Shohoku High

Prefecture	Kanagawa
Team Captain	Takenori Akagi
Vice-Captain	Kiminobu Kogure
Coach	Mitsuyoshi Anzai
Jersey Color
	[v · t · e]

Shohoku High School is an urban public high school located in Kanagawa Prefecture. This basketball team is the focus of Slam Dunk.

Story[]

For 2 years, Shohoku had been considered of no consequence at the Prefectural level and largely a one-man team because of the presence of its team captain Takenori Akagi. It was not until his 3rd year that things began to turn around for Shohoku. With the return of the short but quick and fast Point Guard Ryota Miyagi, the 3-pt shooter and former Junior High MVP, Hisashi Mitsui, the addition of freshmen, Kaede Rukawa the "Super Rookie" and, Hanamichi Sakuragi, a total beginner with incredible athleticism. Together, Shohoku rose to distinction and proved that they are a team to be reckoned with. They are the only non-seeded team to make it to the final 4 of the Kanagawa Interhigh Tournament, eliminating Shoyo, which was considered as the 2nd strongest team in Kanagawa. Their sole loss was against the eventual champion Kainan, but still gained access to the Nationals, finishing as the 2nd place representative for Kanagawa after defeating Takezato and Ryonan. They are ranked as a C class team and was placed into a tough tournament bracket during the Nationals Tournament.

They faced the infamous Toyotama of Osaka at 1st round. They pulled off the win, despite Rukawa being hit in the eye by the dirty tactic of Tsuyoshi Minami. On the 2nd round, they faced the 3-time reigning champion, Sannoh, which puts Shohoku and each one of them into the biggest challenge of their basketball careers. It is worth noting that the Kainan's lineup in the previous year were stronger than their current yet they lost by 30 points against Sannoh. Also, the current Sannoh is stronger than the previous year, which makes the challenge even bigger for Shohoku.

With unyielding determination, they emerged victorious despite the odds. However, with the absence of Sakuragi who injured his back, and the hard-fought match taking everything what Shohoku have, the team could not display their 100% and lost terribly to Aiwa Gakuin in the 3rd round. Akagi and Kogure retired to take exams for college; Miyagi took over as the new captain and Mitsui remained for the Winter Tournament; Rukawa decided to stay and went into the All-Japan Junior Camp instead; Sakuragi continues to recover from his back injury under rehabilitation; Haruko was introduced as the 2nd manager of the team.

Offense and Defense[]

Akagi is the main scorer and defender under the basket. Mitsui is the 3-pointer. Rukawa is the team's ace player and can score in all areas. Miyagi is the one responsible for carrying the ball and making plays. If there is an opportunity, he will drive through the basket using his speed and quickness against taller defenders. The team has many chances to score because of Sakuragi's offensive rebounds, which is one of the major factors in their victories. Later on, Sakuragi has learned to shoot which became a big plus for the team. Nearly everyone on the team has decent defence aside from Sakuragi, who is still somewhat inexperienced even towards the end of the series. However he makes up for it with his peerless athleticism, enabling to react faster simply by instinct to counter fakes against him.

Akagi and Sakuragi are the main defenders when it comes to the zone under the rim, with Akagi's height and Sakuragi's incredible jumping ability proving a problem even for stronger teams. Their powerful blocks can turn the tides, easily returning the offense to Shohoku. The team also rely on dunks, executed by mainly Akagi, Rukawa and Sakuragi, important shots that proved to be the game changer in crucial moments.

Weakness[]

The team has a very weak bench, with Kogure as the only reliable player to be subbed in. Because of this, everything has to be relied on the starters completely. In their game against Ryonan it's also seen that the Shohoku players get a lot of fouls, which is a problem because of their weak bench. Shohoku doesn't have training regimen that's tough as Kainan's or Ryonan's. It is obvious that the starters have higher physical capabilities than the bench, which only increases their burden. In multiple cases, the starters exhibited extreme fatigue; Mitsui in multiple cases and Rukawa in the match against Kainan.

Rukawa is unable to play a full match if he continuously plays his explosive scoring style for 40 minutes, hence in the game against Ryonan game, he decided to play passively for the whole first half to save his energy for the 2nd half, because he blames himself for the loss to Kainan due to him running out of gas and ultimately having to be subbed out. Mitsui is weak in terms of stamina due to his 2-year absence from basketball. Miyagi, though the playmaker, cannot contribute much in terms of scoring points due to his lack in height, having to rely on his teammates instead. The team also lacks somewhat in defense, though their plays against stronger teams such as Kainan, Ryonan and Sannoh were driven purely by determination.

Matches[]

Shohoku High School’ Basketball Team Matches

Practice Matches	Score
Shohoku High School vs. Ryonan High School	86 - 87
Shohoku High School vs. Takezono High School	88 - 70
Shohoku High School vs. Ryokufu High School	77 - 74
Shohoku High School vs. Jousei High School	73 - 72
Shohoku High School vs. Shoyo High School/Ryonan High School	76 – 74

Kanagawa Preliminaries	Score
Shohoku High School vs. Miuradai High School (1^st Round)	114 - 51
Shohoku High School vs. Kakuya High School (2^nd Round)	160 - 24
Shohoku High School vs. Kouhata High School (3^rd Round)	103 - 59
Shohoku High School vs. Tsukubu High School (4^th Round)	111 - 79

Kanagawa Quarter Final	Score
Shohoku High School vs. Shoyo High School	62 - 60

Kanagawa Finals	Score
Shohoku High School vs. Kainan High School (1^st Round)	88 - 90
Shohoku High School vs. Takezato High School (2^nd Round)	120 - 81
Shohoku High School vs. Ryonan High School (3^rd Round)	70 - 66

Inter High Tournament	Score
Shohoku High School vs. Toyotama High School (1^st Round)	91 - 87
Shohoku High School vs. Sannoh High School (2^nd Round)	79 - 78
Shohoku High School vs. Aiwa Gakuen High School (3^rd Round)	88 - 89

Characters[]

#4: Takenori Akagi – 3rd Year.
#5: Kiminobu Kogure – 3rd Year.
#6: Yasuharu Yasuda – 2nd Year.
#7: Ryota Miyagi – 2nd Year.
#8: Tetsushi Shiozaki – 2nd Year.
#9: Satoru Kakuta – 2nd Year.
#10: Hanamichi Sakuragi – 1st Year.
#11: Kaede Rukawa – 1st Year.
#12: Kentaro Iishi – 1st Year.
#13: Satoro Sasaoka – 1st Year.
#14: Hisashi Mitsui – 3rd Year.
#15: Toki Kuwata – 1st Year.
Ayako – 2nd Year and Manager.

Team[]



#4 Center Takenori Akagi	#5 Small Forward Kiminobu Kogure	#6 Point Guard Yasuharu Yasuda	#7 Point Guard Ryota Miyagi	#8 Shooting Guard Tetsushi Shiozaki

#9 Power Forward Satoru Kakuta	#10 Power Forward Hanamichi Sakuragi	#11 Small Forward Kaede Rukawa	#12 Point Guard Kentaro Iishi	#13 Shooting Guard Satoro Sasaoka

#14 Shooting Guard Hisashi Mitsui	#15 Point Guard Toki Kuwata	Coach Mitsuyoshi Anzai	Manager Ayako	2nd Manager Haruko Akagi