The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 98 - 5 Allocation

After the press conference ended, the day arrived for the Olympic training camp to convene, and Gan Guoyang, along with Stockton, took a flight from Spokane to Indianapolis.

At the Indianapolis International Airport, the coaching staff of the American Olympic selection team was waiting for these young basketball talents coming from all over America.

At this time, they were not yet basketball big shots, just students or young people waiting to enter the NBA, so no one was late, everyone had bought their plane tickets in advance, arriving at the airport from morning until afternoon, one after another.

Gan Guoyang and Stockton arrived comparatively late, as the flight from Spokane was delayed, and when they reached the designated spot, many people were already waiting.

Including Gan Guoyang, a total of 73 players, the scene was quite spectacular, and Indiana University sent four buses over to welcome 74 prospective players and one practice player.

And this practice player was this year’s NCAA champion, MOP, 1983-1984 Player of the Year, Naismith Award recipient, John Wooden Award recipient, Associated Press Player of the Year, Sporting News Player of the Year, UPI All-America Player of the Year, amongst others.

It can be said that Gan Guoyang virtually swept all the individual and team accolades that American college basketball had to offer, except for two that he didn’t get. One was the NIT Most Valuable Player since the team did not participate in the NIT, so naturally, he couldn’t get that award.

The other was the USBWA All-America Player of the Year, which eventually went to Michael Jordan. The reason it wasn’t given to Gan Guoyang was that the voters felt he wasn’t an American citizen and therefore couldn’t be considered for this award.

But not getting this award was clearly not a loss for Gan Guoyang but a loss for the USBWA award itself.

When Gan Guoyang arrived at the gathering point, the atmosphere on-site noticeably tensed up.

Among them were several of Gan Guoyang’s vanquished subordinates mixed in, Ewing, Dawkins, and two guys from Duke, Labis and Alari, who all had odd expressions on their faces when they saw Gan Guoyang, a mix of tension with a hint of fear, and they involuntarily shrank back a bit.

Clearly, the shadow Gan Guoyang cast during the matches had not completely dissipated.

Gan Guoyang didn’t greet them, with so many people around, he simply scanned over them, taking note of their faces one by one, putting names to faces.

A rough voice rang in his ear, "Hey, are you Ah Gan? Sonny Gan?"

Gan Guoyang glanced over and saw a short, stocky, fat man looking up at him, with a round head and bulging eyes, as if he was a ferocious Zhang Fei.

"That’s me. Do you want an autograph? I didn’t bring a pen."

Gan Guoyang’s words made everyone laugh; the short, fat man clenched his fist and said, "I heard you’re pretty good. At the camp, I want to have a go with you!"

Gan Guoyang recognized that this short, fat guy must be Charles Barkley.

Saying he was short is relative to someone like Gan Guoyang, who was 6 feet 10 inches tall; Barkley, being at least 6 feet 5 inches, was definitely not short to the average person.

But his frame was alarmingly strong, and although somewhat rotund, was filled with a sense of power, plus he had a crew cut with a stripe on the left side, giving him a fierce and daunting appearance that would make even ghosts and deities step aside by three feet.

Of course, Gan Guoyang wasn’t intimidated and said, "Heard I’m pretty good? Doesn’t your house have a TV, still listening to the radio? The NCAA finals had 40 million people watching, don’t tell me you didn’t."

Barkley certainly did watch and when he saw Gan Guoyang’s game-winning catch against Houston, he wrapped his head in his hands and spun around at home more than a dozen times, completely in disbelief.

Barkley was quite straightforward and said, "I saw it; your game-winner was impressive, but I think you just took advantage of being in the West Coast, and in the regular season your team didn’t even encounter many strong teams."

The West Coast Conference, where Gonzaga is located, was indeed weak, with surrounding teams not being strong either.

During the entire regular season, Gonzaga did not encounter powerhouses like North Carolina, Auburn, Boston, DePaul, nor did they face teams from strong conferences like Big East, Big Ten, and ACC.

Gan Guoyang pointed towards Ewing who was not far away and said, "Are you implying that Ewing’s Georgetown doesn’t count as a strong team?"

Ewing felt quite embarrassed; the two of you are bickering, why drag me into it?

"National tournaments always have an element of luck, and the influence of luck is substantial. Anyway, I doubt your ability."

Although Barkley’s words weren’t exactly friendly, his frank attitude and character were something Gan Guoyang appreciated.

It’s normal on the basketball court to have mutual disdain, to remain unyielding even if you can’t win. Losing the will and the fighting spirit means losing the very essence of the competitive spirit.

"It’s okay, I’ve convinced quite a few people along the way, adding you to the list is no big deal."

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the verbal sparring between the two became a humorous topic of conversation afterward.

Soon everyone had gathered, and it was time to board the bus to Bloomington.

Gan Guoyang boarded the same vehicle with Stockton and Barkley, and while looking for a seat, he saw Michael Jordan sitting in the back row by the window.

Earlier in the crowd, Gan Guoyang hadn’t noticed Jordan, who in his early twenties looked very young, still with hair on his head, and a look of youthful naivety on his face, chewing gum in his mouth.

Gan Guoyang naturally extended his hand towards Jordan and said, "Got any more? Give me one."

Jordan glanced at Gan Guoyang, took out a piece of gum from his pocket, and put it in Gan Guoyang’s hand.

"Thanks."

"Gan, what does it feel like to win a championship?" Jordan asked Gan Guoyang, his first words to him.

"You’ve won one too, have you forgotten?" Gan Guoyang replied.

"It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten."

"Me too, it’s been a whole month already."

After speaking, Gan Guoyang and Stockton stowed their bags and took the seats in the row in front of Jordan.

The two had completed their first encounter, a verbal one.

The fleet set out, driving for 55 minutes along South Highway 37 to reach the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, and the players were sent to the Indiana Memorial Union, located in the heart of Indiana University, a dormitory building with a venerable history of 50 years.

But this castle-like dormitory building was a bit too antique, small and outdated in its amenities, struggling to accommodate the sudden influx of over 70 burly men.

The coaches in charge of the reception had no choice but to take 20 of them to the nearby Holiday Inn to avoid overtaxing the old building.

Room arrangements for the players were standard double rooms, pairing two people per room according to the first letter of their names.

However, as the number of participants decreased and people were eliminated, the room assignments would be rearranged.

Originally there were 72 people, which meant 36 rooms were just right when paired off.

Gan Guoyang, being an extra as a sparring partner, wasn’t paired with others alphabetically by the coaches. Instead, he was left until the end, saying that they would make other arrangements for him.

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, I hope I’m not getting a single room again, am I?

After everyone else had been allocated their rooms and had taken their keys and luggage upstairs, Pete Newell, one of the coaching staff, handed Gan Guoyang a key and said, "This is your room key, you’ll be sleeping with Coach Bob Knight tonight."

"What? Sleep with Coach Knight? I’m here as a sparring partner, not a sleeping partner."

"Don’t joke, Gan," Newell said. "Bob requested this himself. Since he’s made you a sparring partner, he surely has information he needs from you. Bob holds you in high regard; it’s a rare opportunity, so cherish the chance to communicate with him."

With Coach Newell’s words, Gan Guoyang understood that he was to act as an advisor.

But so far, from the group’s assembly at the airport, the drive to the hotel, and the assignment of rooms at this training camp, the main character, Coach Bob Knight, had yet to appear. Was he not coming, or was there another reason he wasn’t showing himself yet?

"In 1984, I brought in Gan as a sparring partner and even shared a room with him; it’s one of my biggest regrets. He sometimes made me look like a fool, of course, I would never have admitted it at the time." — Excerpt from Bob Knight’s autobiography "Knight, My Story," published in 2002.