the times they had come to face each other 1 vs 1 in training sessions, he had lost the majority of them, reason for which he did not doubt his teammate's strength. Wiggins, on the other hand, he had never had any opportunity to face, reason for which he was not sure of his strength, and considering that the Jayhawks belong to the Big 12 and them to the SEC, the only real possibility that they come to face each other is if they come to dispute March Madness.
Once they arrived at the hotel, everyone did not waste time in collecting their luggage and heading in direction to the counter to collect the keys to their reservations.
"All right boys, here are your keys," Coach Calipari said, passing to each one of the boys the magnetic cards on which their room numbers were inscribed. "Everyone will share their room with one of their teammates," Coach Calipari explained while he finished distributing the keys. "Another thing that I probably should not explain to you is that there is a strict curfew, so I want you all here at the latest by 10:30 at night or we will have problems, do you understand me?" The last phrase was said with total seriousness by Coach Calipari, fixing his gaze in particular on Willie and some of the most problematic players of the team, who simply raised their hands in a sign of innocence.
"Leave your things in your room and let's meet for lunch in 30 minutes," was the last thing Coach Calipari said upon seeing the time on his watch.
With all the rules clear, all the players directed themselves straight toward the elevators, wanting to leave their luggage in their rooms before directing themselves toward the hotel restaurant.
"Does anyone here have room 1107?" Willie asked in direction toward all those present in the room, who were all players of the team.
The one who raised his hand was one of Willie's good friends, Marcus Lee, a forward who had arrived last season just like Willie and competed with James Young for the starting forward position this season. Upon seeing that he would share a room with his friend, Willie extended his fist in direction toward him while the two began to murmur in a low voice about what they could do now in the Windy City.
Once the elevator arrived at the floor in question, each one of the players began to direct themselves to their respective rooms to begin unpacking and getting ready.
"It seems we keep being roomies, teammate," said Julius, seeing that effectively Aaron and he would share a room as they did back in the university dormitories.
Aaron simply nodded in response while he looked at the number on the door, swiped the card through the card reader, and entered, being followed by Julius behind him.
The room was like any other hotel room, with two beds in the middle of all the room, a door that probably led to what was the bathroom, and a large window that let the city of Chicago be seen in all its splendor. From the room window, Aaron took a moment to see all the skyscrapers that there were in the city and the streets of the city. Without being able to avoid it, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a photo of the hotel view before sending it by message to his mother.
Aaron: 📸
Aaron: the views I have from the hotel room
Storing his phone, Aaron began to store his suitcase in the closet before lying down on the bed and over the soft mattress.
"I could get used to this," Aaron could not help but murmur upon feeling the softness of the mattress beneath his body.
"How do you think we will do tomorrow against the Spartans?" suddenly asked Julius, who had just come out of the bathroom and, just like Aaron, lay down on his bed to rest a bit from the flight they had taken from Kentucky.
That question made Aaron keep silence, since he knew very well that the majority of these matches were very tight, defining themselves by even less than 10 points, reason for which the tournament also had a great attraction.
"Sincerely, I think that if we play like we have been doing, we won't have problems against the Spartans team," Aaron finally responded to him while he still had his gaze placed on the ceiling of the room.
Knowing that if he stayed lying down longer he ran the risk of falling asleep, Aaron rose, stretching slightly before directing himself in direction toward the door.
"Let's go man, before Calipari comes to give us a sermon about punctuality," Aaron said while he saw a Julius who groaned as if he did not want to move, but in the end finished rising from the bed and beginning to follow Aaron.
Going down by the elevator, Aaron along with Julius encountered James, who also was directing himself toward the lobby where Coach Calipari would give them a small team meeting.
Once in the lobby, they encountered Orlando, who explained to them that they must direct themselves toward the conference room that the team had reserved with anticipation to give a technical talk about the next game they would play. Walking through one of the side hallways of the lobby, the boys arrived at a meeting room where Coach Calipari and some players already found themselves. Without saying a word, Coach Calipari simply pointed toward some of the seats which found themselves free, and soon they were occupied by them until little by little more players began to fill until the conference room was finally full and Coach Calipari began with his talk.
"All right, pay attention," Calipari said while on the screen of the conference room the logo of the Spartans team appeared.
"The Michigan State team this year is very different than that of last year," he began with his speech while images of players and statistics of the previous season began to be shown. "They have managed to maintain the majority of their starting players last season, so now their aspirations for March Madness are very big." After that, on the screen, videos of the highlighted moments of the Spartans' first game of the season began to be shown. The game was against the McNeese Cowboys and ended with a score of 98-56.
That score alone demonstrated that the Michigan team was no joke and that if they main careless even for a minute, they could end up losing the lead in the matter of points.
"The maximum scorer of their team is the second-year shooting guard Gary Harris, who in his debut season averaged 12.9 points." At that, on the screen, the profile of the player in question began to be shown, to whom they must pay special attention. "In the previous match he managed to score 20 points." After saying that, on the screen, a montage with Gary's most highlighted moments in that match began to be shown.
In one play in question, Gary received the ball and, without wasting time, performed a eurostep, managing to go through the McNeese player he had in front of him to jump and finish dunking the ball against the hoop. The following plays were also various dunks from different angles and zones of the court, demonstrating clearly Gary's style of play.
"As you can notice, his style is based principally on penetrating from the perimeter and finalizing with layups and dunks close to the hoop," Coach Calipari explained while he detailed even more the Spartans' plays and the possible starting quintet that they would put in tomorrow's game.
30 minutes later, Coach Calipari had finished giving the information about the team's next rival. "This perhaps is the hardest match we will have played until now, but I trust fully in you boys," Calipari finished saying before taking a step backward and giving the floor to his assistant Orlando, who had a smile on his face.
"Good news boys, State Farm as organizers of the tournament invite us to see tonight's game of the Bulls against the Cavs," he said to then show a bunch of tickets, which caused a furor among the players upon seeing that they could see a game.
"Man, that is great," said Andrew Harrison.
"We will see Rose against Irving, dude, what an excitement," said his twin, who also found himself excited before the idea of seeing a game.
And so the players little by little came out in groups from the meeting room, discussing the encounter they were going to see and who was better between Derrick Rose or the new NBA star Kyrie Irving.
Aaron also stood up, but instead of directing himself toward the exit, he took the opportunity to talk with the coaches, who raised their sight upon seeing that he directed himself toward them.
"Is something wrong, boy?" Calipari asked, looking Aaron in the eyes.
"Yes coach, I would like to know if there was a way that you send me the videos of Gary Harris to study them for tomorrow's game," Aaron told him with naturalness.
"Sure, no problem," Calipari told him immediately with a slight smile on his face. "I will make sure they reach you soon, so now rest to go see the game afterward." With those last words, Aaron said goodbye to both coaches, leaving the two discussing the team's lineups.
Authors thought
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