"Tweet!" The sound of a whistle echoed all around the court, indicating the end of the match, and the 4 young men who were on the court stopped in consequence because of that.
"Very well, boys, I think that was enough," Coach Calipari said with a pleased smile at the performance that each of the 4 young men who had played on the hardwood had put on.
17-21, that was the final score of the encounter.
The team formed by the two Aarons took the victory after a final 3-point basket which drove the game to a sealed verdict, despite the best efforts of Julius and Andrew to manage to avoid the shot.
The game had been very hard-fought with both teams taking shots at the basket in a constant and rapid manner without wasting time, so much so that Coach Calipari worried that the overexertion might cause someone to get injured before the season even gave its start.
"Good game, bro," Aaron said, approaching Julius while extending his fist toward a downcast Julius, who reluctantly bumped his own fist with his.
"Next time I will win," Julius told him in a clear sign of defiance, since he finally understood why Aaron was the number 1 prospect of his generation, but even so, Julius had his own pride and would not let this simple defeat make him throw in the towel ahead of time.
"Whenever you want," Aaron responded to him, accepting the challenge, since until now Julius had been the most difficult player he had had to face, especially highlighting his defense in the low post thanks to his outstanding physique.
A similar scene was happening between the Harrison twins, who joked among themselves, since for them it was normal to compete between both.
"How lucky you were," Andrew told his brother, looking at Aaron, who was discussing something with Julius. "I remind you that I also played," his twin brother told him in a tone of reproach upon seeing how his brother believed that he only won because he was on the team with the other Aaron.
"I know, but admit that at least half of your points came from the big guy," Andrew responded to him, leaving Aaron slightly speechless since he did not have any argument or way to say the contrary, since his brother was telling the whole truth.
"Boys, approach for a moment, please," Orlando called from the sideline, on which he stood alongside Coach Calipari. "First of all, that was a great game, everyone did wonderfully," Orlando praised each one of the 4.
"But remember that this does not guarantee you being starters yet; you still haven't seen the rest of the team's players play," Calipari told them, knowing very well that players of the level of the 4 have their own pride, and what Calipari had to do was control that ego.
"Despite that, you did a good job and gave a good show to this old man," was the last thing Coach Calipari said with a smile toward the players, who nodded in response, in agreement with what the coach said.
"Don't lie to them, coach; even I was surprised by them," said a voice coming from the gym door, in which a young man was leaning against the wall in an informal manner and with a relaxed smile on his face.
"Willie," Coach Calipari said with a somewhat uncomfortable smile in the direction of the door, seeing last season's starting center standing there in a relaxed manner, and who, from what he said, had clearly seen all or the great majority of the game from where he was.
"What a surprise seeing you here so early," Orlando said, taking a step forward to greet the newcomer while whispering some words to him that none of those present could manage to hear, and both began to approach in their direction.
"Boys, let me introduce you to one of the team's players, he is Willie Cauley-Stein," Coach Calipari said, taking a step forward and putting himself at the side of the player.
The first thing Aaron noticed upon seeing the person before him was that he was tall, almost or just as tall as he was, which was saying a lot since there were few people taller than him, and the second thing was the infinity of tattoos that covered his arms, which were a series of intricate drawings.
"Nice to meet you, you can call me Trill," Willie said with a relaxed smile on his face while looking thoroughly at each one of the players present on the court.
His gaze rested briefly on the other person who was almost as tall as he was, who was also looking fixedly in his direction. "So it's him," Willie thought.
He knew that for months Calipari had been obsessed with a high school player who was also coveted by several universities, and he even had to leave on a flight to New York to be able to meet the boy in question, something that Coach Calipari had almost never done.
Reason for which he was very happy days later, and he even came to hear a conversation that he had with Orlando in which he told him that the player he had sought so much had called him and confirmed that he would go to play for the Wildcats team.
With curiosity, Willie took some time to look up this player in question and see the reason why Coach Calipari was excited with him, something that was not difficult since both on Rivals and on ESPN, one name figured as number 1.
"Aaron Reed," Willie murmured while quickly opening YouTube and starting to type the name of the player so that then a series of videos of him playing matches in high school appeared, the most recent being the game he played against Long Island Lutheran.
Clicking the video, Willie began to see with thoroughness the style of play and the plays of that match, and he even had to rewind the video several times to be able to see specific plays that he had made again.
"Now I understand the reason for the stir," he murmured in a low voice, Willie, after seeing the video for the 10th time so far today.
Returning to the present, Willie finished evaluating Aaron, so that then, with a friendly smile, he put his hand around Aaron's neck, completely invading his space. "You are Aaron Reed, right? I've heard many things about you," he said with an excited smile.
Aaron at first felt slightly uncomfortable feeling how Willie invaded his personal space in such a blatant way, but even so, he decided to respond. "That's me, and you are the team's starting center, right?" Aaron responded to him, still with Willie's arm around his shoulder.
"Oh, so you know who I am," this time Willie responded with a slight tone of surprise, since despite playing on a historic Kentucky team, he was not a very popular player in comparison with others; nonetheless, his talent was there, since last year he ended up selected for the All-SEC Freshman First Team.
"I've done my investigations before coming to the team," Aaron responded to him while shifting uncomfortably and finally freeing himself from the grip that Willie had over his shoulders. "You know, I'll take that as a compliment," Willie told him with a smile just as relaxed as the moment he entered here.
"And tell me, Willie, did you finally come to train?" Calipari asked, interrupting the conversation that both players were having and looking with a glaring look at the player before him.
Willie was a truly talented player, Calipari had no doubt of that; not for nothing did his scouting team send him reports about him almost every week in which he had a game on his high school team in Kansas.
With a height of 7 ft, Willie entered into the category of old-school centers with good abilities in rebounds and blocks and defense reading in the low post, which served him to be the defensive anchor of last season.
The only point that gave Coach Calipari white hairs was his indiscipline and his lack of motivation during training, reason for which Calipari had to have a hard hand with his treatment.
Originally, Coach Calipari planned for him to play few games as a way of punishment for his indiscipline, but who could have guessed that last season the entire team found itself plagued by knee and ankle injuries throughout the whole season, causing him to have no choice but to put him to play on the hardwood.
"I simply heard that the freshmen were going to be at the sports center today, and I got curious to see what they were capable of," Willie responded to him with a shrug of shoulders in the direction of the coach, who rolled his eyes upon already knowing Willie's shameless personality.
"In addition, as a member of the team, I thought the best thing was to come to say hello," Willie continued talking while starting to greet the rest of the players.
"Well, I already fulfilled my purpose, so I think it's already time for me to go," Willie said, not wanting to stay even a second more than necessary and ready to leave.
"Not so fast, Willie!" shouted Coach Calipari, making Willie stop and his body tense up in response.
"Since you are here, why don't you take your new teammates to give them a tour around the city," Calipari told him with a smile which did not reach his face, while Willie had an uncomfortable smile, looking in the direction of Orlando, who upon feeling the look he gave him, turned his head, acting as if he hadn't seen him, not wanting to get into the conflict between both of them.
"All right, guys, follow me," Willie said, knowing that there was nothing he could do at that moment and making signs to each one of the 4 boys, who simply shrugged their shoulders and began to follow Willie, since they already wore new clothes even before Willie made an appearance.
Once the silhouettes of the 5 players disappeared, Orlando turned immediately in the direction of Coach Calipari with a tone of doubt in his voice. "Seriously, do you think it's a good idea for the freshmen to get involved with someone like Willie?" he asked him, seeking to know what the reason was to do something like that.
Orlando had nothing against him; in fact, he liked him, he was the kind of guy who got along well with everyone and turned the atmosphere inside the locker room relaxed, joking with the rest of the players.
"If he knows what's good for him, he won't do anything wrong," Calipari said while he quickly headed to his office, followed closely by the other 2 assistants.
"And did the freshmen meet your expectations?" John Robic asked once the 3 were alone in the office and Orlando closed the door, making the atmosphere more peaceful.
"They did, and some even exceeded them," Coach Calipari said while taking a seat in his chair behind the desk.
"You mean Aaron, don't you?" Orlando said before Coach Calipari could even say any other word to deny it, who upon hearing that from his friend could not help but have an ironic smile on his face while shaking his head from side to side, knowing that there was no way to deny that.
"No need to say the obvious," Coach Calipari said while he grabbed the board that had remained in a corner of the office and started to put names on it with a marker that was found there.
As soon as the list of 5 was complete, a look of incredulity settled on the faces of both of Coach Calipari's assistants.
"I don't know if you are very crazy or if it could work," Orlando told him. "I think it is a complete madness," John could not help but add.
After all, a starting five composed exclusively of first-year players had never been seen.
With one or two it was fine, but 5 was something that had never been seen before; it was a complete youth storm of which people years later would talk about the legendary season of the Wildcats team.
Authors thought's
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