Basketball's Biggest Upset


Book Description

Describes how the Texas Western College Miner basketball team, led by Don Haskins, won the NCAA championship in 1966.




The Greatest Upset Never Seen


Book Description

No one had really heard of Chaminade University--a tiny NAIA Catholic school in Honolulu with fewer than eight hundred undergraduates--until its basketball game against the University of Virginia on December 23, 1982. The Chaminade Silverswords defeated the Cavaliers, then the Division I, No. 1-ranked team in the nation, in what the Washington Post later called "the biggest upset in the history of college basketball." Virginia was the most heralded team in the country, led by seven?foot?four?inch, three?time College Basketball Player of the Year Ralph Sampson. They had just been paid $50,000--more than double Chaminade's annual basketball budget--to play an early season tournament in Tokyo and were making a "stopover" game in Hawaii on their way back to the mainland. The Silverswords, led by forward Tony Randolph, came back in the second half and won the game 77-72. Chaminade's incredible victory became known as the "Miracle on Ward Avenue" or simply "The Upset" in Hawaii and was featured in the national news. Never before in the history of college basketball had a school moved so dramatically and irretrievably into the nation's consciousness. The Silverswords' victory was more than just an upset; it was something considered impossible. And the team's wins over major college programs continued in the ensuing years. Today Chaminade is still referred to as "The Giant Killers"--the school that beat Ralph Sampson and Virginia. The Greatest Upset Never Seen relives the 1982-83 season, when Chaminade put small?college basketball and Hawaii on the national sports map.




Bracketology


Book Description

Lunardi delves into the early days of Bracketology, details its growth, and dispels the myths of the process The NCAA Tournament has become one of the most popular sports events in the country, consuming fans for weeks with the run to the Final Four and ultimately the crowning of the champion of college hoops.? Each March, millions of Americans fill out their bracket in the hopes of correctly predicting the future. Yet, there is no true Madness without the oft-debated question about what teams should be seeded where—from the Power-5 Blue Blood with some early season stumbles on their resume to the mid-major that rampaged through their less competitive conference season—and the inventor of Bracketology himself, Joe Lunardi, now reveals the mystery and science behind the legend. While going in depth on his ever-evolving predictive formula, Lunardi compares great teams from different eras with intriguing results, talks to the biggest names in college basketball about their perception of Bracketology (both good and bad), and looks ahead to the future of the sport and how Bracketology will help shape the conversation. This fascinating book is a must-read for college hoops fans and anyone who has aspired to win their yearly office pool.




Shoes of the Law A Basketball Story


Book Description

Jack Lawyer is a gifted athlete. Alan Dionne is not. They are friends because of shoes: Alan thinks they are the best he has ever worn, and Jack because the manufacturers pay him to play. To Alan, athletic competition is a noble endeavor; he believes in the Olympic Creed, and that the most important thing is the trying. To Jack, playing ball is a ticket out of his decaying mill town home, and the path to the riches of a professional career. They meet at a time when manufacturers of sporting equipment are beginning to funnel huge sums of money into amateur and collegiate sports, and this story chronicles both boy's (and later men's) trials through college and beyond. Is sport a noble endeavor in itself? Or, is it high-dollar entertainment? Can it realistically be both?




The Greatest Moments in Sports


Book Description

A fun and memorable read for parents and children alike, The Greatest Moments in Sports serves as the perfect introduction to the world of sports.




Sports Illustrated The College Basketball Book


Book Description

The history of college basketball is a tale of giants (Mikan, Russell, Alcindor), mammoth personalities (Wooden, Knight, Krzyzewski) and larger-than-life moments (N.C. State's upset in 1983, Laettner's shot in 1992 and, just last year, Butler's near-miss at a championship miracle). With over a half-century of experience covering the game, Sports Illustrated is uniquely positioned to tell that story, and in 256 super-sized pages, continuing in the tradition of its annual sport-specific coffee-table series, it has found just the right format to capture the enormously entertaining wonder of it all. Hall of Fame writers, including Frank Deford, Curry Kirkpatrick, Alexander Wolff and Gary Smith, have covered all the great back-door plays, morality plays and passion plays of perhaps our most emotional sport. They were there for North Carolina's triple overtime takedown of Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957, for Texas Western's historic upset of Kentucky in 1966 and for Villanova's brilliant upending of Georgetown in 1985. Having chronicled all the madness from the fall (Midnight) through the spring (March) year after year, SI's award-winning photographers have captured the indelible images of buzzer-beating shots, of court-storming celebrations and of some of the world's largest men bawling over heartbreaking defeats. Those memorable stories and pictures are presented here as never before in this magnificent, must-have book for any college hoops fan.




The Big Dance


Book Description

Covered by four networks, allowing every game to be televised, "March Madness" has become an American phenomenon. This is the story of the tournament, from its beginnings seventy-three years ago as an eight-team bracket to today's sixty-eight-team format--from Cinderella teams, to perennial powerhouses, to buzzer-beaters, upsets, and dynasties.




The Capital of Basketball


Book Description

Washington DC isn't celebrated for basketball. But the Washington area stands second to none in its contributions to the game. Countless figures who have had a significant impact on the sport over the years have roots in the region, including E.B. Henderson, the first African-American certified to teach physical education in public schools in the United States and Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to take the court in an actual NBA game. The District of Columbia's Spingarn High School produced two players - Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing - that are recognized among the NBA's 50 greatest at the League's 50th anniversary celebration. No other high school in the country can make that claim. These figures and many others who have been a part of Washington's basketball past are chronicled in this book, the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams and accomplishments in the DC metropolitan area. Based on more than 150 interviews, The Capital of Basketball is first and foremost a book about basketball. But in discussing the trends and evolution of the game, the books also uncovers the turmoil in the lives of the players and area residents as they dealt with issues such as prejudice, education, politics, and the ways the area has changed through the years.




Basketball


Book Description

It is true, they don't make things the way they used to, they don't do things the way they used to, and the times are not what they used to be. This book is a journey back to the days of my early childhood through high school. What was like to be raised in Indiana basketball country? It was an exciting time with over 700 high school teams from every corner of the state of Indiana competing each year in a single elimination tournament for the Indiana State Basketball Championship. One small school triumphed in a miracle over the great odds against them. It is still for me to imagine what those hundreds of Indiana basketball heroes experienced by having family, friends, classmates, cheerleaders, teachers, community fans for all kinds of reasons, even stranger bystanders, cheering and shouting them on with encouragement. (www.garyleesmith.com)




Great Teams in College Basketball History


Book Description

What are greatest teams in college basketball and what made them stand out? Learn statistics about players and the records of unstoppable teams. Discover how players came together to beat their opponents. Read about changes that were constantly being made to keep up with the growing sport. From talented players to dynamic coaches, this book spans 40 years to find the best in college basketball history.