When a manga is set in the real world with no supernatural elements, that is how it should be kept... REAL! When a professional athlete in the real word goes through an entire career without ever experiencing "the zone", this manga has teams full of high school kids who enter it in every game, one did it for like 3 games straight, with one of them doing it four times, there's another one who can do it at will and they are capable of plays that would make Michael Jordan look like a kid with special needs. They speak of an unknown character for the first time and he makes his coincidental appearance on the same chapter... how convenient. No buildup, no setup, no hype... nothing.
This being a sports shounen does not excuse all the flaws it has, we have seen good sports shonen before and those "kept it real". The main character is extremely forgettable, contradictory, and more than once, straight up useless. At least they are aware of the fact the aren't normal... I mean they do say "powers" not "abilities" there's this one kid who is bipolar, and instead of getting help, they wanna play it like he has two powers? the main character's "love interest" has THE MOST ridiculous reason for liking him in history of fiction (he gave her a Popsicle). The series also emphasizes how hard work is nothing compared to sheer talent. And even has kids attempting to murder each other in and off the court.
The one thing I can think right now to praise from this series, is that there is a friendship between a boy and a girl, and that is all it is friendship... for some reason they did not go cliche and have romantic feelings for each other (tho i won't be surprised when it happens). And that's it, there is nothing special with ANY character except for maybe Murasakibara who is quite peculiar, and even that we've seen before. This series has so much potential and it's a pity to see it ruined by the ridiculously impossible and unrealistic situations happening in every chapter.