The Winter Cup (National High School Basketball Tournament), the “annual event” at the end of each year that decides the best high school basketball in Japan, begins.
In recent years, NBA players such as Rui Hachimura (Washington Wizards/Miyagi/Akinari attached to Sendai University) and Yuta Watanabe (Brooklyn Nets/Kagawa/Jinsei Gakuen) have also stood on this stage. In addition, many Japanese representative class players also sold their faces here.
This year’s tournament, which will be held for the 75th time, has quite a few promising star candidates. This time, we have selected 5 athletes from among the high-profile boys’ participating schools, who will attract viewers with high future prospects.
Hayato Wakikawa of the Ohori attached to Fukuoka University, aiming for consecutive victories
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Hayato Wakikawa (Fukuoka/Fukuoka University Attached Ohori/3rd year)
Although he was a sophomore in last year’s tournament, he played an ace role and brought the team the first victory in 28 years. You can even say it’s a loss if you look at it.
One of the big reasons is that he changed his position from small forward (SF) to point guard (PG). Standing 193cm and primarily a scorer, Wakikawa volunteered for a position he had never experienced before to expand his horizons.
PG, the command tower of the team, is not something that can be done overnight. Wakikawa also seems to have felt a wall in the speed part of instant judgment on the court, such as when the opponent tried to press defense.
I don’t think he can be called a pure PG at this point. However, Wakikawa has traditional all-around ability, and he should be able to make up for some mistakes as a PG, such as driving and scoring from 3-pointers, and bring the team an activity that more than makes up for it.
This year, in the U18 Top League newly established by the Japan Basketball Association (a league-style tournament for the top teams of the past Inter-High School and Winter Cups), in October, he scored six 3-pointers when he played against Suwa attached to Nagano and Tokai University. And so on, 29 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and all-round work.
