Like Shohoku, Aichi Gakuin had actually been keeping a close eye on the game here.
When they heard that Shohoku had still beaten Toyotama High School by 39 points despite playing mostly substitutes in the second half, everyone at Aichi Gakuin fell silent.
As a seeded team in this National Tournament, Shohoku had drawn close attention with everything they did that summer.
As Kanagawa's only undefeated team, Shohoku had beaten Kainan decisively.
Moreover, in a subsequent friendly, Shohoku High School had also beaten Meihou Industrial High School, another team from Aichi Prefecture.
In the earlier Prefectural Tournament, Meihou Industrial High School had beaten Aichi Gakuin so thoroughly that they could do little about it.
It was their star player, Dai Moroboshi, who stepped forward. He walked to the center of the locker room and called out loudly to encourage them.
"Don't worry, everyone. Leave everything to me tomorrow!
"No matter how strong our opponents are, we'll beat them. We have only one goal this year: the national championship!"
At two the following afternoon, Shohoku High School's players entered the basketball arena. (It's Aiwa Academy. I got it wrong quite a few times earlier, but I won't go back and change it.)
They had all arrived early, since the game would not officially start until three. Clearly, Shohoku's players were taking this game seriously.
As soon as he stepped onto the court, Ryota Kudo saw that Aiwa Academy's players had already been warming up for a while.
"Kudo! Long time no see." Dai Moroboshi waved from a distance, greeting Ryota Kudo.
Like Shohoku, Aiwa Academy was a team that played a clean, refined game, relying entirely on skill and teamwork.
Naturally, Ryota Kudo would not be like a firecracker that went off at the slightest spark, as he had