If you want to look back at the peak of Yao Ming's play, then you can take a look at Zhou Zhihao (Zach Edie) in the NCAA. If you want to meet the girls queuing at the door of Chamberlain's room, Zhou Zhihao can also let you know what kind of influence a retro center with a height of 2.24 meters and just exploded in the quarterfinals with 40 points and 16 rebounds in the United States.
Such a yellow-skinned player, with the Chinese name "Zhou Zhihao" on his body, is the reason why he was the first to be paid attention to by many Chinese fans. But now, he has already made the decision to represent the Canadian national team in FIBA events, which is understandable as a Chinese-Canadian mixed race who grew up in Toronto. But at that time, just coming to the NCAA in the 2023-24 season, regardless of his skin color, Zhou Zhihao's rise has also become a phenomenal event in college basketball.
With five of the six rounds played, Purdue entered the finals with an average of 19 points per game, and the 22-year-old Zhou Zhihao played at the level of Chamberlain on and off the court. Eliminated an average of 28 points, 15 rebounds and 2 blocks per game, with a shooting rate of 66%, completely crushing the opponent's restricted area, and yesterday in the semifinals he cut a mediocre 20 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks, almost covering one-third of the team's scores. Scouts have put the burden of stopping Chow to Connecticut's Donovan Klingen, hoping that his 2.18m height will come in handy.
Klingen may doubt life: "Huh, I defend against Zhou Zhihao, is it really fake?" Standing in front of him, the Canadian version of Yao Ming, averaged almost twice as many points per game. So far this season, Zhou Zhihao has a shooting rate of 83% in the near-frame area, scoring 170 close-frame goals in the regular season alone, and on a college basketball court where the style of play and rules are closer to the FIBA arena, this soft-touch giant center is almost incomprehensible.
What's even more amazing is that Zhou Zhihao, who has played all the invincible opponents in college, has only played basketball for less than 7 years. Born in Canada, he has loved ice hockey since he was a child, and at the age of 8 he grew into someone else's 18-year-old body. Former NHL guard Al Rooker came to visit, and when he saw Zhou Zhihao for the first time, he immediately turned around and persuaded his parents: "Let this kid play basketball." ”
This may be a common problem for all tall children, who say "it's a pity not to play basketball at this height", as if they were born to go to the basketball court. Unfortunately, the reality is often cruel, Zhou Zhihao soon couldn't find the right size of ice hockey shoes for him, and he became more and more abrupt on the court, so he switched to baseball and was soon caught by the baseball coach. By the age of 13, Chow's pitching speed had reached 112 km/h, and college baseball league scouts were watching, but he often broke the baseball and hit teammates and opponents.
The well-intentioned giant couldn't control the power of the wilderness in his body, was incompatible with the human world, and finally left gloomily, this is Zhou Zhihao's ice hockey and baseball career. It wasn't until he reached high school that he switched back, confronted, and played with a group of "like" people who were obviously bigger, and he really realized that basketball was indeed the most suitable for him.
Although Zhou Zhihao, who first entered high school, did not know any basketball skills at all, the strength and coordination of his lower limbs left by ice hockey, the on-the-spot judgment and throwing accuracy brought to him by baseball, and the toughness to practice elbow posture every day and polish basic skills day and night made Zhou Zhihao grow from a pure basketball layman to a three-star high school student ranked 346 in the United States, and after entering Purdue University, he has improved year by year to become the top college center in the United States.
This "turn around and hook after receiving the ball" is Zhou Zhihao's signature move, and his exaggerated height and arm span make college-level opponents powerless, as long as he wants to go to the deep position, he can only watch him hook and score.
Even if an opponent of similar size gets stuck in advance of the position, Zhou Zhihao can also rely on his size advantage to open the defense, use his favorite turn hook to score, even if the opposite side fouls, he can force in, this soft feel in the near frame area is the first priority for him to gain a foothold in the NBA in the future.
In the American basketball world, where all members are spatialized and quickly break through and block cutting, Zhou Zhihao, who is the main weapon of the inside line, and Purdue University, which has Zhou Zhihao as the tactical core, are almost a clear stream of NCAA moving against the tide. This year's semifinals are proof of this, with Purdue scoring 63 points and Connecticut next door almost running for 90 points.
In order to maximize Zhou's threat, Purdue University developed a set of forward tactics. The most typical is that Zhou Zhihao and his teammates blocked and dismantled, and then quickly went down and stuck to the deep position to catch the ball. If the opponent doesn't stop it, he will eat the cake with the trend, and if he blocks it, he will pull the formation on the spot and let Zhou Zhihao play alone with his back.
From these two rounds, it can also be seen that Zhou Zhihao's footwork is more flexible than his opponent expected.
What's more, both Royle and Lance-Jones have enough offensive threat (Royle's three-point crosshairs are as high as 44% this year, and his pick-and-roll pull-out should not be underestimated), which greatly reduces the difficulty of Zhou Zhihao's block-and-roll pie.
Another advantage of Zhou Zhihao's blocking and dismantling is the extremely solid quality of cover, even if the opponent knows that he wants to be promoted as a cover, he will still block it tightly. Among them, the timing, position, and angle of blocking and dismantling are the results of his gradual polishing in the past four years of college.
Of course, in this day and age, Zhou Zhihao faces the common problem of all seven-foot centers - defense.
For now, Zhou Zhihao is not "unable to pull out" on the defensive end, using his height and reach advantages, he can interfere with opponents' free-throw line jumpers like Gobert, and can also keep up with some college-level outside breakers.
But once he is pulled out of the penalty area, his defense is much more passive, and it is easy to be passed by the opposing defender or even the center. His speed can't break through the upper limit set by his size, and against a higher-level opponent, the degree of targeting can be imagined.
Arenas bluntly said: "The NBA is a completely different game, he must be the one who was named in the rotation process, and if centers like Jokic and Embiid pull him out, what is he going to do? I don't think he deserves a lottery." ”
What's more lethal is that although his size, hairstyle and style of play are like Yao Ming, he barely shoots, and the only three-pointer he scored in his four years of college was a three-pointer he made in a big open space when the team was leading by more than 20 points. Not to mention three-point shots, even if it is two points long and a half-volley, Zhou Zhihao rarely shoots. This completely limited his development direction in the short term, making Zhou Zhihao almost a special player like Marjanovic with extremely significant strengths and weaknesses.
Zhou Zhihao withdrew from the NBA draft last year, and this choice is certainly wise, he has polished better this year, and he has also waited for a rare draft year in history. Even so, his pre-ranking was only in the middle and late stages of the first round.
For Zhou Zhihao, it is not realistic to practice projection in a short period of time, and if you want to gain a foothold in the NBA, you can only follow Zubac's path first - stick to the restricted area and protect rebounds on the defensive end, and give up frequent backs on the offensive end (NBA-level opponents break your back-to-back dribbles is still very simple), and use their close-rim feel and blocking and pick-and-roll ability to play high. Make the most of your strengths.
At the same time, Zhou Zhihao had better expect the team that selected him to have a reliable backcourt defense, be able to squeeze through the cover in time, and try not to let the opposing defender shoot Zhou Zhihao into a sieve. With this premise, his NBA prospects will be clearer.
In the post-small-ball era when the value of the center is becoming more and more prominent, Zhou Zhihao's overly retro oversized center is still extremely abrupt. Fortunately, in the basketball world, height is always the rarest talent, and Zhou Zhihao certainly doesn't have to worry about running out of balls, but in addition to retro, developing more adaptive versions of skill packs like Da Luo is the only way to continue to stand tall in the cruel professional arena.