North Carolina was the first team to extend an offer to He Ximeng, but it would definitely not be the last.
As expected, after Bobby Jones left, scouts from Duke University, Georgetown University, Connecticut University, Florida University, Kentucky University, Arizona University, and others successively entered the court, extending tryout invitations to He Ximeng.
The only pity was that no NBA teams directly offered He Ximeng a tryout invitation. It seemed the league teams still had reservations about this high school student from China and wanted to see He Ximeng's performance in the NCAA before making a decision.
He Ximeng, operating on the principle of "give it a shot even if there's no guarantee," accepted all the tryout invitations from these universities.
Whether to go, and which university to visit first, would depend on his own priority ranking.
Fortunately, after receiving an invitation letter, the universities extending the invitations would cover the cost of He Ximeng's plane tickets for the tryouts. Otherwise, running around for all these would have directly led to He Ximeng filing for bankruptcy.
Da Zhi's performance today was not as good as He Ximeng's overall, but he also received many tryout invitations from universities.
Compared to He Ximeng, who had already decided to stay here, Da Zhi had not yet decided whether to return to China to play professional league or to find a university here to play in the NCAA.
If Da Zhi asked for He Ximeng's opinion, He Ximeng would definitely advise him to play in the NCAA. However, the NCAA had no salary. Even with full scholarship support, a considerable amount of living expenses would still be needed. More importantly, he would need to learn to take care of himself in a foreign land with a language barrier. Frankly speaking, Da Zhi was not yet fully prepared mentally.
On the seventh day of the summit, while He Ximeng, accompanied by John, went to a middle school not far from North Carolina to take the TOEFL exam, Da Zhi had repeated discussions with his family.
Da Zhi's final decision was to return to China to play professional league!
He Ximeng expressed his deep regret for Da Zhi's choice. He Ximeng even promised to cover most of Da Zhi's living expenses during his NCAA tenure in America, but Da Zhi ultimately declined He Ximeng's kind offer. After packing his bags, Da Zhi boarded the bus arranged by Nike to the airport. Da Zhi would take a noon flight to San Francisco for a transfer, then fly back to Beijing, his journey being the same as his arrival.
Also heading to the airport with Da Zhi were other members of the international team.
Except for He Ximeng, no one else chose to enter the NCAA.
Nowitzki was preparing to return to play in the German league, and Gasol was preparing to return to play in the Spanish league.
Ginobili had not yet made a final decision on whether to play in the Argentine league or the Italian league in Europe. Since Ginobili held dual citizenship of Argentina and Italy and was fluent in both languages, playing in either league was not an issue for him.
Before boarding the bus, everyone generously gave He Ximeng a hug and wished him great success in the NCAA!
This included Tabuse Yuta and Liang Donggen, who had been causing He Ximeng trouble throughout the summit.
Before leaving, they also sent their blessings to He Ximeng.
While Da Zhi and his teammates were taking the bus to the airport, He Ximeng, under Bobby Jones's recommendation, paid a visit to Dean, the head coach of the North Carolina basketball team.
Leveraging his experience from his previous life, He Ximeng's communication with Coach Dean went very smoothly.
In Dean's original impression, Chinese students were generally not good at communication, not skilled at playing basketball, and their spoken English was quite poor.
However, He Ximeng's appearance completely overturned his preconceived notions and changed his impression of Chinese international students. Of course, Dean did not know that He Ximeng was an exception and could not represent the average level of Chinese international students.
Regarding the offer to join the team, Dean was welcoming. He even verbally agreed to help He Ximeng apply for a full scholarship.
However, regarding playing time, Dean repeatedly emphasized that no one was an exception! As a freshman, He Ximeng should first adapt to the team and the rhythm of NCAA games before considering his playing time.
Simply put, although he had the recommendation of his old friend Bobby, Dean needed to verify He Ximeng's abilities in actual games.
North Carolina's status in the NCAA was similar to that of the Lakers or Celtics in the NBA. As a top powerhouse in the league, it had its own standards!
Inviting He Ximeng to join and offering him a full scholarship was already the greatest concession North Carolina could make!
Guaranteed playing time? Promises of team status? I'm sorry! These were things players had to earn on the court themselves!
No recommendation, no matter who it was from, would work. Coach Dean had his principles.
When was the last time North Carolina made an exception to let a freshman become a core starter? It probably dated back to 1982, the year Michael Jordan joined North Carolina. As for the current core players, including Carter and Jamison, who had to warm the bench as freshmen?
As a Chinese player, despite his talent, what right did He Ximeng have to expect North Carolina to lower its standards and grant him the same treatment as Michael Jordan?
From He Ximeng's perspective, while he was not worried about his abilities not being recognized, receiving some advance assurances from the head coach, even verbal ones, would provide an extra layer of security for his situation after entering the University of North Carolina. After all, He Ximeng did not intend to waste too much time in the NCAA.
However, this meeting was not entirely unsuccessful, as He Ximeng at least gained Dean's approval!
As long as He Ximeng himself agreed, submitted his application according to the procedure, and Bobby helped him get Worthy's letter of recommendation, or even without Worthy's recommendation, with John's help in obtaining Tinkle's recommendation letter, coupled with Bobby's recommendation letter and Head Coach Dean's approval!
Joining the NCAA powerhouse North Carolina basketball team should be a natural progression. At most, he might have to spend some extra time on the bench.
Finally, He Ximeng requested three days from Coach Dean to consider, citing the need to discuss with his family.
As soon as he left Dean's office, Bobby Jones's phone rang. It was James Worthy!
Worthy said on the phone that an old friend of his wanted to meet He Ximeng.
Bobby then took He Ximeng to the coffee shop designated by Worthy.
In a private booth at the coffee shop, He Ximeng met James Worthy and the middle-aged white man beside him.
The man was not tall, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and bore some resemblance to Duke University's Coach K, but his expression was not as stern as Coach K's.
Seeing He Ximeng and Bobby arrive, the middle-aged man stood up, revealing the team logo on his shirt: two golden letters: WF!