Some of the messages he received from Anya, Elizabeth, and a few other girls were about this photo.
Anya had even set the photo as her phone's wallpaper.
As for Reddit, Yahoo Sports, and the sports sections of TikTok, the tone was completely different.
A well-known ESPN commentator posted a lengthy tweet: "I need to see him in the NFL. Now. Immediately. Instantly. I can't stand watching him play in the NCAA anymore. It's a waste of his talent, and it's unfair to the other players. This kid is rewriting history over and over again. He's going to walk up to the records set by the old guard, shatter them all without a second thought, and carve his own name in their place. He is beginning to forge his own legend."
When Li Wei walked into the cafeteria again, he could clearly feel that the way people looked at him had changed.
