Katsunori Harasawa's goal was to obtain at least two geniuses.
Currently, he had already secured one. As long as Yuuto nodded, then next year's Tōō—no, even for the next three years—Tōō would dominate the National Tournament.
The Lion of Okukozome partnering with the Ace of the Generation of Miracles.
There was no combination more dreamlike than this!
But before that, Yuuto met another person.
Shio Yamashita, the head coach of the Seiho High School basketball club.
"Finally meeting you, Yuuto. I've been following your games for a while, starting from the moment you entered the main draw of the National Tournament."
Shio Yamashita, a man about fifty years old. He had a square face, having just passed half a century in age, with graying temples.
This was a very common thing in the coaching profession.
It meant he often stayed up late for tactics and other reasons, proof that he was diligent and serious enough.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Shio Yamashita, head coach of the Seiho High School basketball club."
"The Northern King of the Tokyo area, Seiho High School. I've heard of you."
In fact.
Yuuto had noticed this man very early on because every time Homi Academy played, Shio Yamashita would sit in the seats behind the Homi Academy bench.
He didn't expect this old man to turn out to be Seiho's head coach.
"Can you tell me the reason you waited until now to find me? Is it to show your composure? Or to make me think highly of Seiho?"
"Neither. During this time, I have been preparing to successfully convince you."
"Preparing what?"
"A championship lineup that can move you. Have you heard of the player Tomoki Tsugawa?"
"I've heard of him. Seems he once defended Kise quite miserably in a game."
"Correct, that's him."
Shio Yamashita played his first card.
Although hailed as one of the Three Kings of Tokyo, equally famous as Shutoku. But in recent years, with the rise of Tōō, Seiho's situation was somewhat awkward.
Shutoku and Tōō competed for the number one and two seeds in Tokyo most of the time; they could only compete for the last spot.
Sometimes with bad luck, they met in the group stage and would be eliminated early.
This made him feel an unprecedented crisis.
The situation in the Tokyo area was changing rapidly.
And this change would intensify as those six geniuses entered high school.
If Seiho wanted to maintain its status as a King, it must obtain one of those six geniuses.
Yuuto was his first choice.
"Our Seiho has always been famous for unique ancient martial arts..."
"Namba Run. I know, not much different from pacing (moving same-side arm and leg)."
"Correct, you can indeed understand it as pacing. But its power doesn't lie in the unique movement method, but in the low consumption brought by this running method. Seiho players have more stamina than any participating team in the nation. This ample stamina allows us to maintain high-intensity defense for 40 minutes."
"Tsutomu Iwamura, one of the best centers in the country, known as Tokyo's Strongest Shield, possessing excellent height and physique. Ryuhei Kasuga, our point guard..."
Shio Yamashita detailed the strengths of Seiho's players to Yuuto.
And stated that he had successfully persuaded Tomoki Tsugawa to join. With Tsugawa and Iwamura, their defense would go a step further.
By then, known as the Strongest Wall of Tokyo, they would be even more worthy of the name.
"That sounds boring. Bluntly put, it's drop coverage defense. Aren't you Kings?"
"Only winners deserve to be called Kings, deserve to wear that crown!"
Shio Yamashita's emotions fluctuated.
This veteran head coach was very similar to Yosen's Masako Araki.
They both firmly believed that offense wins applause, but defense wins championships.
Only after being pierced by the New Era Tyrant—Tōō—using individual ability last year and tragically eliminated in the group stage, did Shio Yamashita have to start reflecting on his basketball philosophy.
Defense wins championships isn't wrong. If you look at the advanced stats of many past NBA championship teams, you'll find their defensive efficiency always ranked at the top of the league, and still does.
But having only a shield without a sharp sword cannot solve problems.
The star-studded Dream Team.
People only saw their luxurious lineup and fierce firepower.
But they ignored that the stars of the Dream Team were all super two-way players themselves.
The stubborn Larry Brown had been eliminated by the times. If he didn't change and continued to be stubborn, perhaps the next one eliminated would be him.
Of course.
Shio Yamashita was over fifty; retiring or not didn't really matter, but he couldn't let go of Seiho.
"Actually, I haven't just been watching you this year, but have been noting your growth since last year. After you scored 50+ alone against Teiko, I decided you were the player our Seiho needs."
He began to throw out his conditions.
"At Seiho, you will get unlimited firing rights. Your teammates will take care of the rear for you. No matter if the opponent is a team focusing on the inside or outside, we can handle it."
"Moreover, your defensive ability in my view even surpasses Tsugawa. If you are at Seiho, I will arrange you between Iwamura and Tsugawa. You will become that defensive hub and heart."
Saying this, Shio Yamashita even took out a tactical board and fiddled with the pieces in front of Yuuto.
2-1-2 defensive positioning, a variation of zone defense, applicable to half-court defense.
Near the two elbow positions of the three-point line, one player is arranged at each.
Yuuto's position was placed near the free-throw line. Once the opponent broke through Seiho's first line of defense, Yuuto could immediately help defend and complete the sideline blockade.
The low post worked on the same principle.
Once the opponent cut to the basket, Tsutomu Iwamura and Yoshikazu Omuro could both react in time. Best if they could defend directly; if not, they could delay to buy time for Yuuto to recover.
This defensive positioning was scalp-tingling just listening to it.
Moreover, the 2-1-2 positioning avoided the weakness of the central axis in traditional 3-2 or 2-3 zone defenses.
This was the second card he prepared for Yuuto.
But following that came another question...
"What about three-pointers? How do you plan to deal with the opponent's long-range shots?"
"Tsugawa will freeze the opponent's three-point shooter. As long as it's not the Generation of Miracles or you, he can handle it." Shio Yamashita was incomparably confident.
He was a coach who made his name on defense. The title "Iron Wall of Tokyo" was enough to prove what kind of team Seiho was.
Tsutomu Iwamura and Tomoki Tsugawa.
With these two people, Seiho was enough to deal with the inside and outside lines of over 90% of the nation's teams. But there were times they couldn't handle it.
For example, the Generation of Miracles!
At this time, Yuuto was needed as the axis.
The defensive core of this lineup wasn't Tomoki Tsugawa or Tsutomu Iwamura, but Yuuto.
"During this time, I watched your game against Teiko no less than twenty times. I found that compared to last year, your help defense ability has improved the most."
"More importantly, we need the firepower only you can provide!"
Yes.
This lineup of Seiho was good in every way. After getting Tomoki Tsugawa, the defensive ability was a level higher than last year, enough to deal with 90% of the teams in the country.
But the flaw hadn't been corrected; they lacked scoring ability.
The current offensive core, Ryuhei Kasuga, could only provide about 20+ firepower per game, which wasn't enough to help them kill the game.
Monsters like the Generation of Miracles and Yuuto could casually score over a hundred points combined in a game.
20 points wasn't worth mentioning in front of them.
"Please believe us, Yuuto. Defense is the foundation of winning championships. This is a truth I understood when I was an assistant coach at Duke University back then."
"Although basketball has developed too fast in recent years, emphasizing offensive and defensive balance more, but..."
"Wait a minute." Yuuto interrupted him, asking, "What did you say just now?"
"Modern basketball develops too fast, emphasizing offensive and defensive balance more."
"The sentence before that."
"A truth I understood when I was an assistant coach at Duke University back then."
"You convinced me. Let's talk about the treatment."
"Uh..."
...
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