Aoki suppressed a laugh, reached up and touched his nose, not saying anything directly.
"Think about it, do you think those schools wouldn't know about reconnaissance? Kainan and Shoyo are strong, so they might not care, but what about the other schools? Why would they show you their true abilities?"
Shirota frowned, a suspicious look on his face. "You mean they're deliberately hiding their strength, waiting for other schools to investigate, hoping to make them underestimate them?"
Aoki nodded, his tone certain. "That's right. Take Shohoku for example. I heard they have a guy named Hisashi Mitsui on their team who used to be the MVP in middle school. He's really good."
After hearing this, Shirota suddenly realized and slapped his thigh. "These guys are too cunning!"
He looked at the notebook in his hand, his face falling. "All my hard work these past few days has been wasted!"
Aoki patted Shirota on the shoulder, comforting him, "It wasn't a complete waste of time. This is just basic information now. Our next step is to uncover their hidden weaknesses."
Shirota looked up. "How do we dig?"
Aoki smiled and said, "I heard there's a warm-up match before the regional qualifiers. That's the perfect opportunity to expose their hidden weaknesses!"
Shirota was still a little flustered. "I'm still worried, Aoki, will you come with me?"
Aoki nodded. "No problem, don't worry, this time, the two of us together will definitely be able to complete Coach Akai's mission."
After parting ways with Shirota, Aoki returned to the classroom. He had barely sat down when a classmate came over and said that someone was looking for him outside the school.
"Who would be looking for me?" Aoki muttered to himself as he walked. "Could it be that Matsumoto trying to get revenge on me? Does he even dare to come?"
When he arrived at the school gate, sure enough, there was a black sedan parked there. The person inside saw him, opened the door, and a man in a black suit and sunglasses got out.
"Is this guy in a movie?" Aoki chuckled to himself.
The man in the suit stood in front of Aoki, his face stern, and asked, " Yo Aoki?"
Aoki nodded.
The man in the suit gestured with his chin toward the black sedan. "My boss wants to see you."
Aoki glanced at the car, smiled, and said, "No." He then turned and left, leaving the man in the suit standing there, stunned.
"You're crazy. You want to see someone but you're putting on airs?" Aoki didn't care who was in the car or what they wanted. His mind was full of high school basketball games, and he had no interest in anything else.
The first period in the afternoon was English class. As soon as the teacher entered the classroom, she called out Yo Aoki.
" Aoki -kun, the principal wants to see you in his office."
"It must be about the act of bravery yesterday, right?" Aoki thought as he walked.
When he arrived at the principal's office, Aoki knocked on the door. A voice inside said, "Come in," so he pushed the door open and went inside.
There were three people in the room. One was the principal of Takezato High School. Another middle-aged man sitting on the sofa wore glasses and looked quite important. Standing behind him was the man in the suit from earlier.
Upon seeing Aoki, Principal Takezato smiled and introduced him, " Aoki, this is Mr. Iwasaki from the Ichibishi Group. He came specifically to see you."
Aoki glanced at Iwasaki, thinking to himself, "So he's a rich guy. What does he want with me?"
Iwasaki began, "First of all, thank you for saving my daughter, Oriyuki, yesterday."
Aoki understood immediately; so the person he saved yesterday was this man's daughter.
Before Iwasaki could speak, Yo Aoki added, "I have another favor to ask of you."
Before Yo Aoki could reply, Iwasaki cut to the chase. "Please keep yesterday's matter a secret and don't mention it to anyone."
Yo Aoki instantly realized what was going on—this was to shut them up, and there was probably something fishy going on.
The principal chimed in, " Aoki, the school is hoping you'll do that too, after all, it concerns the young girl's reputation."
Yo Aoki rolled his eyes inwardly, but smiled on his face, "Oh, so that's what happened. It was so dark that I couldn't see what the girl looked like at all, let alone know who she was. It was only after you introduced her that I found out she was the young lady of the Ichibishi Group."
He saw Iwasaki and the principal's faces freeze instantly. Yo Aoki then smiled and said, "Of course, no problem. I wasn't planning on telling anyone anyway."
As Yo Aoki walked out of the principal's office, he found it increasingly amusing. Iwasaki's arrogant attitude was so unpleasant to look at that person, he felt he should give him a piece of his mind.
Just then, the office door opened again, and the man in the suit quickly caught up, saying to Yo Aoki, "Kid, this is for you." He then handed over an envelope.
Yo Aoki found this clichéd tactic both amusing and speechless. He decided to retaliate in kind, immediately putting on a stern face. "Take the thing back! Don't insult people with this! If a cat or dog were in danger, I'd lend a hand too!"
After saying that, he turned and walked away, showing the man in the suit the back of his head. He had only taken two steps when he stopped again, turned his back to the man and said, "This is my last piece of advice to you—don't think too highly of yourselves!" Then he strode away without looking back.
"It's done!" Yo Aoki's lips curled into a smile, his heart overflowing with joy. But he didn't notice that his words had been overheard by someone around the corner of the corridor. That person was wearing a sailor uniform, had shoulder-length hair, large eyes, and a mole under his eye. He was glaring at him with an angry expression.
This heroic rescue didn't affect Yo Aoki's life; he continued to spend his days practicing shooting with Imamura at the basketball court.
Yo Aoki patted Imamura, who was practicing his mid-range shot, and said, " Imamura- senpai, I have a useful tactic I'd like to practice with you."
Imamura turned his head and asked, "Practical tactics?"
Yo Aoki nodded. "Yes, it's the so-called pick and roll tactic."
Imamura asked, "Pick and Roll?"
Yo Aoki laughed, "Translated, it's a pick-and-roll." He paused, then added, "To put it simply, it's a screen and play!"
Imamura scratched his head. "I know that, it's about blocking for your teammates."
Yo Aoki shook his head. "That's just blocking; we still need to dismantle it."
Yo Aoki sorted out his thoughts. "Let's take the two of us as an example. After you block the person guarding me, I, as the dribbler, will attract the person guarding you. At this time, I will pass the ball to you when you are unguarded, and you can choose to go straight to the basket. If the person guarding you does not come to help guard me, then I will just shoot."
After saying that, he demonstrated the actual combat to Imamura.
Imamura's eyes lit up. " Aoki, this tactic is so practical!"
But then he frowned. "But if we run into a center like Uozumi, I'm still a little unsure."
Yo Aoki smiled and reassured him, "What I was talking about was a pick-and-roll cut. Against a big center like Uozumi, we'll use a pick-and-roll to cut to the outside."
Imamura pressed further. "External incision?"
Yo Aoki nodded. "I've said before that to deal with a center like Uozumi, you have to keep him out of the paint."
Imamura nodded, recalling that Yo Aoki had mentioned this before when he had him practice long-range shooting.
Yo Aoki continued, "This pick-and-roll cut is a way to draw them out of the paint."
Imamura slapped his thigh. "I get it! It means after I screen for someone, I don't go straight to the basket, I stay on the perimeter, right?"
Yo Aoki laughed, "Yes, that's exactly it!"
Imamura scratched his head and chuckled, " Aoki, when you had me practice long-range shooting, did you already have this tactic in mind?"
Yo Aoki nodded, indeed thinking the same thing—he had been observing Imamura these past few days, and if Imamura's shooting practice wasn't good enough, he wouldn't have brought up this tactic today. Fortunately, Imamura didn't disappoint him, consistently shooting 500 shots every day with a fairly high accuracy rate.
Imamura said sincerely, " Aoki, you are truly unfathomable."
Yo Aoki quickly waved his hand. " Imamura -senpai, you flatter me."
Yo Aoki's integration of the pick-and-roll into Takezato's offensive system was a well-thought-out decision. He scoured the entire Slam Dunk manga and found that very few teams used this practical tactic.
Many people say that in the final match between Shohoku and Sannoh, Akagi and Mitsui's play was just a pick-and-roll. But as he just explained to Imamura, it was just a screen, not a roll. Perhaps the manga wanted to highlight the individual abilities of the players and didn't want to introduce too many tactical systems. After all, it's a manga for young people, not a comprehensive guide to basketball tactics.
However, in his reality, incorporating these tactics and techniques is the most effective way to improve the strength of a grassroots team like Takezato.
A week passed in the blink of an eye, and Yo Aoki and Imamura became increasingly skilled at pick-and-roll.
The training session that day consisted of half-court scrimmage. Coach Akai assigned Yo Aoki, Imamura, Mizuki, Hojo, and Tatsu Shindo to the white team, while the remaining players, Shigeru Akiyama, Heisaburo Nakako, Yasunori Sanada, Kiyoshiro Kawai, Koji Takeuchi, formed the yellow team.
Yo Aoki glanced at the group list and saw that he was grouped with Imamura. He smiled and nudged Imamura's arm, "Senior, isn't it time to test our skills from these past few days?"
Imamura clenched his fists, shaking his head vigorously. "Absolutely! My arms are sore from practicing these past few days, I've been looking forward to this moment!"
As soon as the referee's whistle blew, the white team launched the first attack. The yellow team immediately formed a human wall to mark their players, with Yasunori Sanada sticking to Yo Aoki and Shigeru Akiyama sticking to Imamura.
Hojo, holding the ball, looked around and spotted Yo Aoki beyond the three-point line. Without hesitation, he passed the ball to him—this kid's aim is spot on, we can't waste this opportunity.
Yo Aoki caught the ball and caught a glimpse of Imamura running towards the three-point line. The kid immediately understood and stuck behind him to set a screen.
Yo Aoki rushed towards the basket, close to Imamura's back. Imamura turned around and blocked Yasunori Sanada behind him, but he didn't move his feet and just stood there waiting.