Rising Star

"What's your stat line of the day?"

"There's a lot of standout performances we can list here for sure, but I got to choose this one. Illinois freshman Jaylen Mitchell's 45 markers, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals, and 3 shot blocks." A well known NCAA analyst said. "Mind you, he even spearheaded a 22-0 run all by himself at the start of the second half that turned the game around, and hit 7 threes total."

"Illinois truly recruited someone special, and the result of the faith is that special opening day 112-107 win against ranked North Carolina."

"Illinois will play against the ranked University of Connecticut Huskies midweek too, so let's see if they'll go 2 for 2 against preseason top 25 teams."

"Certainly. A win against UConn would improve their resume dramatically come Selection Sunday."

Caleb Wilson shut his laptop down after hearing that, to the surprise of the people behind him.

"What? I have less than a fourth of my battery remaining!"

"We wanna listen to more news analysis!" Lamont Harris was annoyed at his friend.

"Go use your own phones, for fuck's sake!" Caleb was about to cry. When did he become Samuel's replacement? He's not a scion of a rich family!

Tremaine was eating some of Taichi's leftover sushi while everyone alternated between watching the show and shamelessly asking Tre for some sushi.

Tremaine absolutely adored the hand pressed sushi, and the nori wrapped sushi. So, even if his stomach was full, he took the courage and asked Taichi if he could take what was left.

So now… he's the center of attention, all because of a lunch box full of sushi…

Good thing he didn't bring tea as well…

Jaylen was the first man in the facility today, even if there's no scheduled practice as it was a rest day.

None of the gathered bunch were surprised at the self-punishing routine of Jaylen. He always finds holes in his game and tries to fix it at the earliest opportunity.

"Oy, rookie! Don't tire yourself out!" Legend was here early too, but all he's doing was light exercises to keep his condition. He walked up to Jaylen and said, "Control yourself a little, okay? We have a long season, and if you continue, you might not last until the end."

Jaylen shot a final turnaround fadeaway from the wing, before sighing. He doesn't want to stop yet, but he knew that his upperclassmen would know the rigors of a long season better than him.

"Jaylen, here take this salmon sushi!" Tremaine called out to him, sushi in chopsticks.

Tremaine, as a longtime professional, had always known how valuable rest after game days are.

What he did all night long was study game tape, and study for school… He didn't realize until it was too late that he had so much energy because of the scrumptious dishes served to them so he used that energy to fuel his brain instead…

Albeit a small sample size, he thought he saw a glimpse of what the team could be from that game. He learned a little bit more about the in-game tendencies of each and every one in the rotation.

So today, he was taking it slow. He didn't have much sleep— if two hours is considered much— making him feel a little off.

Small drills, Tre, small drills.

Jaylen grabbed the salmon sushi with his sweaty hands, with the upperclassmen behind them snickering.

"I see it now!" Caleb Wilson started. "The headlines of tomorrow's news: Rising star, Jaylen Mitchell, can't use chopsticks!"

"Don't let this bastard's dumb words in your head." Lamont laughed for a short amount of time, before talking righteously.

"Huh?" Jaylen did not even register the joking swipe, because he was stuffing himself with sushi.

Lamont grabbed his chopsticks and took one as well. "You should ask Caleb for help sometime, he's the worst user of chopsticks we have!"

"Fuck you! I just have never eaten Japanese food with chopsticks before!"

While the two bantered, Tremaine asked Jaylen a little something.

"What does destroying a team like North Carolina feel like?"

Once the question was asked, the eyes and ears of everyone were focused on Jaylen— who had just taken another nigiri sushi into his mouth….

"Id wazmt nuv." Jaylen's mouth was still full when he spoke.

?

After he swallowed the sushi, and drank a little tea, he repeated his words. "It wasn't enough. I still have to improve my game."

Legend smiled at the continuous thirst for greatness by this young lad. He wasn't at all content at how he played, even if he was unanimously the best player on the floor last night. His ambitions already allow him to become something more than just a rookie college player with a single game under his belt.

"Go on, and achieve basketball immortality, kid!" Legend gave him a pat in the back, and asked Tre to put a piece of sushi in his mouth. "You should… all continue… improving!"

"How about you, Captain? How do you feel after that win?"

"I'm happy of course, since it's a ranked win. But I wasn't satisfied with my performance at all." Legend was a legit NBA caliber prospect for years now, and despite his gentle, big brother nature, he also had the drive, and ability to survive in the kill or be killed world of professional sports. "I made a lot of defensive mistakes, got boxed out several times, and played too passively on a couple of occasions."

Tremaine was a little envious, however, he had to earn the chance to play ahead of even his best friend, whose credentials speak for itself.

"I agree, Cap. I watched the tape last night, and I saw several communication breakdowns in defense." Tremaine watched the game tape inside out last night.

"Also, there were some instances where you're bullied by the opposing big man." Kristian was wearing his school glasses today so he could chill for the day, since there's no practice. However, he somehow watched the game replays as well.

"I'm glad you also went the extra mile and watched the game tape and shared your thoughts with me." Legend was a happy camper. Not only do they have promising rookies, they also have rookies willing to go the extra mile. "Geis, Mills, share with us your full, unfiltered thoughts of yesterday's game. The bad, the good, and the meh. I want to hear all your input."

***

Extras:

Written in Tremaine Mills' open notebook was yesterday's scores.

Deshaun was putting his pants on when he saw the open notebook that certainly stood out, even on his friend Tremaine's messy bed.

"Who the fuck uses notebooks these days?" Deshaun grabbed the notebook and took a look at Tremaine's hidden talent— drawing, and scoring live basketball games.

He doesn't give a damn about the box scores, since he only had 4 points… but his curiosity was killing him.

ILL 112 - Mitchell 45, Ogwuzeni 18, Stone Jr. 16, Harris 11, Brown 6, Thornton 6, Richardson 4, Wilson 3, Evans 3.

"Only nine of us scored?" Deshaun could not believe what he was seeing. He instantly opened up his phone and searched for it on the net. "Shit? There's actually just nine scorers?"