Upon hearing that it was Haruko, Sakuragi abandoned his usual playful demeanor and didn't dare turn around. Instead, he turned and ran. Haruko chased after him, but her motor skills were poor, and she tripped and fell after only a few steps.
Hearing the commotion, Sakuragi turned around and saw Haruko lying on the ground. He wanted to go over but was afraid to face her, so he stood there dumbfounded. Haruko got up, turned her back to Sakuragi, and said, "I'll never forget yesterday's game."
Sakuragi's heart skipped a beat, thinking Haruko was going to blame him for his mistake, but Haruko continued, "That was your first time scoring a dunk as a basketball player." Haruko smiled and waved, "I'll wait for you at the gym. Let's go watch the basketball team practice."
She added, "Even geniuses make mistakes!" After Haruko left, Sakuragi remained standing there, stunned for a long time.
Standing on the sidelines, watching the group of boys playing basketball, Fukuda vaguely saw his younger self. Although he had returned to the basketball team, the result was not what he expected. He had always loved challenging strong opponents, and had beaten Sendoh and Uozumi, but when he played against Yo Aoki, he felt a sense of powerlessness, as if he had been seen through. Frustration enveloped him, and for the first time, he had the thought of giving up.
Just then, a red-haired guy came into his line of sight. " Hanamichi Sakuragi from Shohoku?" Sakuragi also saw Fukuda. According to the plot of the manga, Fukuda was originally interested in Sakuragi because Sendoh had praised him, but now that their eyes met, Fukuda lost his arrogance and instead felt a sense of sympathy.
When two down-on-their-luck individuals meet, there's no scene of heroes showing mutual respect. Sakuragi turns and leaves, while Fukuda stays behind. Both of these dejected guys need someone to lend a hand. It's unclear who can help Fukuda, but the person who can help Sakuragi out of his predicament is already in the Shohoku basketball gym.
Coach Anzai was in his office, pondering tactics for the next match against Takezato. "To play against Takezato, the first thing is to stabilize the players' mentality and control the pace." He stared at the game stats of Yo Aoki against Ryonan on his computer: 48 points, 5 assists, 13 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 4 steals.
"Solid fundamentals, good physical condition, explosiveness and jumping ability, good touch, and accurate shooting." Coach Anzai said with a smile, "This takes a lot of hard work to achieve." Yo Aoki's performance reminded Anzai of someone deep in his heart.
Pulling himself back to reality, Anzai stroked his beard and thought, " Akagi's strength can rival Aoki's, but his agility isn't enough." "If we add Sakuragi, maybe we can catch them off guard." Remembering that Sakuragi hadn't participated in training today, Anzai smiled, "Hopefully Rukawa can help Sakuragi out a bit."
The next day, Coach Anzai arrived at Shohoku's basketball gym. Before even entering, he heard Sakuragi's loud voice. Anzai chuckled, " Sakuragi, you've recovered, huh?" Entering the gym, Anzai instructed Akagi to gather all the players.
Once everyone had arrived, Anzai smiled and said to Sakuragi, "Hmm, Sakuragi, your hairstyle is pretty good." He then reached out and patted Sakuragi's head, laughing as he did so, "It feels nice too." This earned him an angry chin-restoring slap from Sakuragi.
The other team members quickly pulled the two apart. Anzai coughed and said, "Everyone, take a break for a bit, then we'll play a five-on-five practice match. That's all for today's training." "What's wrong, old man? Was today's training too easy?" Sakuragi asked, leaning closer.
Anzai explained, "I'm worried you'll be too tired during the match." Kaede Rukawa didn't take this to heart, but it reminded him of his own stamina issues during matches. Anzai continued, "While you're resting, I'll tell you how to beat Takezato Team."
His Mitsuyoshi Anzai. He used to be a professional basketball player, but after retiring, he became a basketball coach at a university.
Back in college, he always had a stern face, as cold as an ice cube, and his demands on training were extremely strict, earning him the nickname " White-Haired Devil ".
After the " Yazawa Incident," a disheartened Anzai completely disappeared from the college basketball scene.
He chose Shohoku High School as his base not because he wanted to lead a group of weaklings to a comeback, nor because he wanted to prove himself, but simply because he wanted to find a place to drift through life and exile himself.
From that day on, Anzai completely transformed from a fierce " White-Haired Devil " into a lazy " White-Haired Buddha," leaving all team training to the captain and becoming a hands-off manager.
However, he is different from Akagi. Akagi's problem was that he lacked the ability to control the situation, while Anzai completely gave up on himself.
Although Anzai did rekindle his hopes when Hisashi Mitsui returned to the team, Mitsui later went back to hanging out with delinquents and almost ruined himself, which extinguished Anzai's newly emerging hope.
He ignored Mitsui's affairs, not out of anger at Mitsui's betrayal, but out of self-reproach for having personally destroyed another " Yazawa ".
It wasn't until Hanamichi Sakuragi and Kaede Rukawa joined him, and Mitsui cried so bitterly in front of him, that his long-closed heart was finally opened. He didn't want these kids' dreams to be left with any regrets because of his own problems, and that's when he began his self-redemption.
Anzai looked at the Shohoku team and slowly began, "Our next opponent is Takezato High School. I believe everyone has their own opinions about Takezato after watching their Takezato Ryonan."
He adjusted his glasses and continued, "Let's talk about Takezato's characteristics first. Takezato's team is aggressive on offense but terrible on defense. They have two core offensive methods. The first is relying on Yo Aoki's individual efforts. Everyone knows how strong that guy is. His impact on the inside is more powerful than a bulldozer."
Anzai paused, his gaze sweeping over Akagi and Sakuragi, then said, " Akagi, Sakuragi, you two have heavy responsibilities."
Sakuragi immediately slapped his thigh and laughed, "Dad! You can rest assured, leave Aoki to me, the genius Hanamichi Sakuragi!"
Akagi punched Sakuragi on the head and said in a deep voice, "Shut up! Listen to what Teacher Anzai is saying!"
Anzai chuckled a few times, completely ignoring Sakuragi's antics.
Anzai stroked his beard and continued, " Takezato's other strength is their screen play. Their center can shoot from beyond the three-point line, and their coordination with the guards is incredibly good. If we don't address these two points, we'll definitely suffer a huge loss."
Apart from Sakuragi, everyone else on the Shohoku Team started figuring out how to break the deadlock.
Anzai then said, "Our first priority is to defend against Yo Aoki's attack. I've decided that the task of defending against Yo Aoki will be assigned to Akagi!"
"What?!" Sakuragi yelled, quickly approaching Anzai and grabbing his round chin. "Dad! How can you not believe in a genius like me?"
"Bang!" Sakuragi got hit on the head again.
Akagi glared at Sakuragi and yelled, " Sakuragi! Be quiet!"
Anzai rubbed his chin. " Akagi, Yo Aoki's power is too abnormal. Only you can effectively restrain him."
"Look, Dad!" Sakuragi bent his elbows at a right angle, clenched his fists, and swung them around like he was showing off. "I'm super strong too!"
Kaede Rukawa covered his eyes with his hands, Ryota Miyagi and Hisashi Mitsui laughed until they cried, Ayako picked up her signature weapon—a paper fan—and tapped Sakuragi on the head.
Ayako frowned and said, " Sakuragi! Stop fooling around! Listen to the teacher!"
Sakuragi reluctantly withdrew his movement, but still looked annoyed.
Anzai smiled and explained, " Sakuragi, don't rush me, let me explain slowly."
Akagi hesitated for a moment before saying, "Teacher, Yo Aoki's three-pointers are also very accurate. If I were to guard him..."
Anzai interrupted him, " Akagi, your job is to drive him as far out to the basket as possible. As for the three-pointers, let him shoot them."
"Huh?" Akagi was stunned.
Anzai explained, " Yo Aoki's dunks can quickly boost the team's morale and also damage the opponent's mentality, so we must not let him score easily in the paint."
Anzai then looked at Sakuragi: " Sakuragi, you're in charge of guarding their center! That guy has a lot of range, and with your speed and jumping ability, you're the perfect choice to defend him."
Sakuragi said somewhat irritably, "Dad! Using my genius defense on that second-rate guy is a complete waste of his talent!"
Kaede Rukawa spoke up at the opportune moment, "It's not certain whether we can defend against it."
" Kaede Rukawa, what did you say?!" Sakuragi exploded.
Anzai laughed, " Sakuragi, don't underestimate him. He's Takezato's second-leading scorer. Whether you can stop him or not will directly determine whether we win."
Sakuragi patted his chest, confidently declaring, "Hmph! I, the genius Sakuragi, will make sure he doesn't get a single point!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone from Shohoku laughed.
Sakuragi, enraged and about to lash out, was knocked back by Ayako's paper fan.
Anzai organized his thoughts and continued, "The rest is about Takezato's screens and plays. To break this tactic, we can refer to Ryonan's approach and have Rukawa mark their guards."
He looked at Kaede Rukawa: " Rukawa, Yo Aoki might use the same defensive tactics against you as he does with Sendoh. You need to be mentally prepared."
Kaede Rukawa nodded, secretly vowing to defeat Yo Aoki and prove that he was stronger than Akira Sendoh.
"Don't forget this crucial point," Coach Anzai said. "Those guys from Takezato are masters of psychological warfare. No matter what tricks that kid Aoki pulls, don't panic. Stay calm and play at our pace."
"Yes!"
Miyagi chimed in, "Coach, what if Takezato dares to use their dirty tricks against us?"
As soon as those words were spoken, the entire team's eyes were immediately fixed on Sakuragi, Sakuragi still confused, with a question mark on his face, "What foul?"
Coach Anzai laughed, "They wouldn't dare. With our two rebounding monsters standing there, who would dare to foul us easily?"
Just as Shohoku had figured out Takezato's tactics, Takezato wasn't idle either, digging into Shohoku's weaknesses. In Takezato's arena, Shirota was analyzing Shohoku's situation. " Shohoku is on the same level as Ryonan. Don't judge them by old standards. This team has a wide-ranging offensive firepower; every position is occupied by one of the toughest players in the prefecture."
"Center Takenori Akagi even fiercer than Uozumi. I checked, last year when Shohoku and Ryonan fought, Uozumi was completely pinned down by Akagi and couldn't move at all."
Imamura's eyes nearly popped out of his head. Uozumi was already fierce enough, but was there someone even more ruthless than him?
Shirota continued, "Power forward Hanamichi Sakuragi, that guy's a rebounding madman. If we don't shoot accurately, he'll definitely be the one to decide the game."
Shirota swallowed hard, his throat bobbing, and added, "Also, this guy has a temper as explosive as a firecracker. He'll start a fight at the drop of a hat, so you all better watch out."
Yo Aoki chuckled to himself, thinking to himself, " Shirota must have been beaten up by Sakuragi quite a few times."