Karl Malone's postgame interview caused an uproar across the media.
Bro, that was Karl Malone!
A near-MVP-caliber player.
In this super era, where the Four Centers, the Four Great Power Forwards, and Michael Jordan all battled for supremacy,
Karl Malone was also a superstar who could contend for MVP.
And what was Karl Malone like?
Apart from Stockton and Hornacek, his teammates, just try getting the defiant, never-back-down Karl Malone to praise anyone else.
Give me a break.
Even Michael Jordan didn't get that kind of treatment.
That showed just how highly Malone regarded Li Fei.
The next day.
News about Li Fei swept through the entire NCAA.
The NCAA's official TV channel kept broadcasting footage of Li Fei's games.
Even NBC and TNT mentioned Li Fei frequently on their broadcasts.
TV stations across San Francisco were also touting the new sensation from China.
And, without a doubt, newspapers and magazines updated their covers with new posters.
This time,
Jason Kidd and Keith Van Horn were nowhere to be seen.
Nor was Lamond Murray.
Li Fei had the posters all to himself.
"Li, you really did beat the hell out of Keith Van Horn."
The next day, in the men's dorm at the University of California, Berkeley,
Kidd came to Li Fei's room carrying a stack of colorful newspapers and posters from all kinds of outlets.
"This time, you're not making the posters just for beating people up."
Kidd pulled one out at random.
It was a poster from SLAM Magazine.
The cover showed Li Fei swatting Van Horn's shot.
His stats—32 points, 22 rebounds, and 10 assists—were displayed clearly beneath it.
"This is a SLAM Magazine poster, Li. It's pretty authoritative."
Li Fei nodded.
Put it this way.
Back in 1994, SLAM Magazine didn't usually promote college basketball.
It was an NBA publication.
But what moved Li Fei most was...
At last, he'd made a poster for his basketball skills.
"Li, now that we've taken care of the University of Utah, the one team we couldn't be sure about, I don't think anyone in the Pac-12 can beat us."
Kidd had played in the Pac-12 for two seasons.
From what he knew of the competition, no one could match him on the perimeter, and no one inside could match Li Fei.
"Even UCLA's Bruins center, the 2.13-meter George Zidek, won't pose a threat to you."
"As for Damon Stoudamire and Joseph Blair of the Arizona Wildcats, I've played against them. You know how it is."
Li Fei also knew a thing or two about the Pac-12 teams.
Aside from Zidek, UCLA had quite a few players who would make it to the NBA someday, but they'd all be end-of-the-bench types.
The most famous person on the team was actually role player Bob Myers.
That's right.
He'd go on to become the general manager of the Golden State Warriors during the Stephen Curry era.
Bob Myers might have been an excellent executive.
As a player...
Let's just say that wasn't his strength.
Besides UCLA,
the Arizona Wildcats, with Damon Stoudamire and Joseph Blair as their backcourt duo, were at least somewhat of a threat.
But against the Golden Bears—with Kidd outside, Li Fei inside, and Lamond Murray on the wing—
the Wildcats weren't scary.
Two days later.
At the Golden Bears' home arena,
they first took on the Arizona Wildcats.
"Could everyone please stop focusing on Li Fei for a moment?"
Damon Stoudamire wasn't tall, but he was brash. He made a bold declaration during the pregame interview:
"I'm the highest mountain in the Pac-12, not Li Fei!"
Watching Stoudamire, Li Fei understood something.
NBA players' listed heights were just like women's bra sizes: one could go up or down, one could be bigger or smaller, and you'd never know the real number.
Stoudamire was officially listed at 1.82 meters, but in person he looked no taller than 1.78.
And he thought he could be a mountain in the Pac-12?
Mount Kardashian?
Jokes aside,
Stoudamire was no pushover.
He'd go on to have a solid NBA career. In his best season, he averaged 20 points and 8 assists. His quick, undersized playing style earned him the nickname Mighty Mouse, and he was named Rookie of the Year for the 1995–96 class.
But the reason the Wildcats weren't among the strong teams Kidd had in mind
was that, apart from Stoudamire and Blair, they didn't have anyone else worth mentioning.
And Kidd himself was a mountain standing right in Stoudamire's way.
In their first home game of the regular season, Kidd's defense left Stoudamire completely at a loss.
With Li Fei guarding the paint, too, Mighty Mouse lost eighty percent of his game.
The Wildcats' frontcourt was shorter than a kingdom of dwarves. You'd think they were cosplaying the Golden State Warriors' 2024 Death Lineup, just waiting to get killed.
Li Fei took a mighty stride, knocking down one prodigy after another.
Mighty Mouse even pulled off a flashy move.
Li Fei leaped on defense, and Stoudamire immediately ducked between his legs to get past him.
The commentator blurted out a classic line: "Oh! Damon accelerates and slips right between Li Fei's legs! He's more effective going between the legs than he is driving to the basket!"
In the end, the California Golden Bears beat the Arizona Wildcats with ease.
Li Fei didn't get another triple-double with blocks, but he still stretched out his long arms and put up an impressive 35 points, 23 rebounds, and 6 blocks.
Those two games had firmly established Li Fei as the king of the paint.
"No one can beat Li Fei."
After the game, the Wildcats' head coach lavished praise on him. "Li Fei's rivals aren't in the Pac-12."
"His real competition is in March Madness!"
Another opposing coach had been won over.
But he was right.
[Who in the entire Pac-12 can still stop Li Fei?]
Right after the game, NCAA News published that very question.
George Zidek?
The answer from many experts was no.
The players who could match Li Fei weren't in the Pac-12.
TNT listed a few big men.
Michigan State University's steady interior presence: Juwan Howard.
The North Carolina Tar Heels' hotheaded youngster: Rasheed Wallace.
The North Carolina Tar Heels' white-haired creep: Eric Montross.
The University of Alabama's Antonio McDyess.
And,
Wake Forest University's freshman: Tim "Dumb" Duncan.
Unfortunately, anyone hoping to see Li Fei go toe-to-toe with those big men
would have to wait until next March.
Meanwhile, the NBA regular season was about to begin.
The NBA preseason was just around the corner.
Then, out of nowhere,
an explosive piece of news shook the basketball world like a thunderclap.
[Michael Jordan announces his retirement]
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