Chapter 324 1997 NCAA Division I Men“s Basketball Tournament 12
"Thanks, I'm glad to see you both here, John and Alan."
"Of course I would come, you are one of the best college basketball players and also one of the players who have the most potential to become an NBA star, plus you still have your marathon achievements, it was very lucky for me company to sign a contract with you."
"I agree, my company just wanted to know what it was like to have a sports rep of ours, after all, a razor company doesn't have much to do with athletes, but after having this contract with you our company is selling more than ever."
"Of course I know that we are selling so well because we are sponsoring you and it wouldn't work out so well with other athletes, but it was the best investment our company has made in recent years and I got a lot of promotions from my work for it."
Jake was also very happy to have John and Alan as representatives of his sponsors, even though he didn't need that money was very supportive and Jake received a lot of confidence getting so much money even though he is not an NBA player.
"Plus, with our investment in last year's commercials we won't have to make any new commercials over the next two years, so we just have to keep the commercials being broadcast on television."
"Do you think your team is likely to win the NCAA tournament this year?"
"I think our team is a favorite for this final if the players on my team play well and it doesn't happen like yesterday's game I have confidence that we will be the champions."
Jake was very confident because in his past life the team they defeated in the last game would be the winning team, just as Jake playing the Tar Heels team was a favorite to win this final.
This made John and Alan more reassured and confident about the victory of Team Tar Heels because everyone who cheered for Team Tar Heels became more worried after the last game, but they knew that if Jake was confident it was quite possible that the team Tar Heels won because Jake led the team to the victories.
"And are you ready for the marathons you will have on your vacation? Just give me a list of which marathons you will want to attend that I sign you up, I have already received several important marathon invitations inviting you to participate, but as you told me to just refuse during the season I am just refusing."
"I do intend to participate in several marathons, after all, I am also a marathon runner and I love running and I am not just a basketball player, if I do not run even this year I am in college I can not even think about continuing to compete when I am in the NBA."
John was very happy to hear that, he could imagine how tiring it was to play a whole season like college basketball which is so much more intense and more games than in other sports.
Alan didn't care much about that, but John knew that besides the incredible talent Jake was most special about was that he could compete at a high level in two major sports like basketball and athletics, so if Jake gave up running because he really didn't need to he would lose part of what made him special.
After that Jake talked to them for some time and returned to university, the evening he went to meet Tiffany and Clara who also wanted to congratulate Jake who reached the NCAA tournament final.
After they talked about the commercials Jake was going to record after a few months and about Clara's company, Jake found it interesting that Clara was really thinking of doing like Matthew and giving half of the profit share to the shareholders and investing in the company only half.
Even though Clara didn't like Robert very much she realized how he and the other shareholders were happy to receive a good profit share as dividends and not just have to wait to see the company's stock appreciate in order to increase assets.
Jake understood that well, but he was also not against Clara's previous method of investing all the company's profits again and not delivering dividends to shareholders, after all, that was what Amazon was doing for over 20 years and so she was has become one of the largest companies in the world.
Jake thought that a company only paid dividends when it no longer intended to develop much or if the entire structure of the company was developed and the company did not need all the profit to continue developing.
Typically top tech companies were an example of this or could continue to invest in other media and find other ways to increase the company's influence and sell more products as Amazon does.
After they talked for a while before Jake left to prepare for the game the other day, they had a nice conversation, but it was much less comfortable talking the three together than when it's just two people, many subjects can't be talked about.
Even though Jake was happy to have Tiffany and Clara watching their final game, he would also have his roommates and Eva along with Anna, almost all of his friends and closest people who could come to watch the game.
Matthew and Oliver couldn't come because they were busy with their jobs, who Jake hopes would come and didn't come was Eric, even though a few years ago Eric said he would no longer cover high school and university games as a reporter, as a friend Eric could appear in some Jake games.
He understood that Eric might be busy with his work and might not be able to come watch the game, but at least as a friend he could have called Jake to wish him good luck, Joseph didn't expect it because his friend didn't like it and basketball
The other day came the day of the Tar Heels team final at the NCAA tournament, it was Jake's first university final and well into his freshman year, even though he expected it when he decided to play for the Tar Heels team he was still looking forward to it.
Jake wanted to win this year because, in addition to adding a lot to his career and the fact that he didn't like to lose, he found it important to take the pressure off him to win an NCAA tournament, he would be much more relaxed next season and he was sure that with the whole team would be the same.
Coach Smith said a few more things to the team before the game and highlighted how important this game was to the Tar Heels team and to all the players, after which everyone was more excited but nervous about the game.
After a few hours, the two teams were almost ready for this final game, Jake could see where his mother was with Anna, but couldn't see Tiffany and Clara as well as their other sponsors.
Seeing that Eva came for this game Jake was much more thrilled and motivated to win this game, he hoped his team would be a favorite because they beat the team that should have won this game.
But the opposing team was also very strong and had an almost better season than the Tar Heels team, the opposing team in this game would be the Kentucky Wildcats team, in Jake's opinion this was the team with the best cast of players having 6 players who would play in the NBA in the future.
The Kentucky Wildcats team came with an initial lineup consisting of Ron Mercer, Anthony Epps, Scott Padgett, Nazr Mohammed, and Cameron Mills, players Wayne Turner and Jamaal Magloire would also play, but for a shorter time and didn't score much.
For this difficult game Coach Smith decided to use a more offensive initial formation putting Williams in place of Okulaja, in the past game as Williams did not play long and did not have many opportunities to shoot off Coach Smith did not know he could play very bad.
Jake was fine with that because he knew nothing of what could happen in this game, so he would have to rely on his teammates to help him lead the team to win Heights and become champions of the NCAA tournament after today's game.
Everyone was determined to do their best because this was the last and most important game of the season, after this game everyone would be on vacation so they could play until they were completely tired.
"And finally we are here, the last game of this season and the NCAA tournament final, two great teams have come to this game with incredible seasons, the Tar Heels team had 35 games and won 33 games losing only 2 of them."
"In addition, the Tar Heels team comes from an incredible 24 straight streak, they don't lose well over half of the season and even with an amazing team, they have a key highlight for this campaign which is the freshman Jake who has been doing one of the best debuts in college basketball history."
"Jake has been breaking a number of records and in this game is the player who gives the most security for the team Tar Heels to win today's game."
"On the other side we have the Kentucky Wildcats team who have also had a great season so far, they have had 39 games so far and have 35 wins and 4 losses so far, they lost more than the Tar Heels team, but just because they had more games."
"It's true I rarely saw two teams coming to the NCAA tournament final as a favorite and with great seasons like them, plus the Kentucky Wildcats team cast is also very good and if it wasn't for Jake could be the best cast in the game of today."
"I also think the Tar Heels team is a favorite because Jake is on the team, but if the Tar Heels team players play as badly as they did last game, it will be hard to know who will win today's game."