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|---|---|
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| Prefecture | Kanagawa |
| Team Captain | Takenori Akagi |
| Vice-Captain | Kiminobu Kogure |
| Coach | Mitsuyoshi Anzai |
| [v · t · e] | |
Shohoku High School is an urban public high school located in Kanagawa Prefecture. This basketball team is the focus of Slam Dunk.
Contents
Trivia
Shohoku High School is likely to be based on the Chicago Bulls, because of the team colors red and black and the similarities of the logos. The team jerseys start at #3, #1 and #2 are presumably retired.
Story
For 2 years, Shohoku has been considered of no consequence at the Prefectural level and largely a one-man team because of the presence of its team captain Takenori Akagi. It is not until his 3rd year that things begin to turn around for Shohoku. With the return of the short but quick and fast Point Guard Ryota Miyagi, the 3-pt shooter and former Junior High MVP, Hisashi Mitsui; the addition of freshmen, Kaede Rukawa the "Super Rookie" and a total beginner in basketball, Hanamichi Sakuragi. Together, Shohoku rose to distinction and proved that they are a team to be reckoned with. They are the only non-seeded team to make it to the final 4 of the Kanagawa Interhigh Tournament, eliminating Shoyo, which is considered as the 2nd strongest team in Kanagawa. Their sole loss was against the eventual champion Kainan, but still gained access to the Nationals, finishing as the 2nd place representative for Kanagawa after defeating Takezato and Ryonan. They are ranked as a C class team and was placed into a tough tournament bracket during the Nationals Tournament.
They faced the infamous Toyotama of Osaka at 1st round. They pulled off the win, despite Rukawa being hit in the eye by the dirty tactic of Tsuyoshi Minami. On the 2nd round, they faced the 3-time reigning champion, Sannoh, which puts Shohoku and each one of them into the biggest challenge of their basketball careers. It is worth noting that the Kainan's lineup in the previous year were stronger than their current yet they lost by 30 points against Sannoh. Also, the current Sannoh is stronger than the previous year, which makes the challenge even bigger for Shohoku
With unyielding determination, they emerged victorious despite the odds. However, with the absence of Sakuragi who injured his back, and the hard-fought match taking everything what Shohoku have, the team could not display their 100% and lost terribly to Aiwa Gakuin in the 3rd round. Akagi and Kogure retired to take exams for college; Miyagi took over as the new captain and Mitsui remained for the Winter Tournament; Rukawa decided to stay and went into the All-Japan Junior Camp instead; Sakuragi continues to recover from his back injury under rehabilitation; Haruko was introduced as the 2nd manager of the team.
Offense and Defense
Akagi is the main scorer and defender under the basket. Mitsui is the 3-pointer. Rukawa is the team's ace player and can score in all areas. Miyagi is the one responsible for carrying the ball and making plays. If there is an opportunity, he will drive through the basket using his speed and quickness against taller defenders. The team has many chances to score because of Sakuragi's offensive rebounds, which is one of the major factors in their victories. Later on, Sakuragi has learned to shoot which became a big plus for the team. Everyone can defend well, except for Sakuragi who still hasn't learned defense. Despite his weak defense, his athleticism makes up for it.
Weakness
The team has a very weak bench, with Kogure as the only reliable player to be subbed in. Because of this, everything has to be relied on the starters completely. In their game against Ryonan it's also seen that the Shohoku players get a lot of fouls, which is a problem because of their weak bench. Shohoku doesn't have training regimen that's tough as Kainan's or Ryonan's. You can see that the starter players are more fit than the bench players.
Rukawa can't play a whole match if he continuously play his explosive scoring style for 40 minutes, hence why in the game versus Ryonan game he decided to stay quiet for the whole first half to save his energy for the 2nd half, because he blames himself for the loss to Kainan due to him running out of gas and not finishing the game. Mitsui is weak in terms of stamina thanks to his 2-year hiatus on basketball. Rukawa's over-reliance on isolation also hurt the team.
Matches
Practice matches
- Main article: Shohoku_High/Practice_matches
Kanagawa Tournament
- Main article: Shohoku_High/Kanagawa_District_Tournament
InterHigh
- Main article: Shohoku_High/Inter_High_Tournament
Stats
Team Stats:
- Offense =10/10
- Defense =8/10
- Bench Strength =5/10
- Height =7/10
- Team work =10/10
