The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 100 - 7 Reasons

On the second day of the training camp, everyone got up very early.

After breakfast, they all headed to Indiana University’s old gymnasium—an integrated sports venue resembling an airplane hangar.

Indiana University staff used tape on the floor to mark three full courts and three half courts, with the surface laid out in a green checkered fabric, freshly painted with green paint that seeped into the shoes upon stepping on it.

Because there were so many people training, they were divided into many groups, each directed by different coaches.

Bob Knight erected a metal scaffold at the center of the court, standing at the top to overlook the entire arena, observing the performance of each group and every player during the training.

He was like a foreman.

Reporters from major newspapers all over America sat in the chairs around the court, and they would be covering the entire training camp from start to finish.

The training was naturally very tough, three sessions a day—morning, afternoon, and evening, each lasting two hours.

The first morning session was divided by position—centers, guards, forwards—with some basic but high-intensity training.

After lunch, afternoon sessions started with combination training: guards + forwards, guards + centers, a lot of offensive and defensive tactical drills, pick-and-roll coordination training, and fast-break exercises.

Still, the intensity was high, the workout volume significant, coaches’ whistles echoed continuously, never giving anyone a chance to catch their breath.

The players followed the coach’s commands, completing movements with heads down and little opportunity for interaction.

After dinner, there was another practice session, which was a very comprehensive practice that involved three-on-three and five-on-five scrimmages.

The pace of the scrimmages was very fast, with coaches constantly issuing tactical instructions, demanding players to strictly follow the tactics and then immediately switch between offense and defense.

All these individuals were college basketball elites, familiar with various trainings and tactics, so they could all invest themselves fully.

Yet, the intensity of the training was truly astonishing. In the span of three days, 73 people underwent nine such practice sessions, nearly exhausting most of them each time, their clothes completely soaked as if they had been fished out of water.

After the third day of training, some players were unable to cope, shouting in the locker room, "Give me a knife so I can end this pain!"

By the end of the first week, more than 20 people had been eliminated by Bob Knight, who deemed them inadequate in terms of physical endurance and energy.

This group included some excellent players, like Danny Manning, who had just graduated from high school and hadn’t yet started college when he was picked to join.

He was very talented, but too young to endure such high-intensity training, and besides, he was just there for the experience as he was not going to make the Olympic national team.

After cutting a portion of the players, the following week continued with similar exercises, but with fewer people, so additional individual fundamental skill training was added to keep up the grueling assessment of the players.

This round trimmed down another dozen or so players, leaving 37 in the end—these were the elite of the elite.

Gan Guoyang, of course, was one of those who stayed. He thrived in the two weeks of high-intensity training, training joyously each day.

He was one of only two who still had the energy to go to the gym for strength training after a full day of practice—the other being Michael Jordan.

Both had amazing stamina and competitiveness; neither wanted to be the first to leave the gym.

In the end, they were so committed they might as well have slept there with their blankets, until the coach had no choice but to drive them away and forbid them from continuing any further training.

But overall, Gan Guoyang had the upper hand in physical fitness because he started strength training early on, in high school, and continued through college; his body was already accustomed to the intensity.

Jordan hadn’t begun substantial strength training back then, as it wasn’t very popular or scientific at that time.

The result of his competitiveness with Gan Guoyang was one day he trained too hard, and the next day he found it difficult even to walk, let alone train, causing him to miss a day’s practice.

Gan Guoyang, on the other hand, was as if nothing happened, playing around with Ewing in one-on-one matchups—Ewing couldn’t manage to win a one-on-one game against Gan Guoyang at all, with a very low success rate, which surprised coaches like Knight.

In the eyes of the coaching staff, Ewing was already the best young center in America, but he seemed a notch below in front of Gan Guoyang.

Firstly, because Ewing’s knees had been injured in college, and wrapped in thick knee pads, his starts and turns seemed rather slow and cumbersome; lacking Gan Guoyang’s strength and without speed and explosiveness, how could he play one-on-one?

Secondly, Ewing had somewhat of a psychological shadow when facing Gan Guoyang, tentatively holding back, which inevitably made his play look somewhat unimpressive.

After the two weeks of selection ended, the training group gave the remaining players three days off. Those who needed to go back to handle school or other matters could leave, and the rest would recuperate in Bloomington.

On the day of the holiday, Bob Knight found Gan Guoyang, who was doing strength training in the gym, and wanted to talk to him about the players.

During those two weeks, Gan Guoyang fully played his role. Firstly, as the number one sparring partner, he was like the pace-setting ’rabbit’ in a long-distance race, not having to compete in a race for place, so he ran wildly upfront, lifting everyone’s pace.

Gan Guoyang really was a good ’rabbit’. With him, the intensity of the training camp probably increased by twenty percent.

He never complained of being tired, always full of energy; when he got excited during training, he would catch you and start picking apart your moves, making you grit your teeth and compete with him. That’s how the intensity escalated.

Secondly, after each day’s training, Knight would find Gan Guoyang for a talk to get his feelings about the players.

Coaches, after all, observe from the sidelines, while players directly face off, gaining deeper experiences and knowing more details.

Every day, Gan Guoyang could analyze and explain to Knight the characteristics and problems of each player in detail, even pointing out some of their issues during training.

Even Gan Guoyang would sometimes say that the coaching staff’s training was somewhat outdated and not very scientific in some respects.

At first, Knight scoffed at Gan Guoyang’s remarks. What could a student possibly know?

But then at the coaching staff meetings, as the discussions commenced, others also put forth similar ideas and suggestions, and Knight gradually realized that Gan Guoyang was right.

In the two weeks of training, Knight hadn’t lost his temper with Gan Guoyang even once, because his performance in training was quite perfect, faithfully executing the coach’s every intent, perfectly aligning with Knight’s need for control, which made him comfortable and unable to get angry.

But Knight quickly realized that Gan Guoyang being obedient didn’t mean he agreed with you. On the contrary, he simply couldn’t be bothered to engage with you, not wanting to waste words; after all, following your plans wasn’t too difficult for him.

For instance, regarding shooting training, Gan Guoyang had his own ideas. He would play along with your training during practice, but after it was over, he had another routine for additional training. According to Newell, this guy was quite accurate in shooting, especially from long range.

In short, Gan Guoyang gave Knight a strange feeling, hard to accurately describe.

In the gym, Knight asked Gan Guoyang, "Ah Gan, out of the remaining thirty-plus people, who do you think will be the core leader of the team?"

Gan Guoyang replied without hesitation, "Of course, it’s me. Can’t you see that?"

"You’re a sparring partner, you don’t count!"

"Then it’s Michael, no doubt."

"Why? Give me a reason."

"Because only Michael dares to compete with me. That’s the reason."