"Big Baby" Liu Yutong's Inside Road
On the basketball court, a 2.01-meter-tall and 130-kilogram behemoth is using his huge physique to intimidate his opponents. He is Liu Yutong, the rising star of the Chinese women's basketball team, known as the "female version of O'Neal".
This nickname comes not only from her resemblance to O'Neal's size, but also because of her domineering balloon style on the court, which is reminiscent of the NBA's all-time center superstar.
In the final analysis, the primary reason why Liu Yutong has attracted attention is her unique physical talent. Standing above 2 meters tall is a rarity in a women's basketball team, not to mention her staggering 130 kilograms. It is with this "behemoth" talent that Liu Yutong has shown extraordinary offensive power at the same age.
Her massive size gives her a strong defensive cover and offensive advantage. When attacking, she can use her body weight to knock her opponents down; When defending, she can also block the opponent's interior space with her own strength. This physical talent has earned her the nickname "Little Overlord of the Inside".
It can be said that the position of center forward is Liu Yutong's road to the king. As a post-00s rising star born in 2001, her debut was not smooth. When she was in the middle school attached to Beijing Normal University, she suffered from height problems for a long time and looked clumsy on the court. The coach once thought that she would not have a big future in the future.
But what I didn't expect was that Liu Yutong suddenly jumped after studying in college, and his height broke through the 2-meter mark in just one year! In this way, once brewing, she relied on her bone advantage to emerge in the women's basketball team of Beijing Normal University, and helped the team reach the CUBAL National University League Finals many times in a row, and is an indispensable inner core of the team.
In 2020, Liu Yutong was selected for the national youth team for his outstanding performance, and participated in the national team training camp many times in the following years, laying a solid foundation for being officially selected in the future. There is no doubt that she is the greatest hope for the young generation of centers in the Chinese women's basketball team.
But at the same time, her limitations at this stage are completely exposed. Compared with today's top center forwards, Liu Yutong's biggest shortcoming is his slow action. Due to her inertia and bloated size, she is passive in switching defenses and running positions on the court.
In addition, even with her height and weight superiority, her lack of jumping power made it difficult for her to fully realize her physical potential. Against big European and American players, she was unable to achieve air superiority through height. When defending, being broken and running is her biggest nightmare.
Because of this, Liu Yutong's current shots are mainly limited to the mid-range interior line and the back play with limited lethality, and it is difficult to comprehensively suppress the opponent like those center superstars. If she doesn't make good use of her height and weight, she will likely become a slow-moving pure garbage basket worker in the future.
Of course, as a rising star, the future development prospects do not depend entirely on the limitations of the current stage. The key is whether she can seize the opportunity to continue to improve herself. And in a match last season, Liu Yutong showed us her unlimited potential.
This is the women's basketball qualifying match for the National Games in August 2023, and the Chinese women's basketball team will play against the Japanese team. As the core of the inner line, Liu Yutong can be said to have made a "big move" in this game.
In the face of the tight clamping of the Japanese players, Liu Yutong changed his clumsiness in the past, let go of his skills and showed an amazing ability to pass the ball and dribble through. Not only that, but even Japanese veterans who are in the late stages of their careers will have a hard time holding her body suppression.
In this way, Liu Yutong helped the Chinese team to score 16 points in just a few minutes, tearing apart the Japanese team's defense by himself, and finally helped the team win a good start. The data of 16 points and 6 rebounds in the whole game shows her combat effectiveness as the core of the interior.
This battle can be described as a turning point in Liu Yutong's career. She finally showed what it takes to compete against her opponents in such a high-intensity professional arena, proving to the world that she is more than just a "big man".
In the future, as long as she continues to focus on her own development and improvement, Liu Yutong has every chance to become the core center of the Chinese women's basketball team. Judging from the current national team lineup, the main center Han Xu is outstanding in defense and athleticism, but his offensive ability is not very good; Although Li Yueru has a strong attack under the basket, her height and weight are not dominant.
In contrast, Liu Yutong has the prerequisite of "natural strength", as long as he gives full play to his advantages and makes up for his shortcomings through unremitting efforts, he can fully support the inside line of the Chinese women's basketball team in the future.
However, we must also be soberly aware that even if Liu Yutong becomes the main force of the women's basketball team in the future, she still needs the full cooperation of her teammates. Modern basketball is all about a five-man tactical system, and it is difficult for any single big man to support the team.
Therefore, Liu Yutong's growth is inseparable from the growth of the whole team. Only with the joint improvement of the younger generation of players can the Chinese women's basketball team regain its former glory in the historic low tide of the Tokyo Olympics.
It's crucial to be aware of this. I remember that O'Neill also forged ahead all the way, and he was able to grab countless glory by perfectly complementing his teammates. Therefore, the reason why Liu Yutong is pinned on high hopes is because she can support the whole team like O'Neill in the future and lead the team to a higher stage.
It is foreseeable that the future journey of this "big baby" will be difficult and questionable. But let us wait patiently, I believe that through unremitting efforts, the new generation of inside kings of the Chinese women's basketball team will emerge sooner or later and bring glory and dreams to the national team again.