After a quiet stretch, the heat was back.
The NCAA Southern League was back in action, and Davidson was ready to roll.
Coach McKillop's first game of the second half? An away showdown with Butler University.
And guess who was waiting for him? His old buddy, Coach Vincent.
The moment they locked eyes, it was all smirks and shade.
"Damn, Bob," Vincent shook his head as they hugged it out. "You already had Steph droppin' buckets like a video game. Now you bring that kid too?"
McKillop just grinned. "You mean Lin? Oh yeah. He's my cheat code."
Vincent groaned. "And as if that's not enough, you guys got straight-A students on top of it all. I'm over here praying my starters pass their damn exams."
"No joke," McKillop said, laughing. " Half the squad could quit hoops tomorrow and still get rich doing brainy stuff."
Vincent rolled his eyes. "Only one B on the whole roster?! I swear, man… this is not how college ball is supposed to go."
But jokes aside, Butler was no pushover. They weren't expecting to win, but they definitely didn't wanna get embarrassed—especially not in front of the home crowd and cheer squad.
Too bad Davidson didn't care about saving face.
The Wildcats came to crush.
Steph and Lin? Ice-cold before tip-off, but still trading grins. Watching their coaches roast each other like this?
And then... tip-off.
Eight minutes in. Score? 19–0.
Butler hadn't scored a single point. Their players looked shell-shocked.
"Yo… what the hell are we even doing out here?" one of them muttered as Lin Yi swatted another shot into the bleachers.
He was everywhere. Like a glitch in the matrix.
Drive to the rim? Swatted.
Mid-range jumper? Blocked.
Tried to sneak one in at the rim. Nope. Lin already saw it coming, and he was waiting.
Six blocks in the first eight minutes.
The dude was on fire.
And all that special training with Terry Rollins? It was paying off.
The dude had become a defensive monster.
He even started baiting guys—showing a sliver of daylight, daring them to drive, then snatching their hopes mid-air.
Plus, he'd dragged Steph to play tennis with him to sharpen his reaction time and vision. Tennis! Who does that? But Lin swore it helped with his timing.
"Too bad PUBG's not out yet," Lin joked during warmups. "If it was, I'd be carrying Steph to chicken dinners every night."
By the end of the game? Lin had locked in his first NCAA triple-double:
18 points, 10 rebounds, 10 blocks, 5 assists, 3 steals.
Scouts were buzzing. Especially the ones from the Thunder. Word is, their GM Presti watched the footage and went straight to coach Brooks like:
After the game, McKillop couldn't resist.
"Yo, don't worry. How about dinner after that beatdown? Is on me."
Vincent just glared. "Get outta here. I don't wanna see your smug face ."
Dell Curry had come out to watch too. Afterward, he leaned back in his seat and smiled.
Next game? Xavier University.
Lin was still cooking:
21 points, 9 rebounds, 8 blocks, 4 assists, 2 steals.
His average blocks jumped to 3.5 per game— among the top in the league.
Scouts were shocked. Sure, they knew he could block shots, but to ramp up this fast? Unreal.
Now, yeah—NCAA block stats can be inflated. I mean, Thabeet was averaging almost five per game. But Lin's numbers? Backed by a real defensive impact. His per-possession defensive efficiency was climbing fast.
That week, ESPN's mock draft finally bumped Lin into the Top 8. All thanks to the hype train led by Stanford's analyst Javier, who gushed over Lin's shot-blocking instincts.
Big men who can defend and run the floor? Instant value.
Davidson? Four-game win streak in the second half. Add that to their earlier run, and they were riding a 12-game heater, right behind Oklahoma.
Blake Griffin must've felt the heat too.
In his next game against Stanford, he went nuclear:
44 points, 25 rebounds, 5 blocks.
Oh, and his brother Taylor?
16 points, 12 boards.
Combined? 37 rebounds.
Stanford? They only grabbed 11.
Absolute carnage.
The Southern League? Getting really tired of Davidson and Oklahoma.
"Man, forget the dream. This ain't fun no more."
They just had to wait it out—let the stars get drafted, then maybe the league would be fair again.
Meanwhile, March was creeping up. And the 2009 draft class? Starting to pop.
Maybe Lin was getting attention, but Hashim Thabeet wasn't letting go of the spotlight just yet:
18 points, 24 boards, 14 blocks.
.........
Over in the Pac-10, James Harden and DeMar DeRozan went head-to-head in a classic.
DeRozan: 26 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl
Harden: 24 pts, 6 reb, 8 ast, 3 stl
Even Jonny Flynn hit a 180 dunk on a fast break and said it was for Vince Carter. The kid's got flair.
And the UNC Four? Still monsters.
Hansbrough, Ellington, Lawson, Ed Davis—just steamrolling everyone like they were extras in a superhero movie.
The ESPN mock drafts were spinning like slot machines—rankings changing week to week.
Scouts said it wasn't a legendary class.
Lin Yi? He knew better.
This wasn't just any class.
This was the silver generation after the golden boys of '03.
And the battle?
Just getting started.