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.
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.
Davis recounts the dramatic story of how two legendary players--Earvin Magic Johnson and Larry Bird--burst on the scene in a 1979 NCAA championship that gave birth to modern basketball.
#1 New York Times bestselling author John Feinstein returns to his first love--college basketball--with a fascinating and compelling journey through a landscape of unsung, unpublicized and often unknown heroes of Division-1 college hoops. John Feinstein pulls back the curtain on college basketball's lesser-known Cinderella stories--the smaller programs who no one expects to win, who have no chance of attracting the most coveted high school recruits. To tell this story, Feinstein follows a handful of players, coaches, and schools who dream, not of winning the NCAA tournament, but of making it past their first or second round games. Every once in a while, one of these coaches or players is plucked from obscurity to lead a major team or to play professionally, cementing their status in these fiercely passionate fan bases as a legend. These are the gifted players who aren't handled with kid gloves--they're hardworking, gritty teammates who practice and party with everyone else. With his trademark humor and invaluable connections, John Feinstein reveals the big time programs you've never heard of, the bracket busters you didn't expect to cheer for, and the coaches who inspire them to take their teams to the next level.
Many call it the biggest upset in sports history. Bigger than the Jets over the Colts in Super Bowl III. Bigger than the U.S. hockey team's "Miracle on Ice" win over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics. Bigger than Buster Douglas's stunning KO of Mike Tyson 10 years later. When little-known UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) takes the floor against mighty Virginia in the first round of the 2018 NCAA men's basketball tournament, the whole world knows the Retrievers will lose. They're 20 1/2-point underdogs. ESPN's Power Basketball Index gives them a 1.5 per cent chance of winning. They're a lowly 16-seed going against the overall no. 1-seed. And a 16 has never beaten a 1. Never, ever. Yet on a magical weekend in Charlotte, N.C., the odds go up in flames. March Madness hits a whole new level. This is the dramatic story of the singular team that made bracket-busting history and thrilled a nation, and the school that headline writers and social media pundits were now calling - devoid of irony - "U MUST BE CINDERELLA!"
From the time conference play began in 1905, the Big Ten was the Western force in collegiate basketball. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue were the first powers in the league, with a combined 23 titles by 1930. Purdue was dominant in the '30s, with seven titles under Coach Piggy Lambert, including a national title in 1935 led by player of the year John Wooden. The creation of a national tournament in 1939 showed the league's early dominance, as a different Big Ten team went to the Final Four in each of the first three years, with two wins. Over the next 30 years, the league produced some of the top teams in the country, led by Hall of Fame coaches like Branch McCracken, Walter Meanwell, Dutch Lonborg, Harold Olsen and Fred Taylor. Top players emerged from the conference, like Jerry Lucas, Cazzie Russell, John Havlicek, Terry Dischinger, Walt Bellamy, Johnny Green, Lou Hudson, Archie Clark and a host of others. This book provides the first-ever basketball history of the Big Ten.
"Nothing in basketball beats Hoosier Hysteria, and this true-life Cinderella story of the 1954 Milan Indians has it all--courage, heart, suspense, and triumph. Greg Guffey brings the team and its championship odyssey to life again in this action-packed book. A great read " --Digger Phelps With the release of the movie Hoosiers starring Gene Hackman, the whole world discovered the "Milan Miracle." The true story of the Milan miracle is even better, and Greg Guffey tells it here in graphic and gripping detail. Here we get to know the real Coach Marvin Wood and the remarkable group of high school players who defeated mighty Muncie Central. In his new introduction, Guffey talks about the switch to class basketball in Indiana and the legacy of this story for the town and for the legendary team.
Sports are unpredictable. They?re wacky. They can be totally off-the-wall! This title highlights some of the most memorable tales and traditions from sports history and is brought to life with exciting detail. Informative sidebars offer even more stories. You can also find a glossary, additional resources, and more! This title is a must-read for any sports fan. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. SportsZone is an imprint of ABDO Publishing Company.
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.