4 Practice Match, Part 1

The first-string practice was much more intense than the third-string. They were also most of the time personally supervised by coach K, giving various pointers. Making first-string players hardly get a breath.

Even so, Rai still didn't neglect his early morning drills and work-out in the gym at night. Success is no accident. It is achieved through hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice. He didn't feel that he was exempt from these things just because he was talented.

He was willing to put in the hard work and sacrifice the things that the majority won't do to reach his goal.

A few weeks passed like that, with his schedule for the day being mostly the same.

He woke up at the same time every day, doing his morning basketball workout, before heading off to school. Somehow getting through the rest of the school day until the time for after-school club activities.

Since Rai was a bench player and not a regular, he didn't have a chance to play, mostly playing with second-string players. He had an intention to talk to coach K about it but before he could, the former took initiative.

"Itoshi-Kun, seeing your offensive capabilities, I will put you in the upcoming practice match against Kiyokawa junior high school. If you can become a regular or not, will depend on your performance in this match."

Coach K was paying attention every time Rai played. He was shocked, to say the least by the talent and the skills Rai showed. Rai was a very dominant type of player on the court that greatly matched his ideology.

The sole reason he came to this junior high to coach was to find a prodigy and train him so that he could lead Kuzuryū high school to win the nationals.

Looking at Rai, he seems to have limitless potential.

It is reputed that hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. But looking at Rai, he was definitely the person who worked the hardest, among others in the club.

Though slightly surprised, Rai nodded. Looking at the current starting lineup, there was no vacant position.

The starting lineup for Kuzuryū junior high school basketball team was;

Point Guard, Hanamiya Makoto, Second Year.

Shooting Guard, Shoichi Imayoshi ©, Third Year.

Small Forward, Kiyoshi Miyaji, Third Year.

Power Forward, Shigeo Hara, Third Year.

Center, Zentetsu Baro, Second Year.

If he wanted to become a regular, he needed to replace one of them. He had already thought of the position he would be playing and already informed coach K of it.

With his playstyle, a slightly versatile position like power forward suited him. It was also the position he played in his last life. He had occasionally switched between shooting guard and power forward back then.

Time passed before the day of the practice game arrived.

Rai got through the whole day, before arriving at the basketball club.

He quickly changed into his training attire before entering the gym #1. He nodded slightly to the regulars before starting his pre-game warm-up.

It greatly helps to prepare the body to move before you step onto the court to reduce injuries, improve quickness, and various other benefits to the body.

Since their opponent was coming to their school for the match, they had a home-court advantage.

Seeing the time getting close to their match, everyone quickly changed into their uniform. Rai wore the blue and black colored Kuzuryū jersey, with black filling the majority of it. It was numbered twenty-seven.

Coach K yelled for everyone to gather around him, going over some pre-game strategies.

Everyone quickly took their positions in the court. While Rai sat on the bench, suppose to be substituted with Shigeo Hara in the second half.

The referee threw the ball up, officially starting the practice match between Kuzuryū versus Kiyokawa.

Rai focused on the game, revaluing the usefulness of his teammates on the court and their strengths and weaknesses.

Starting from Hanamiya Makoto, he is good in overall techniques, such as passing, shooting, and speed, but his most distinctive skill is stealing. Even though he hasn't developed his stealing skills to the point in the series, you could still see it forming a complete set of skills.

Not to mention his high basketball IQ. Overall he was a decent point guard, with some untapped potential.

On to the shooting guard and their captain, Shoichi Imayoshi. His moves are unpredictable and he can set a scoring play in motion with few passes. On the other hand, he can also put an excellent pressure defense against the opposition. He can also shoot regular three-pointers as well.

He can also keenly observe and predict the opposition's next move. Altogether, he was a reliable shooting guard on the court.

Next, it was the small forward, Kiyoshi Miyaji. He had above-average skills in dribbling and breaking through his defense and besides his experience, there was nothing special.

The one Rai paid more attention to than the rest of them was the center, Zentetsu Baro. He was most certainly the most talented out of all of them. He could put on a good defense, and his agility was surprising especially considering his large size.

Rai could tell that he was the person with the most potential on this team.

And looking at the last person, Rai just shook his head.

'Useless' thought Rai looking at Shigeo Hara. It was not that he was a bad player but it's just that he was not good at anything in particular.

This type of player might not be much of a problem in normal practice matches. But in something like the nationals, he would only hold the team back.

No wonder, coach K was enthusiastic about his performance today.

The first half ended with Kuzuryū up by seven, 44-37.