Long Time No See, Professor Li

After a long and intensive training session, Stanford's star player, Bruce Li, finally sat in the VIP lounge of the school's cafeteria to start his meal.

After a week of increased appetite, his food intake had stabilized, but it was about forty percent more than before.

These meals had caused his weight to increase by 3.5 kilograms, which left Stanford's fitness trainer in awe.

Then, this morning, he took some time to conduct a comprehensive physical test for Li Zhen. The results were somewhat surprising. The static data was: barefoot height of 6'3" centimeters, wingspan of 200 centimeters, and weight of 72 kilograms.

The dynamic data included: 100-meter sprint in 10.69 seconds, vertical jump of 65 centimeters, standing long jump of 82 centimeters, four-point movement in the three-second zone: 12.6 seconds, 3/4 court sprint in 3.13 seconds, and baseline shuttle run in 3.28 seconds.

These data seemed extremely polarized, neither definitively good nor bad.

Looking solely at the static data, considering his height and wingspan, one might think he was a natural basketball talent. But when you saw his weight, you couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

The dynamic data was even more contradictory. Li Zhen's 100-meter speed was at an elite level among guards. In recent years, only Dwyane Wade had clocked in under 10.6 seconds in testing. Others like Chris Paul might have been coasting during their tests.

Furthermore, his 3/4 court sprint and baseline shuttle run were average to slightly below average for a guard. This reflected Li Zhen's explosiveness and coordination were not very good, but this was masked by his speed.

The worst were his vertical jump and four-point movement in the three-second area. These were figures typical of a center, even a heavyweight center.

Phew!

The trainer stared at the data for a long time. How could there be such complex and contradictory physical attributes?

Li Zhen, on the other hand, was quite indifferent.

Two days ago, he had obtained his 'stats' from the Talent Baby after some persuasion and persistence. So, he wasn't surprised by the current external performance of his physical abilities.

"Strength 22, Speed 80, Explosiveness 20 (later increased to 30), Coordination 35, Flexibility 30, Agility 32, Stamina 40, Vertical Jump 36."

When the Talent Baby listed all these stats, Li Zhen, who had always been a top student, finally experienced what it felt like to be a 'poor student'.

His grades were a bit imbalanced.

At the time, Li Zhen was a bit helpless, and he asked, "Do I have a chance to max out all the stats to 100?"

"The previous one didn't, what do you think?"

Uh...

As Li Zhen was muttering to himself, the voice in his head chimed in again, "Do you know how diligent you have to be to max out all the stats? Even practicing for 50 hours a day with a fever of 100 degrees won't cut it! But... it seems like there might be a shortcut, but I can't remember..."

The Talent Baby was a scatterbrain and easily slipped into sleep mode.

This seriously made Li Zhen suspect that it had been fried by lightning.

...

When Li Zhen left the cafeteria, Coach Jamie Lin and Woodward, the head of the basketball department, approached him.

Bruce's performance in the past three games had not only greatly boosted his reputation, but it also brought a sense of pride to the basketball department. Compared to Stanford's football team, the basketball team had been in a deep slump for the past few years. Even though Stanford's basketball team had made it to the NCAA Tournaments 17 times in its history, reaching the Sweet 16 five times, and even winning the national championship once, that was all a very, very long time ago. (T/N: Numbers are correct but that is until 2014. Story takes place in 2006. So it would only be 14 NCAA appearances and 3 Sweet Sixteen. They did win the first NCAA tournament but that's like in 1942 and there is no Sweet Sixteen, only straight to Elite Eight.)

But now, against all odds, Stanford had made it to the NCAA Tournament, with the head coach and two core players absent. This had once again put Stanford, the private elite school, in the media spotlight for basketball.

So, Hedgewood felt he had to say something to this adorable Stanford's "Little Lightning."

He brought the just-approved full scholarship and a promise to guarantee his spot on the player roster for the next season.

This completely resolved Li Zhen's worries about the future.

Then, after this sweet piece of news, Coach Jamie Lin gave him some not-so-wonderful news.

"Because we're ranked last in the Pacific Division, we'll be facing the number one seed team from the Big 12 Division: the University of Texas Longhorns. They have the highly touted LaMarcus Aldridge, who is the first team and MVP of the Big 12 Division this season, as well as the very strong inside player PJ Tucker, and the excellent shooting guard Daniel Gibson, who is also a first-team member of the Big 12 Division this year."

At this point, Coach Jamie Lin paused for a moment, then continued, "According to reliable sources, all three of these players will declare for the NBA draft after this season. This is their last NCAA season, and their goal is the National Title."

Coach Jamie Lin's expression was solemn; this was truly a life-or-death battle.

To face such a formidable opponent in the first game of the NCAA Tournament, Li Zhen's expression instantly turned serious.

At this moment, Mr. Hedgewood patted his shoulder and comforted him, "It's okay. Even if you lose, no one will hold anything against you. You've already performed exceptionally well. When Coach McHaney returns next season, along with the heavyweight recruit he's bringing in, I believe we'll go even further next year."

Li Zhen pursed his lips tightly. He didn't like the term 'starting from scratch.'

But... what other choice did he have?

Ding-ling!

His phone rang suddenly, and picking it up, it was a call from Jackie Li.

Uh... that is, his father.

God only knew why Professor Li gave himself the English name 'Jackie' and then gave his son the English name 'Bruce Li.' It felt a bit strange in terms of generations.

And according to him, if they had another child, he would definitely name them 'Jet.'

Well, Jet Li narrowly escaped that fate.

Professor Li told his son on the phone, "I've arrived at Stanford University. I really want to see you. Just meet me at the cafe on the corner. No other meaning, just to catch up after such a long time."

Uh...

Could Li Zhen refuse?