February 24th.
The state tournament brackets dropped at 8:00 a.m. By 8:01, the team group chat was on fire.
[Marcus]: We got Ridgeview in the quarters ๐ค [Jamal]: Bet. Time to send 'em home. [Coach Alvarez]: Don't sleep on Franklin High. You boys want to get to Ridgeview, you better survive the fire first.
Michael didn't type anything. He was already watching film.
Franklin High was a wild cardโpress-heavy, fast-break fanatics, a team that won games by overwhelming less disciplined squads.
Michael didn't care about their pace. He cared about their cracks.
And he spotted them early.
Coach Alvarez opened the pregame meeting with a single sentence:
"They're hungry. Are you starving?"
The room went quiet. Michael stood and answered.
"We've been eating off scraps all season. It's time we sit at the damn table."
The gym was packed, louder than it had been all season. Not just students and parents. Scouts. Writers. And two GMs in the back rowโone from Detroit, the other from Charlotte.
Michael didn't blink.
He opened the game with a deep three. Then picked off a pass and dunked in transition. Then blocked a floater two possessions later.
The message was clear: This wasn't just hunger. This was dominance.
Franklin punched backโfull-court traps, chaotic tempo, a hail of threes.
Jamal turned it over twice. Marcus fouled early.
The lead vanished.
Down 4 at halftime.
In the locker room, Coach looked ready to blow. But Michael spoke first.
"They're betting on chaos," he said, voice low but firm. "Let's show them what control feels like."
Jamal added, "And what it feels like to lose to a team that doesn't panic."
The room settled. Not quiet. Focused.
Third quarter: surgical.
Michael slowed the pace, controlled the ball, punished mismatches.
He didn't score for the first five minutes. But racked up four assists and two hockey passes.
Then the floodgates opened.
Jamal hit two corner threes. Marcus cleaned up inside. Michael got a transition dunk off a no-look feed.
Franklin tried to answer. They couldn't.
Final score: 76โ64. Michael: 22 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals.
After the game, reporters swarmed.
"Michael! What do you think about Ridgeview in the next round?"
He stopped walking. Faced the cameras.
"I don't think about teams. I think about weaknesses. Ridgeview's got 'em. So we'll see."
He walked off before the mic could return.
[System Update: Trait Boosted โ Killer Instinct Tier I โ Tier II][Progress: 22.73%]
This wasn't a state tournament anymore.
This was the hunger gamesโand Michael was the one holding the knife.