Although Mark Allen was in high spirits, Eric Turner couldn’t feel optimistic at all. He was the head coach of this team—or rather, not really. He was only the acting head coach. For the past two months, it had been an open secret that the president of Wake Forest was searching for the next head coach. Coaches from many prestigious schools—Georgia Tech, Duke University, UNC—were all rumored to be in talks with Wake Forest. Eric Turner needed time, but he never knew when he might be replaced, and that was what worried him most. Fortunately, none of those star coaches seemed interested in coaching Wake Forest at the moment, which gave Eric Turner a bit more breathing room.

Eric Turner now urgently needed to shape the team and then use one victory after another to solidify his precarious position as coach.

When Eric Turner and Mark Allen arrived at the training ground, Bill Lambeau was leading the players in warm-up exercises. Seeing Bill Lambeau’s meticulous manner, Eric Turner truly admired him. Bill Lambeau wasn’t an outstanding scout, but he was an excellent coach. On the Dynasty System’s data sheet, Bill Lambeau’s coaching ability was as high as 91, with his physical training rating even reaching 95. The reason Bill Lambeau could never find outstanding players as a scout was his pitifully low “player potential judgment”—only 47, and his player evaluation was just 55. You could say Bill Lambeau was an extremely outstanding coach and an extremely amateur scout. Another thing that caught Eric Turner’s attention was that Bill Lambeau was highly respected within the team, and it was definitely not because of his seniority. Of the five players left from last season, four had a note in the Dynasty System’s “player relationships” column: “Respected person Bill Lambeau (100).” Among them was the team’s star, Tim Duncan.

“Raja, is that young guy over there our head coach?” Wally Szczerbiak was the last of the newcomers to report to the team, and he was the only one among them who hadn’t met Eric Turner yet.

“That’s right, young, isn’t he? I was shocked when I first arrived too. I heard he’s only 25. He used to be our assistant coach, and after Coach Bennett Parker resigned, he became the acting head coach,” Raja Bell said with emotion.

“He’s really a bit too young. I wonder about his ability,” Wally Szczerbiak said with some concern. He was different from Raja Bell. After graduating high school, Raja Bell was overlooked by everyone, so just making it to Wake Forest was already a blessing—he didn’t care whether the head coach was young or not. But Wally Szczerbiak wasn’t overlooked; he was a fairly well-known high school player, and some mid-tier and lower-tier teams had even invited him. He had expectations for the team’s performance and reputation. His current goal was already set on the NBA. He hoped to achieve good results in college to pave the way for entering the NBA. In a sense, he was similar to Terry, except Terry had a much higher reputation and more options. Wally Szczerbiak had turned down those mid-tier teams specifically because of Wake Forest’s Sweet Sixteen finish last season. But now, with such a young head coach, he was starting to have doubts and was secretly wondering if coming to Wake Forest was a mistake.

“You two over there, what are you whispering about? Get your spirits up and train properly!” The private exchange between the two was quickly noticed by Bill Lambeau.

“Bill really is a strict coach,” Eric Turner naturally saw this scene as well and joked.

“Yeah, I remember when Tim first joined the team, he was just a big, clumsy guy who didn’t know anything. In just two years, Tim has become the best inside player in the NCAA. Bill played the biggest role in that,” Mark Allen also praised Bill Lambeau.

“No wonder Duncan’s respect for Bill Lambeau is as high as 100,” Eric Turner nodded to himself.

“All right, that’s enough for training. Everyone, gather up,” Bill Lambeau saw that Eric Turner and Mark Allen had arrived and immediately had the players stop training.

Soon, nine players lined up in two rows, all standing in front of Eric Turner, including the four freshmen who had just joined this year. The four of them stood in the front row.

“Everyone’s spirits look great, I’m very pleased. Now that we have a lot of newcomers on the team, everyone needs to get along and help each other. Tim, you’re the team captain, so you need to help these newcomers more.”

Standing in the middle of the second row, Duncan nodded and said, “I understand.”

After Duncan finished, Eric Turner continued, “Today is our first joint practice, and also our first training session of the new season. Here, I need to explain our goals for this season and my expectations for you.”

“First, our goal for this season—as the returning players know, we have only one goal: the championship. The NCAA championship, and to defend our ACC championship,” Eric Turner continued, paying no mind to the surprised expressions of the newcomers.

“Next, my expectations for all of you. This season, I will be extremely strict in your training. Just how strict, you’ll find out very soon. If you can’t handle my training, you can leave the basketball team, or even transfer to another school. I won’t stop you.”