Carolina Basketball


Book Description

In This Definitive Centennial History of the University of North Carolina men's basketball team, Adam Lucas chronicles the coaches, players, venues, rivalries, challenges, and triumphs that have defined the program through its first 100 years. Boasting six national championships and numerous Hall of Fame coaches and players, Carolina Basketball has come a long way from the first season---when the campus newspaper published a notice asking an unknown culprit to return the team's basketball. These pages are packed with little-known stories from the program's earliest days and new insights into its best-loved moments. All the greats are here, from Jack Cobb and the "Blind Bomber" George Glamack to Lennie Rosenbluth, Phil Ford, James Worthy, Michael Jordan, Antawn Jamison, and Tyler Hansbrough. Drawing on unparalleled interviews with those around the UNC program, Lucas reveals the meaning of the "Carolina Family" and the origins and evolution of Tar Heel traditions that have made North Carolina one of the premier men's basketball teams in college sports. The stories here are brought to life with more than 175 color and black-and-white photos; a foreword by Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith and an afterword by fellow Hall of Famer Roy Williams; and an appendix of records and statistics. Some 25 sidebars feature first-person recollections from prominent players, including Rosenbluth, Ford, and Jordan; opposing coaches like Lefty Driesell; and famous Carolina alumni like Peter Gammons and Alexander Julian. This is the must-have book for Tar Heel fans and college basketball lovers everywhere.




Game Changers


Book Description

Among many legendary episodes from the life and career of men's basketball coach Dean Smith, few loom as large as his recruitment of Charlie Scott, the first African American scholarship athlete at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Drawn together by college basketball in a time of momentous change, Smith and Scott helped transform a university, a community, and the racial landscape of sports in the South. But there is much more to this story than is commonly told. In Game Changers, Art Chansky reveals an intense saga of race, college sport, and small-town politics. At the center were two young men, Scott and Smith, both destined for greatness but struggling through challenges on and off the court, among them the storms of civil rights protest and the painfully slow integration of a Chapel Hill far less progressive than its reputation today might suggest. Drawing on extensive personal interviews and a variety of other sources, Chansky takes readers beyond the basketball court to highlight the community that supported Smith and Scott during these demanding years, from assistant basketball coach John Lotz and influential pastor the Reverend Robert Seymour to pioneering African American mayor Howard Lee. Dispelling many myths that surround this period, Chansky nevertheless offers an ultimately triumphant portrait of a student-athlete and coach who ensured the University of North Carolina would never be the same.




One Fantastic Ride


Book Description

One Fantastic Ride is a behind-the-scenes portrait of the unforgettable journey to the University of North Carolina's 2009 basketball national championship, the program's fifth NCAA Tournament title. Adam Lucas, Steve Kirschner, and Matt Bowers were with the Tar Heels every step of the way, interviewing coaches, players, and staff. As the 2008-09 season opened, national pundits widely considered the Tar Heels the hands-down favorite to win the title. But injuries to key players, surprising midseason losses, and formidable ACC competition made the ride bumpier than expected. In the crucial last month of the season, however, a veteran team drew on their experience--and subtle adjustments by coaches and players--to achieve the goal they'd set for themselves after their disappointing defeat in the 2008 Final Four. More than just a season-in-the-life of a perennially excellent program, this book captures the crowning achievement of a senior class that exemplified the proud tradition of Carolina Basketball, both on and off the court. They became the most decorated class in UNC Basketball history while enjoying every aspect of their Tar Heel experience. With "Thoughts for the Day" taken directly from Carolina Basketball practice plans and more than 200 color photographs, this book is a unique keepsake for fans everywhere. Full of insights from players and coaches, One Fantastic Ride takes an intimate look at how the Tar Heels pulled it all together to come out on top.




More Than a Game


Book Description




What it Means to be a Tar Heel


Book Description

Taking a decade-by-decade approach to the University of North Carolina basketball tradition, this collection brings together over 40 stories from the most outstanding voices of the program. The spirit of Tar Heels basketball is not captured by just one phrase, one season, or one particular game; instead, the student-athletes and coaches who made the magic happen over the decades blend their experiences to capture the true essence of their beloved school. Tar Heels fans will relish the intimate stories told by the figures they have come to cherish.




The Road to Madness


Book Description

The NCAA men's basketball tournament is one of the iconic events in American sports. In this fast-paced, in-depth account, J. Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts identify the 1973–74 season as pivotal in the making of this now legendary postseason tournament. In an era when only one team per conference could compete, the dramatic defeat of coach John Wooden's UCLA Bruins by the North Carolina State Wolfpack ended a decade of the Bruins' dominance, fueled unprecedented national attention, and prompted the NCAA to expand the tournament field to a wider range of teams. Walker and Roberts provide a richly detailed chronicle of the games that made the season so memorable and uncover the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that set the stage for the celebrated spectacle that now fixes the nation's attention every March.




ACC Basketball


Book Description

Since the inception of the Atlantic Coast Conference, intense rivalries, legendary coaches, gifted players, and fervent fans have come to define the league's basketball history. In ACC Basketball, J. Samuel Walker traces the traditions and the dram




Four Corners


Book Description

Explores the mania for college basketball in North Carolina, tracing the history of the state's top four teams over the past fifty years and profiling the professional giants to come from them.




Cheated


Book Description

In 2010 allegations of an utterly corrupt academic system for student-athletes emerged at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, home of the legendary Tar Heels. Written by UNC professor of history Jay Smith and UNC athletics department whistleblower Mary Willingham, Cheated recounts the story of academic fraud in UNC’s athletics department, even as university leaders focused on minimizing the damage in order to keep the billion-dollar college sports revenue machine functioning. Smith and Willingham make an impassioned argument that the “student-athletes” in these programs are being cheated out of what, after all, they are promised in the first place: a college education. Updated with a new epilogue, the paperback edition of Cheated carries the narrative through the defining events of 2017, including the landmark Wainstein report, the findings of which UNC leaders initially embraced only to push aside in an audacious strategy of denial with the NCAA, ultimately even escaping punishment for offering sham coursework. The ongoing fallout from this scandal—and the continuing spotlight on the failings of college athletics, which are hardly unique to UNC—has continued to inform the debate about how the $16 billion college sports industry operates and influences colleges and universities nationwide.