Sakuragi Hanamichi has been training in the basics for two weeks under Ayako and he wants to play with the other. Akagi refused to let him play. Out of frustration, he quits the team. But after seeing Haruko's face, he changes his mind again.

Impressed by Sakuragi's raw power and general brute force, the captain of the judo club tries to recruit him away from the Basketball team.

Having mastered dribbling and passing, Sakuragi moves on to shooting, which is a lot harder than he had anticipated. Frustrated by his lack of skil, Sakuragi gets some extra help from an unlikely source: Haruko.

The next day, Haruko has to accompany Sakuragi to the sports shop to buy a new pair of shoes because his old shoes are in a bad shape after the practice game with Ryonan.

Akagi decides to test Rukawa's skills against his own to see if Rukawa really has the talent everyone says he does.

After getting the permission to allow Sakuragi to learn the basics of shooting, Akagi asked Rukawa to demonstrate how to do lay-up shot. But Sakuragi got into a fight with Rukawa instead.

The tournament is finally making its approach. Sakuragi is anxious to play against Sendo again, but Shohoku will have to deal with Miuradai first.

Sakuragi mananges to dunk over/through Akagi. Akagi is intrigued by Sakuragi's raw power, but doesn't think he's got the drive to make it on the team. Still, he ponders what the team would be like if he was to join.

Sakuragi declines Aota's offer of joining the Judo club. Kogure and Ayako were overjoyed at Sakuragi's refusal and Akagi was very much impressed by Sakuragi's words.

The night before their game with Ryounan, Akagi decides to try and teach Sakuragi basic defense, starting with rebounding. Learning quickly, Sakuragi impresses Akagi. After the practice session, Sakuragi encounters a scout from Ryounan, and fills him in on who the REAL star is.....

The match starts, and Anzai refuses to put Sakuragi, Rukawa, Mitsui, and Miyagi, in the starting line-up. For what reason? As punishment for fighting. Will Anzai keep it like this for the entire game?

After Rukawa beats up those thugs, Hanamichi is shocked and asks him for his name. When he discovers that he is the one that Haruko has a crush on, he becaomes angry. Then, Haruko comes and helps Rukawa with his wounds, but he dismisses her and this makes Hanamichi very angry. Haruko mistakes Hanamichi for injuring Rukawa and she says that she hates Hanamichi. Hanamichi's world comes tumbling down again.

Sakuragi is eager to play too, thinking of what Akagi has told him the previuos night. At Ryonan High, Anzai is greeted by Ryonan coach, Moichi Taoka. In the locker room, Anzai finally announces the starting five players who are Akagi, Yasuda, Shiozaki, Kogure and Rukawa.

Miuradai revealed a secret weapon of theirs that'll help them try and overcome Shohoku, and that's the ox Nato.

After successfully persuading Anzai to let him join the game, Sakuragi shows how much he has improved in basic skills such as dribbling. But in the game, he refuses to pass the ball to Rukawa out of jealousy.

Ryota Miyagi returns to basketball after beening injured in a fight. Ayako heard rumors that Miyagi was back in school, so she decided to investigate. She brings along Sakuragi and see that Miyagi is into another fight realizing that Ayako and Sakuragi are together sparking jealously into his eyes which causes a problem. Will Miyagi and Sakuragi be able to coexist...

With four of Shohoku's best players finally entering in the game, the tables turn quickly as they narrow the lead down to only 2. Sakuragi was hacked on a play, giving him two shots at the freethrow line. Though things were tough for him, as nervousness broke his concentration, and his imagination started running wild.

Miuradai started gaining control of the game, until Nato started finally guarding Rukawa instead of Sakuragi. Rukawa exploited his weakness, and this caused an instant shift, favouring Shohoku.

Shohoku's next match is against Gohoku. While they have been exceeding almost everyone's expectations, Sakuragi continues to be laughed at for his nonsensical and pointless fouls. He starts to realize that he might not be so great after all.

The anticipated match up between two of the best teams in the region commences. One of the biggest surprises was how Sendoh was handling point guard duties, and was doing an efficient job of it with Ryonan getting a head start against Kainan.

The Sakuragi gang look for jobs in order to collect money to afford train tickets to the national games.

Sakuragi and his fouling troubles continue. He unconsciously went to Akagi's house for help, and in order to help Sakuragi a little bit, Akagi gives him one piece of advice... instill his opponents with fear using his eyes. Sakuragi takes this too literally, with predictable results.

Anzai-sensei decides to start Sakuragi, much to everyone's shock. He figures that with his height and drive he'll be the perfect weapon to use against Shoyo.

Shohoku has defeated Shoyo, and Sakuragi is quick to spread the word, especially after his ferocious slam dunk on Hanagata. It seems like Oda, a person that went to the same junior high as him, is going to be facing Kainan. They're also hoping to pull off an upset victory like Shohoku has.

After being dumped by Yoko, a girl he really liked in Junior High, Sakuragi Hanamichi was devastated. On the first day of school, he was approached by a girl who asked him whether he likes basketball or not. He immediately said he loves it although he has no idea how to play the sport. His world is filled with hope again.