With another college basketball season winding down, I’d like to mention a few basketball books I’ve been reading these past 2 months.
Last Dance: Behind The Scenes At The Final Four by John Feinstein. The Final Four in question was the 2005 edition at Edward Jones Dome in Saint Louis. The book takes us from Selection Sunday on March 13 and naturally concludes with North Carolina’s victory over Illinois in the nation championship game on April 4. The book also provides a lot of exciting stories from March Madness of years past.
The Legends Club by John Feinstein. The book is 3 biographies for the price of 1: biographies of North Carolina coach Dean Smith, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina State coach Jimmy Valvano. It makes you pity Wake Forest for not having a coach in the 80’s as awesome as the other 3 North Carolina ACC schools had.
The Last Great Game: Duke VS. Kentucky And The 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball by Gene Wojciechowski. The book is a combined biography of the key players in that legendary Duke-Kentucky Elite 8 game played in Philadelpha in March of ‘92. Of course the book details the events of the game in exstensive detail.
Don’t Put Me In Coach by Mark Titus. Titus was a walk-on basketball player at Ohio State from the fall of 2006 to the Spring of 2010. Titus realizes very quickly that he will never be a star Buckeye so he devotes his 4 years in Columbus to having as much fun as possible. Titus becomes nationally famous for inventing The Trillions Club. “Trillions” refers to a statistic a player receives for doing absolutely nothing when they are on the court: no points, no rebounds, no assists, no nothing.
Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, And The Youth Basketball Machine by George Dohrmann. The coach is AAU’s Joe Keller and his star recruit is Demetrius Walker. Walker is hailed by Sports Illustrated as “The Next Lebron” and is soon labeled a bust before he even finishes his first year of high school. Walker never fufilled the “next Lebron” prophecy but at least played 4 years of college b-ball (at 3 different schools). While many involved with AAU basketball are altruistic and kind -hearted, Play Their Hearts Out doesn’t flinch at showing us how youth basketball prodigies are exploited by ambitious coaches, distracted parents and the 3 biggest villains of all: Nike, Adidas and Reebok
With another college basketball season winding down, I’d like to mention a few basketball books I’ve been reading these past 2 months.
Last Dance: Behind The Scenes At The Final Four by John Feinstein. The Final Four in question was the 2005 edition at Edward Jones Dome in Saint Louis. The book takes us from Selection Sunday on March 13 and naturally concludes with North Carolina’s victory over Illinois in the nation championship game on April 4. The book also provides a lot of exciting stories from March Madness of years past.
The Legends Club by John Feinstein. The book is 3 biographies for the price of 1: biographies of North Carolina coach Dean Smith, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina State coach Jimmy Valvano. It makes you pity Wake Forest for not having a coach in the 80’s as awesome as the other 3 North Carolina ACC schools had.
The Last Great Game: Duke VS. Kentucky And The 2.1 Seconds That Changed Basketball by Gene Wojciechowski. The book is a combined biography of the key players in that legendary Duke-Kentucky Elite 8 game played in Philadelpha in March of ‘92. Of course the book details the events of the game in exstensive detail.
Don’t Put Me In Coach by Mark Titus. Titus was a walk-on basketball player at Ohio State from the fall of 2006 to the Spring of 2010. Titus realizes very quickly that he will never be a star Buckeye so he devotes his 4 years in Columbus to having as much fun as possible. Titus becomes nationally famous for inventing The Trillions Club. “Trillions” refers to a statistic a player receives for doing absolutely nothing when they are on the court: no points, no rebounds, no assists, no nothing.
Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, And The Youth Basketball Machine by George Dohrmann. The coach is AAU’s Joe Keller and his star recruit is Demetrius Walker. Walker is hailed by Sports Illustrated as “The Next Lebron” and is soon labeled a bust before he even finishes his first year of high school. Walker never fufilled the “next Lebron” prophecy but at least played 4 years of college b-ball (at 3 different schools). While many involved with AAU basketball are altruistic and kind -hearted, Play Their Hearts Out doesn’t flinch at showing us how youth basketball prodigies are exploited by ambitious coaches, distracted parents and the 3 biggest villains of all: Nike, Adidas and Reebok
No, Mr. Bunker, "this here" is justice