Because the competition was held in Hangzhou, Hangzhou No. 4 High School, as the host, enjoyed the home advantage. This was actually very unfavorable for Zhuji Middle School.
Because Hangzhou No. 4 High School was already very strong, it had the "reputation" of being the perennial runner-up in the Zhejiang division!
In the ten years that Huipu Middle School dominated the Zhejiang division, Hangzhou No. 4 High School won the runner-up seven times. Three other runner-ups were Ningbo No. 4 High School, Caota Middle School, and Zhuji Middle School.
Therefore, Huipu and Hangzhou No. 4 were considered the two strongest seeded teams in the Zhejiang division by default.
Thus, during the pre-match grouping, Huipu and Hangzhou No. 4 were intentionally placed in different groups.
Huipu Middle School was in Group A.
Besides Huipu Middle School, Group A also included Ningbo No. 4 High School, Yunhe Middle School, Caota Middle School, Qingxi Middle School, and Tianjiabing Middle School.
Caota Middle School had bad luck, being placed in the same group as Huipu Middle School. First place was out of the question, so they could only aim for second place to qualify from the group.
Competing with Caota Middle School for second place was also Ningbo No. 4 High School, a recognized strong team in the Zhejiang division.
If Ningbo No. 4 High School in the previous years was in the same tier as Zhuji Middle School and Caota Middle School in the Zhejiang division, then in the past two years, Ningbo No. 4 High School's strength had significantly surpassed Zhuji Middle School and Caota Middle School.
In last year's national competition, if not for the unexpected injury of their ace center Xiao Yu, Ningbo No. 4 High School might have defeated Hangzhou No. 4 High School, become the second-ranked team in Zhejiang, and jointly competed in the Eastern Division with Huipu Middle School.
However, even with Xiao Yu injured, Ningbo No. 4 High School, led by their other ace player Yu Zhibo, defeated Caota Middle School and ultimately ranked fourth, behind only Huipu, Hangzhou No. 4, and Zhuji. Caota Middle School ranked fifth.
In other words, last year, Ningbo No. 4 High School defeated Caota Middle School even with one ace player injured... This year, their lineup is complete. Xiao Yu and Yu Zhibo are both in their final year of high school and this is their last year playing in the national competition, so they will definitely go all out.
In any case, He Ximeng was not optimistic about Caota Middle School's path to advancement.
In contrast, Zhuji Middle School was placed in Group B, along with the host team, Hangzhou No. 4 High School.
Besides Hangzhou No. 4 High School, there were also Tiantai Middle School, Jinyun Middle School, OuHai Middle School, and Changxing Middle School.
Based on Zhuji Middle School's strength, as long as they played normally and defeated other teams, qualifying for the next round should not be a major problem.
The only question was whether Zhuji Middle School could defeat Hangzhou No. 4 High School and become the group leader!
After all, Hangzhou No. 4 High School had dominated the Hangzhou region for over ten years, winning the Hangzhou city championship every year. In this year's team, there was Liu Yudong, hailed as the strongest high school student in Zhejiang!
Liu Yudong, a power forward, stood 1.98 meters tall and weighed 100 kilograms. His playing style was tenacious, with an unstoppable straight-arm mid-range shot and a remarkably accurate three-point shot!
In last year's Zhejiang division finals, Hangzhou No. 4 High School battled Huipu Middle School for four quarters. Liu Yudong, then only a sophomore, single-handedly scored 48 points, astonishing everyone!
Although Huipu Middle School ultimately defeated Hangzhou No. 4 High School by virtue of their overall strength and won the Zhejiang division championship, after deliberation by the organizing committee, the MVP award for the Zhejiang division finals was presented to Liu Yudong of the runner-up Hangzhou No. 4 High School!
Liu Yudong's title as the strongest high school student in the Zhejiang division was cemented in that game!
Originally, the Zhejiang Youth Team wanted to recruit Liu Yudong last year, but Liu Yudong wanted to lead his alma mater, Hangzhou No. 4 High School, to defeat Huipu Middle School, become the Zhejiang division champion first, and then aim for the national championship before leaving... After all, Liu Yudong's goal was not just to become the strongest high school student in Zhejiang...
Therefore, Liu Yudong politely declined the invitation from the provincial youth team and decided to compete in this year's national competition again.
In the group stage, Zhuji Middle School's strongest opponent was undoubtedly the host team, Hangzhou No. 4 High School, led by Liu Yudong!
October 8th was the day for the 12 teams to report. The players settled in, and there were no games.
The group stage officially began on October 9th. There were two games each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was a single round-robin format, meaning each team played against every other team only once, with one game determining the outcome.
Over three days, five games were played, and by the morning of October 11th, the top two teams from each group would be determined to advance to the cross-elimination playoffs.
The first-place team in Group A would play against the second-place team in Group B, and the second-place team in Group A would play against the first-place team in Group B.
There would be a half-day rest in the afternoon of October 11th.
The semi-finals would be held on the morning of October 12th, and the finals in the afternoon.
From start to finish, it would only take five days, including a weekend. This meant that only three days would occupy the students' academic time.
The reason for such a tight schedule was mainly to minimize the disruption to the students' studies.
In fact, these young players had no complaints. The main dissatisfaction came from the parents behind the players...
The biggest problem caused by the tight schedule was the significant test it posed to the players' physical stamina.