Chapter 5 There Are Many Ways To Get Your Attention

After finishing his training and returning to the dorm, Rin found the door locked from the inside. Knocking on the door, he could hear a rustling sound inside.

After a moment, the door opened, and his roommate Dan, his face flushed, greeted him.

"Dude were you watching porn?" Rin asked but got no reply.

Once inside and with the door closed, Rin sniffed the air suspiciously. Thankfully, there was no odd smell like that of sandalwood.

"Dude!"

"No!" Dan quickly waved his hand in denial.

Rin then noticed a camera sitting on Dan's bed.

"You're into filming?" Rin asked curiously.

Dan grinned and handed over the camera without hesitation. Rin took a look, and then his eyes widened. The camera was playing a rather inappropriate scene. This guy was definitely watching something, despite his denial.

However, after watching for a moment, Rin realized something was off as it looked like a video they had recorded themselves! And also the setting seemed... familiar.

"Isn't this from the nightclub last night?" Rin finally put two and two together, "You were filming? That's messed up dude!"

"Don't worry, they consented," Dan hurriedly explained.

Of course, these guys were always up to something.

"Your filming skills aren't bad," Rin remarked after watching, handing the camera back.

"Just make sure it doesn't get leaked. It's fine as a personal hobby, as long as it doesn't end up in a scandal." Rin added.

"Rin, do you really think you can make it to the NBA?" Dan asked suddenly as he put the camera away.

Rin looked at him, surprised. Why was everyone asking the same question today?

It seemed his performance today had sparked a lot of speculation.

"Don't worry, when I make it, I'll buy you a better camera first thing," he promised as he headed to take a shower.

"I'll hold you to that!" Dan grinned from ear to ear, clearly passionate about his filming hobby.

After showering, Rin found that Dan had already left the dorm, off to some unknown place again. Laying down on his bed, he checked his system and noticed that the growth of his Hate Points had slowed down again.

His points had reached over 1,700, but that was still far from enough. He would have to keep doing it himself. This time, he logged into his main account. His main account currently had around six thousand followers, and this included a bunch of his own alternate accounts.

His number of followers was initially low, but increased significantly due to his big talks with the press, before and after the game against Rivers Creek University.

After logging in, he posted a status update:

*28 points > 22 points. The facts prove that I'm a better shooter."

After posting the update, he switched to his alternate accounts and started stirring things up on Jace's Facebook page as usual. This time, he divided his alternate accounts into two groups; one to hate on himself and another to support him.

In no time, a new wave of criticism had already started brewing, even more intense than the previous night.

Seizing the opportunity, he used one of his accounts to tag his main account in a comment that read, "The so called Satoshi isn't even fit to lace Tucker's shoes."

After about ten minutes, he brought his main account into the fray.

"If I swapped teams with him, he might not perform as well as I have."

Once he posted the comment, the replies came flooding in, and his follower count skyrocketed. More importantly, the growth rate of his hate points in the system finally sped up again.

No joke, Rin was a master of controversial sound bites- this was child's play for him. After all, this was the true purpose of creating so many alternate accounts: to funnel traffic. By drawing haters to his main account, he could farm them for the long term.

And as the saying goes, "One hater is worth ten fans." With enough haters, his account would soon become much livelier.

The NCAA Division I league is made up of 32 smaller leagues, and their competitions consist of regular season games, league playoffs, and the famous March Madness.

The tournament has 68 spots, 32 of which are claimed by league champions from the playoffs. The remaining 36 spots are awarded to wildcard teams.

Wildcard teams are selected by the league committee, based on their performance during the regular season. This selection process can lead to some unfairness, as teams from weaker leagues find it difficult to impress the committee with their league games alone.

To address this issue, the NCAA allows teams to participate in invitational pre-season warm-up games before the official regular season begins. The game between Trenton College and River Creek University was one such event.

However, Division II teams only get invitations when Division I teams need a warm-up early in the season. For the rest of the time, they're limited to playing against other Division II teams. After the game against Rivers Creek University, Trenton College played three more Division II games, finishing with a 2-1 record.

With only four games into the season, they had already matched last year's win total. The team's biggest change was Rin's arrival.

In four games, Rin averaged 19.5 points, with a 52% field goal percentage and a 39% three-point shooting rate.

He had become the team's top scorer and even recorded a stellar 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists in a game against Melton State College.

As impressive as his performance was, it hadn't helped him as much as he hoped and that was the most frustrating part for him right now.

Playing against Division I teams attracted attention because of the level of competition, which allowed him to build his reputation, both good and bad. But in other games, no one really cared how well or poorly he played.

It was like writing a novel- the worst part wasn't getting negative feedback, but not getting any feedback at all. Since he couldn't earn hater points through games, he needed to try something different.

Few days later, Rin found Dan, his roommate tinkering with his camera as he was about entering the gym.

"Dude, grab your camera. There's something we gotta do." Rin announced as he walked straight past him.

"Something? Right now?" Dan asked still trying to process what Rin meant.

"Yes, we're going to play ball," Rin replied, his expression meaningful.

"Um.. a one on one?" Dan asked still looking confused.

"No."

"Then what?"

Dan then watched Rin set up five ball racks in the gym, each holding five basketball balls.

"I need you to film me making all 25 shots in under a minute."