Ryota Miyagi宮城 リョータ
Lightning Flash Ryota
Point Guard · 168 cm · 59 kg · year 2
The fastest player in the series. At 168 cm he still keeps pace with Fujima and Maki, breaks double teams with a shallow dribble, and takes the captaincy after Akagi.
Kanagawa · 1st Quarter
Shohoku湘北高校
The 90s Basketball Saga
The school nobody had heard of. A squad that could not clear the prelims a year earlier topples the country's number one with four new parts: a rookie rebounding monster, a freshman prodigy, a returning three-point shooter and a point guard made of lightning.
StandingKanagawa runner-up · National tournament round 3
Hisashi Mitsui三井 寿
The Three-Point Ace
Shooting Guard · 184 cm · 70 kg · year 3
A former junior-high MVP and a three-point specialist back after two lost years. Once his feet are set no closeout troubles him; his one real weakness is stamina.
Kaede Rukawa流川 楓
Super Rookie
Small Forward · 187 cm · 75 kg · year 1
A freshman who can play any position. With an injured eye he shot his free throws blind; Anzai rates him and Sakuragi above his own former protégé.
Hanamichi Sakuragi桜木 花道
King of Rebounds
Power Forward · 189 cm · 83 kg · year 1
He touched a ball for the first time four months ago; today he is Kanagawa's best rebounder. His shot is reliable only from one narrow angle, but his power and leap have no equal on the floor.
Takenori Akagi赤木 剛憲
Gori
Centre · 197 cm · 93 kg · year 3
Captain, and the wall beneath the rim. He refused to leave the floor on an injured ankle and carried the dream of a national title alone for three years.
2nd Quarter
The Squad
Jersey four through fifteen, 12 players. The five above take the stage; the rest of this list are the ones who carried them there.
62-60Shoyo · Kanagawa quarter-final
The school nobody had heard of. A squad that could not clear the prelims a year earlier topples the country's number one with four new parts: a rookie rebounding monster, a freshman prodigy, a returning three-point shooter and a point guard made of lightning.
Takenori Akagi赤木 剛憲
Gori
Centre · 197 cm · 93 kg · year 3
Kiminobu Kogure木暮 公延
The Dependable Deputy
Small Forward · 178 cm · 63 kg · year 3
Yasuharu Yasuda安田 靖春
Point Guard · 165 cm · 57 kg · year 2
Ryota Miyagi宮城 リョータ
Lightning Flash Ryota
Point Guard · 168 cm · 59 kg · year 2
Tetsushi Shiozaki潮崎 哲士
Shooting Guard · 170 cm · no record · year 2
Satoru Kakuta角田 悟
Power Forward · 180 cm · no record · year 2
Hanamichi Sakuragi桜木 花道
King of Rebounds
Power Forward · 189 cm · 83 kg · year 1
Kaede Rukawa流川 楓
Super Rookie
Small Forward · 187 cm · 75 kg · year 1
Kentaro Iishi石井 健太郎
Point Guard · 170 cm · no record · year 1
Satoro Sasaoka佐々岡 智
Shooting Guard · 172 cm · no record · year 1
Hisashi Mitsui三井 寿
The Three-Point Ace
Shooting Guard · 184 cm · 70 kg · year 3
Toki Kuwata桑田 登紀
Point Guard · 163 cm · no record · year 1
Half Time
The Rivals
Kanagawa's three powers and the champion of Akita. Pick a team: its roster, its standing and the game it played against Shohoku open below.
Ryonan High School
陵南高校Kanagawa
The school at the other end of the coast, Shohoku's mirror image. Taoka's brutal conditioning and Sendoh's reading of the game build Kanagawa's most balanced scoring trio — but the bench is thin.
Against Shohoku70-66Kanagawa finals, round 3Shohoku won
Jun Uozumi魚住 純
Ryonan's Fortress
Centre · 202 cm · 90 kg · year 3
Ryoji Ikegami池上 亮二
Small Forward · 183 cm · 72 kg · year 3
Hiroaki Koshino越野 宏明
Shooting Guard · 174 cm · 62 kg · year 2
Akira Sendoh仙道 彰
Scoring Machine
Small Forward · 190 cm · 79 kg · year 2
Tomoyuki Uekusa植草 智之
Point Guard · 170 cm · 62 kg · year 2
Kicchou Fukuda福田 吉兆
The Paint Predator
Power Forward · 188 cm · 80 kg · year 2
Hikoichi Aida相田 彦一
The Notebook
Point Guard · 165 cm · 52 kg · year 1
Kainan University Affiliated High School
海南大附属高校Kanagawa
The "Kings of Kanagawa." Seventeen straight trips to the nationals, a bottomless bench and stamina that never runs out. Maki is an offence on his own; even their reserves dismantle regional semi-finalists.
Against Shohoku88-90Kanagawa finals, round 1Shohoku lost
Shinichi Maki牧 紳一
King of Kanagawa
Point Guard · 184 cm · 79 kg · year 3
Kazuma Takasago高砂 一馬
Centre · 191 cm · 80 kg · year 3
Soichiro Jin神 宗一郎
The Marksman
Shooting Guard · 189 cm · 71 kg · year 2
Hiro Kosuga小菅
Shooting Guard · no record · no record · year 2
Tadashi Muto武藤 正
Power Forward · 184 cm · 75 kg · year 3
Nobunaga Kiyota清田 信長
The Wild Boy
Small Forward · 178 cm · 65 kg · year 1
Yoshinori Miyamasu宮益 義範
Space Alien
Point Guard · 160 cm · 42 kg · year 3
Shoyo High School
翔陽高校Kanagawa
Kanagawa's tallest line-up: four of the starting five stand over 190 cm. Their captain is also their coach — Fujima runs the team from the sideline, then changes the tempo single-handedly when he steps on court.
Against Shohoku62-60Kanagawa quarter-finalShohoku won
Kenji Fujima藤真 健司
Player-Coach
Point Guard · 178 cm · 66 kg · year 3
Toru Hanagata花形 透
The Fadeaway
Centre · 197 cm · 83 kg · year 3
Kazushi Hasegawa長谷川 一志
Shooting Guard · 190 cm · 80 kg · year 3
Mitsuru Nagano永野 満
Small Forward · 191 cm · 84 kg · year 3
Shoichi Takano高野 昭一
Power Forward · 193 cm · 85 kg · year 3
Taku Itou伊藤 卓
Point Guard · 180 cm · 71 kg · year 2
Sannoh Industry Affiliated High School
山王工業高校Akita
Japan's number one. The country's best centre and best high-school player in the same starting five. They study even weak opponents all night and scrimmage against college teams — then lose by a single point to an unknown Kanagawa side.
Against Shohoku79-78National tournament, round 2Shohoku won
Kazunari Fukatsu深津 一成
The Ice-Cold Captain
Point Guard · 180 cm · no record · year 3
Masahiro Nobe野辺 将広
Totem Pole
Power Forward · 198 cm · 90 kg · year 3
Minoru Matsumoto松本 稔
Beanpole
Shooting Guard · 185 cm · 76 kg · year 3
Masashi Kawata河田 雅史
Japan's No. 1 Centre
Centre · 194 cm · 95 kg · year 3
Satoshi Ichinokura一之倉 聡
The Clamp
Shooting Guard · 171 cm · no record · year 3
Eiji Sawakita沢北 栄治
Japan's No. 1 High-School Player
Small Forward · 188 cm · 77 kg · year 2
Mikio Kawata河田 美紀男
The Giant
Centre · 210 cm · 130 kg · year 1
3rd Quarter
The Bench
Games are not won by the five on the floor alone. The coaches and managers of all five teams: twenty thousand shots in a week, a final read wrong, and an analysis that ran all night.
88-90Kainan · Kanagawa finals, round 1
CoachMitsuyoshi Anzai安西 光義
The White-Haired Buddha
no record · no record
Once known at university as the White-Haired Devil, now a master who grows players without breaking them. He made Sakuragi take twenty thousand shots in a week.
ManagerAyako彩子
no record · no record · year 2
Team manager. She knows the game better than most of the players, and keeps Miyagi on a short leash.
ManagerHaruko Akagi赤木 晴子
no record · no record · year 1
Second manager and Akagi's sister. She asked the one question that pulled Sakuragi into the game: do you like basketball?
CoachMoichi Taoka田岡 茂一
no record · no record
A hard-nosed coach who is expert at picking apart an opponent's weak points. He was the first to see Sendoh as a point guard — and he lost the final by underestimating Sakuragi.
CoachRiki Takato高頭 力
no record · no record
The architect of a seventeen-year streak of national appearances, and the man who told Maki that the one standing at the top wants victory the most.
CoachGoro Domoto堂本 五郎
no record · no record
The coach behind three straight titles. He has even the weakest opponent analysed all night, and scrimmages his team against college sides before the game.
Shoyo's coach is not in this grid but in the roster list: Kenji Fujima is captain and coach at once. He runs the team from the sideline, then turns the tempo of the game on his own the moment he steps on court.
4th Quarter
Final Buzzer
Three-year defending national champions, beaten by a single point by an unknown team from Kanagawa.
79-78Shohoku — SannohNational tournament, round 2
The archive keeps the next day too: in round three Shohoku lost to Aiwa Gakuen 102-40. The squad was spent, Sakuragi's back was injured, and the ride home was quiet. That is exactly what makes the one-point win mean something — winning that game never meant they would keep winning.