Chapter 321 1997 NCAA Division I Men“s Basketball Tournament 9

Jake also felt that Coach Davis's training routine was making a difference, he was training briefly and he still had to miss several days of training because of the games, so he would only know for sure in a few months.

That meant Jake wouldn't have a vacation like the other players on his team, fortunately even though he had to run marathons Jake would still have time to stay in Miami with his mother, after all, he wasn't used to being months without seeing Eva yet.

Especially since Jake had seen Eva die in her past life, and even after spending more than 7 years with her and knowing she was fine in the restaurant, it was hard for him to forget the feeling of knowing his mother was dead.

Jake even thought of taking Eva and opening a new restaurant for her in the city where his NBA basketball team is, but he would have to talk to his mother because even if she was in the same city as him, Jake would still spend most of the year traveling to play.

Even though Jake was pleased with his current life, after all he thought he was very relaxed for almost 15 years in his past life just working and doing what he wanted, in this life he wanted to make every effort to fulfill all the dreams and wishes he had.

Also, Jake found out in this life that he was really very competitive and didn't like to lose, so he was still very happy even playing for several months if he didn't lose and in marathons, he almost always won and Jake also enjoyed running.

Jake had already increased Zack's running training to almost 20 km a day with a rest day after a day of running, Jake also spent part of the training that Coach Davis did for him for Zack.

What Jake intended was that after a few more months Zack would be able to run a full marathon and with Zack's previous training it would take almost a year for him to run a marathon.

Aaron was also fortunately completely recovered from the injury he had, so Aaron had already started doing some light physical training to regain his fitness, after all after the injury Aaron eventually gained some weight from being depressed.

As Aaron plays as WR he had to be in great shape to handle the races and the race to receive QB passes, it seemed that early next year he could try to get a seat on the university's football team.

For him who was nearly two semesters injured was a joy to be able to retrain, Jake hoped that Aaron could really play again, fortunately, Aaron's physiotherapist said that as he spent more time in recovery he had no sequelae of the injury and his body I was totally healthy.

Over the next few days, Jake did his marathon training and had no training with the basketball team, but after three days of rest, Jake advised Coach Smith to train for the next few days even if it was a little.

"I don't know why you're asking for it Jake, our team is at the end of the season and all the players are tired, I know you have more stamina than other players, but the others need these next few days to rest and be well for this important game."

"I know that coach, but I have a feeling this next game will be very difficult for our team, even though I don't have confidence that our team can win the game for sure."

"It's the same as what I felt in the games against Team Wake Forest when you said I wouldn't play for missing training, but this time with me playing I'm worried that our team might lose."

Jake was really worried after resting for a few days, just after the excellent game that Team Tar Heels had Jake was full of confidence and so didn't even think about the next game and just wanted to rest and do his marathon training.

But after a few days when the excitement of victory passed Jake began to worry, after all in his past life his team lost the next game, so far he was very confident because his team would win this game even in his past life without him playing.

In addition, Jake had more confidence that with him playing Team Tar Heels could win games that would normally lose without him playing, proof of this was that after the game against team Wake Forest the Tar Heels team have not lost any games, even though in his past life they had lost another 4 games.

But despite being confident Jake couldn't help but worry, because the other games were normal games, but this next one would be a game in the NCAA tournament Final Four and if the Tar Heels team lost they would be eliminated and the season would be over.

Still confident Jake decided to try to do a few more things before the next game, and the only thing he can think of was to talk to Coach Smith for the team to train a little more before the next game even though it probably made no difference.

Coach Smith saw that Jake was really serious and worried about the next game, which was not good because Jake was the main player of the team and should be calm and confident before the next game.

In addition, Coach Smith recalled that sometimes this season as well as the Wake Forest team match where Jake said that Team Tar Heels could lose and Coach Smith had to acknowledge that in those games if it wasn't for Jake to team would lose.

So after some thought he decided to do some more training before the next game, so that could calm Jake more and give him more confidence before the next game, and training more would not hurt the team.

"Alright then, Jake, in the next few days we'll have some more training."

Jake was very happy about it and was more relieved to think that he had done everything he could before an important game like this, now he just had to focus on making the best performance in the next game, Jake remembered one more thing and told to Coach Smith.

"Coach Smith, in the next game I will personally score Mike Bibby and recommend that the coach send some players to watch out for Miles Simon, I think they will be the most dangerous in the next game."

"That's right, you can defend against Mike Bibby and I'll tell the other players about Miles Simon."

After Jake left Coach Smith was thoughtful for a while, he remembered that the last time Jake asked to tag someone he had made 11 blocks in the game, he didn't expect anything like this to happen again, but if Jake could play better than which in other games would be great for the team.

Coach Smith brought the team together to inform them that everyone would have training in the next few days before the next game, to his surprise no player was upset and on the contrary, it seemed that everyone wanted more training before the next game.

So Coach Smith told the players about Miles Simon and warned everyone to be careful in the next game against the Arizona Wildcats team, Jake was also training seriously and so all players started to feel the pressure of the next game and began to train more seriously.

After a few more days the day of the Final Four game finally arrived, contrary to what Jake was thinking everyone thought the Tar Heels team was a favorite to win this game.

Especially because of the team's excellent winning streak and better season than the Arizona Wildcats team, besides, what was being talked about everywhere in the country was about Jake's great freshman season.

Jake had already broken a number of records this season and impressed everyone with a unique style of play in which it looked like he could play in every position on the court and could do everything.

In addition, three-point shots averaging over 60% were the highlight of the season and in recent years in college basketball, many said Jake should go to the NBA draft this year after this season.

The RCA Dome was packed with people who came to watch this game, plus those who came to cheer for both teams had many who came just to watch Jake play, everyone was talking about whether Jake would do another triple-double, or a quadruple-double, or another game of more than 50 points.

After a few more hours the two teams were ready to start the game, the Arizona Wildcats team came with the initial lineup with Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, A.J. Bramlett, Michael Dickerson, and Bennett Davison.

The Tar Heels team came with the initial line-up with Jake Smith, Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Ademola Okulaja, and Serge Zwikker, before the game Jake advised that it was better to put Okulaja in the game in place of Williams to improve the team's defense.

Jake's opinion as the best player on the team was very important to Coach Smith before such an important game, so Coach Smith did what Jake suggested, only Jake knew he recommended it because Williams was playing so badly in that game.

In this game Jake could only count on Carter and Jamison in the attack, the two would be playing well in this game and the others would be bad in the attack, it didn't affect Jake much because he always trained more with Jamison and Carter throughout the season.

In rebounds he would count on both Zwikker and himself to get more attack for the team and prevent the team from Arizona Wildcats having more chances to score points, so soon the most important game for Jake so far would begin.