Madness: The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals

by Mark Mehler, Charles Paikert

Overview

The annual NCAA Basketball Tournament, which has become known as “March Madness” has emerged as a major sports event, matched only by the Super Bowl and the Olympics. In Madness, Mark Mehler and Charles Paikert tell the stories behind the ten most compelling and memorable championship games in tournament history, from North Carolina’s triple-overtime victory over Wilt Chamberlain’s Kansas Wildcats in 1957 to Duke’s heart stopping victory over underdog Butler in 2010. As a bonus, five more games that just missed the cut are also examined. Madness goes beyond the games to tell the the backstories of these classics, each entirely unique unto itself. For example, Jim Valvano taking his impossible dream of a national title and making it come true for the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack; Rollie Massimino turning spaghetti and clam sauce into inspiration for his underachieving 1985 Villanova team; and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, breaking down in tears while taking a Broadway curtain call in front of a wildly-applauding audience who two hours earlier didn't know who these two guys were decades after their head-to-head matchup in 1979. Some of these stories also resonate far beyond the basketball court, including the 1966 triumph by the Texas Western Miners, which helped chisel away the college basketball color line and stamped their victory as "Glory Road." Over sixty years of college basketball history is brought to life in this must-have for all basketball fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613219942
Publisher:	Sports Publishing LLC
Publication date:	02/13/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Mark Mehler is a veteran journalist whose work has appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines including the New York Times and the Village Voice. He lives in Jackson Heights, New York.

Charles Paikert is a journalist based in New York City. He wrote the text for the history of professional basketball exhibit in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and has written about basketball for Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and the Village Voice. He resides in South Orange, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction-Why We Care vii

Chapter 1 The Hunters: Duke vs. Butler, 2010 1

Chapter 2 The Improbable Game: Michigan vs. Seton Hall, 1989 23

Chapter 3 A Perfect Game from an Imperfect Team: Villanova vs. Georgetown, 1985 43

Chapter 4 Hope Is a Thing with Leather (or Rubber): North Carolina State vs. Houston, 1983 65

Chapter 5 Dean, Redeemed: North Carolina vs. Georgetown, 1982 89

Chapter 6 Too Much, the Magic/Bird Show: Michigan State vs. Indiana State, 1979 109

Chapter 7 The Wiz Waves Goodbye: UCLA vs. Kentucky, 1975 133

Chapter 8 What Price, Glory?: Texas Western vs. Kentucky, 1966 155

Chapter 9 The Contrast Contest: Loyola vs. Cincinnati, 1963 177

Chapter 10 The Slickers vs. the Hicks… and Wilt: North Carolina vs. Kansas, 1957 199

Chapter 11 The Consolation Games (2016, 2008, 2003, 1993, and 1987) 223

Sources 231

Index 237

Editorial Reviews

12/11/2017
In this enjoyable guide, journalists Mehler and Paikert select what they consider to be the NCAA basketball tournament’s top-10 final games. The authors interview players and coaches and explore the tournament’s history and how it has evolved. For example, Loyola’s march to its 1963 championship was racially charged: the all-white Mississippi State team snuck into its game with integrated Loyola against the wishes of Mississippi state politicians. Just over a decade later, the 1979 final featuring Larry Bird, playing for Indiana State, and Magic Johnson, from Michigan State, set the stage for the NBA’s rise in the 1980s. In 2010, millions of TV viewers watched as perennial champions Duke battled upstart Butler, in what “would have been considered by many the greatest upset in NCAA finals history.” Many of the anecdotes may be common knowledge to serious hoops fans, and some of the descriptions are simply unwieldy (“The story was related to us by a reliable Kansas source on the Yucatan Peninsula, where an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, paving the way for the invention of basketball”). Those shortcomings aside, the narrative’s pace is brisk and the stories are entertaining. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Well researched and very engaging; hoops fans will absolutely love it.”—Booklist

"Madness is for basketball lovers everywhere. Paikert and Mehler put you right in the middle of all the sneaker-squeaking, elbow-throwing, spine-tingling action—and also give you the overview of how it all came to be and what it all means. An absolute delight."
—Kevin Baker, author of Becoming Mr. October, Paradise Alley, and America the Ingenious

"Madness is one of the best basketball books, college or pro, of the century.”
—Allen Barra, author of That's Not the Way It Was: (Almost) Everything They've Told You About Sports is Wrong and The Last Coach: A Life of Paul 'Bear' Bryant

"Madness is a great read for avid basketball fans. Mehler and Paikert tell the inside story of our wild ride to the championship game. I am proud to be a part of such an exceptional brotherhood and appreciate our story being shared so eloquently and truthfully.”
—Terry Mills, forward for the 1989 national champion Michigan Wolverines, 1986 Mr. Basketball of Michigan, and radio color analyst for University of Michigan basketball

“The narrative’s pace is brisk and the stories are entertaining.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Well researched and very engaging; hoops fans will absolutely love it.”—Booklist

"Madness is for basketball lovers everywhere. Paikert and Mehler put you right in the middle of all the sneaker-squeaking, elbow-throwing, spine-tingling action—and also give you the overview of how it all came to be and what it all means. An absolute delight."
—Kevin Baker, author of Becoming Mr. October, Paradise Alley, and America the Ingenious

"Madness is one of the best basketball books, college or pro, of the century.”
—Allen Barra, author of That's Not the Way It Was: (Almost) Everything They've Told You About Sports is Wrong and The Last Coach: A Life of Paul 'Bear' Bryant

"Madness is a great read for avid basketball fans. Mehler and Paikert tell the inside story of our wild ride to the championship game. I am proud to be a part of such an exceptional brotherhood and appreciate our story being shared so eloquently and truthfully.”
—Terry Mills, forward for the 1989 national champion Michigan Wolverines, 1986 Mr. Basketball of Michigan, and radio color analyst for University of Michigan basketball

“The narrative’s pace is brisk and the stories are entertaining.”
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher