Bounce Back

Chapter 41

Ryan's POV

The first game of the season was at Pauley Pavilion against San Diego. Coach had decided that the best place for me to be was on the bench and reminded me that I could tell him anything that he thought that he should know.

It was a much bigger crowd that Tyler's high school games obviously but it still surprised me slightly. There was a chair at me sitting at the end of the bench and I settled there with my laptop sitting on my knees.

I had redesigned my program that I used to record all the stats and I think that it made more sense now. Now that it was college basketball more stats were recorded but I liked doing my own ones so I that I knew what had happened.

The game started quickly and I started typing. I had done a bit of research on San Diego but there wasn't much on some players. The team started slightly slowly but soon the points started to build up. There wasn't much statistically so far to tell Coach but I kept typing.

The end of the quarter came without much fanfare and they were already up by a bit. After talking to the players Coach came over to talk to me.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

I told him what I had been thinking so far both about our own players and the opposition and their tendencies. He nodded with me as I talked and it was nice to know that he agreed with me.

"You've got a good eye for the game," he said before heading to talk to someone else.

The next quarter started soon after and I continued to type. The more time that past the more that I began to see more from all the players. There were a couple of San Diego players in particular weren't particularly good defensive players and there was one that liked to take longer shots then he should.

I told this to Coach and he repeated it to some of the players. I could see them trying to make the most of it and for the rest of the half it seemed to be working. I headed into the locker room with the rest of the team at half time and listened to Coach tell them what they should be doing.

"Ryan, do you have anything else to add?" Coach asked me.

I added a couple more things that I had seen but there wasn't a whole heap so we then headed back out onto the court. The rest of the game passed quickly and ended with a win to UCLA. I continued to write as they guys warmed down.

"Can you send all that to me?" Coach asked, sitting beside me.

I nodded and he continued to sit there as I typed. Now that I game was finished I was typing analysis for every player that had been on the court.

"Did you ever play basketball?" Coach asked.

"I did when I was younger because my brothers all did but I have back problems so I didn't continue," I explained.

"You are the youngest Moore brother, aren't you?" he asked.

I nodded and he smiled.

"I would have loved to have coached your brothers. They're pretty good," he muttered.

I nodded and I shut my laptop because I was pretty much finished. Tyler had finished cooling down and moved to be beside me.

"How was the game?" he asked.

"Got some pretty good stats and you had a pretty good game," I told him.

He still had a smile on his face. The team headed into the locker room and I didn't bother going in. I was pretty sure that the team was going to go out after the game but I sat down outside the locker room.

After about fifteen minutes the team started filing out of the room and Tyler offered me a hand to get off the floor. I gratefully took it and stood beside him.

"Are you guys going out?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you want to come with us?" Tyler asked.

I thought about it for a second before glancing at him to see that he had pulled the puppy dog eyes out on me and I had to tell him that I would. He then smiled brightly at me before wrapping an arm around me.

I let myself be dragged out of the arena. Apparently there was some party going on on campus that one of the players knew about it and we all followed him once we got back to the campus. Tyler still had let go of me since he joined me after the game.

"Are you going to drink?" I asked him.

"Do you mind?"

"Not really."

"I might drink a bit but," he shrugged without continuing.

I nodded. I didn't recognise anyone so far so I stuck close to Tyler. The whole place was hot and after not too long I had to head outside for a while. There was a small backyard out the back so I sat down on the grass.

There were a couple of people out there at the moment so it wasn't quiet but it was calmer. I took a couple of deep breathes as I sat there. More people came out as well but it still no one that I knew. I don't really know how long I was sitting out there until Tyler joined me.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

I nodded but it meant that we had to make it back through the over-crowded room. Tyler said goodbye to a couple of people but I was glad once we got back outside again.

"Were you ok to go?" I asked.

"Yeah"

I nodded and we stayed close together as we walked back to our dorm. We didn't talk a whole heap once we got back and as we got into bed.

"You played well today," I told him.

"Thanks, it just good to be out there," he admitted.

I smiled because I knew how long it had been since he had played a game and after all the training I knew that he just wanted to be out there and play.

"Was it worth coming here?" I asked.

"Yes"

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The Wise One