After a successful debut that was called "insistently readable" and "consistently eye-opening" by FreeDarko, the Pro Basketball Prospectus series returns for 2010-11. Basketball Prospectus has been at the cutting edge of the NBA's statistical revolution, exploring how teams win and why as well as integrating plenty of old-fashioned tape and first-hand observation to analyze players and teams.

Bones, Dean and Me is the story of a boy who was recruited to play college basketball by Dean Smith of North Carolina and by Bones McKinney of Wake Forest during the formative years of Coach Smith and the concluding years of Coach McKinney. At the same time the athlete is pursued by the Morehead Scholarship Committee at UNC. He first accepts the Morehead scholarship and signs an Athletic Grant-In-Aid with Coach Smith only to "flee" to Wake Forest at the last minute because of a multitude of life's challenges. In North Carolina his path was crossed by Billy Cunningham, Larry Brown and a host of Tarheel greats. He transferred to Wake Forest and played with Brian Piccalo and for Wake Forest during the 1965, 1966 and 1967 seasons. The question is posed within, "why would any sensible young man eschew Coach Smith and the Morehead Scholarship (one of the nation's elite awards) and an opportunity to play in the Final Four in favor of playing with Wake Forest?" The second half of the book involves stories along "tobacco road" playing Division I basketball not only in the ACC but also at Ohio State, Purdue, Cincinnati and at many venues such as the Palestra, Cameron Indoor and St. John arena. It is believed that this is a story never told; i.e. the story of an atypical recruit at a time in America just before integration and just as big time college basketball became "big time."

Chris Ballard sits down with the NBA's most passionate, cerebral players to discover their tricks of the trade and to learn what drives them. He reveals the roots of Kobe Bryant's limitless competitiveness; shadows LeBron James to figure out how he deploys his prodigious talent; and challenges Steve Kerr to a three-point shootout to analyze the mind-set of a pure shooter. Ballard tracks down renowned dunkers to explore the slam's impact on today's game, follows Shane Battier during his extensive pregame preparations, gets pointers from a free-throw shooting guru who once hit 2,750 in a row, and attends an elite NBA training camp to experience the pain that turns a prospect into a pro. Packed with fascinating characters and startling anecdotes, and grounded in the superb writing and the reportage that is the hallmark of Sports Illustrated, The Art of a Beautiful Game is an often witty, always insightful look at the men like Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Dirk Nowitzki who devote themselves to this elegant and complicated sport. It's an inside read on the game that will surprise even diehard fans.

The book, Basketball and Baseball Games: for the driveway, field or alleyway, is an interactive book for all those who enjoy getting outside with friends, families or neighbors and enjoying a fun-filled game of basketball or baseball. Whether at your portable or garage hoop, down at the park, court or back in the alley. What makes the book unique is that it contains a variety of original and beloved games for fewer players of 1 to 10. It includes basketball trivia and space to create your own games! Basketball and Baseball Games is the perfect gift for any age young person or the young at heart.

The Butler Bulldogs advanced to the NCAA National Championship basketball game against Duke University upon defeating Michigan State on April 3, 2010. With only 4,500 students, Butler was the smallest school to play for a national championship since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Coached by Brad Stevens just three years into his position as head basketball coach the undefeated Bulldogs were a hometown team, playing before a hometown crowd on the national stage. Two days later, Butler lost narrowly to Duke, 61 59, but their run for the championship had become a national phenomenon. From her vantage point as a Butler professor, acclaimed writer Susan Neville observed (and participated in) Hoosier Hysteria firsthand. In Butler's Big Dance, she intertwines her recollections of the events with interviews, anecdotes, and photographs to bring readers a taste of the on-campus and courtside excitement of the Bulldogs David-and-Goliath bid for the national title."

A guide for volunteer basketball coaches - especially those coaching girls in 4th - 8th grades - provides an easy to follow approach to coaching and managing your team. You'll gain confidence in your approach to practices and games; and you'll enjoy watching your players improve. Coach Michael O'Halloran, father of four daughters, shares his key learnings from coaching 14 different basketball teams. His ""Never Forget They're Kids"" approach to coaching places an emphasis on learning, having fun and creating memorable experiences for players. You'll learn tips on how to plan the season, how to orchestrate your first meeting with parents and players, and how to plan for practices. Other topics covered include: defensive and offensive teaching points, rebounding know-how, plays, teaching shooting, a driveway workout for players, your approach on the bench, and how to keep players engaged over the course of the season. http: //stores.lulu.com/wellpreparedcoach

Tony Hinkle was the man who shaped Butler University's athletic tradition. He served the institution for nearly half a century as a teacher, coach, and athletic administrator. A Hoosier legend, Hinkle worked from 1934 to 1970 as Butler's head coach of basketball, baseball, and football. But it was for basketball that he gained the most fame, creating the Hinkle System a disciplined, high motion offense which countless other coaches have emulated. Hinkle s 560 career wins rank him among the NCAA's all-time winningest basketball coaches and his 41 years of coaching service rank sixth on the NCAA's all-time list behind legendary greats such as Phog Allen of Kansas, Ed Diddle of Western Kentucky, and Ray Meyer of DePaul. Based on numerous interviews with Hinkle and his players and associates, Tony Hinkle: Coach for All Seasons is an absorbing account of the life of a remarkable figure in the world of sport."

Includes new chapter on the surprising 2009-2010 season

The inside story of how one of the most successful college basketball programs in the nation was built

The 2009-10 NCAA college basketball season marked the 100th anniversary of North Carolina basketball. The UNC Tar Heels have won two NCAA championships since 2005, and own more victories over the last half-century than any other college team.

But it wasn't always that way.

For most of the first 50 years the team existed at UNC, the sport was an afterthought. But that all changed in 1952 with the arrival of Frank McGuire. When Roy Williams and the Tar Heels won the 2005 and 2009 national championships, they could thank Frank McGuire and his protege, Dean Smith, for starting the tradition of triumph. Art Chansky, who has covered UNC basketball for more than 30 years, constructs an intimate narrative of how three dramatically different coaches built the longest-lasting dynasty in college basketball.

The banners of those teams hang in the rafters today, warming the hearts of all those who have worshipped UNC's Light Blue Reign over the last fifty years--and counting. Part history, part centennial celebration, "Light Blue Reign "is not simply about one team's victories--it's about the dedication, passion, and love for a sport that players and fans of any loyalty will understand.

Chris O'Connell's teams have often displayed a firm grasp of basketball fundamentals. This book will give players, coaches, and parents a look into the making of a good basketball player and effective basketball play. We hope you can use this book to improve your ability to develop basketball skills.

Alaska Hoops, Coaching Tips and Tales from the Girls' Locker Room is a lighthearted collection of true Alaska basketball stories. Author Becky Crabtree remembers her experiences coaching and offers practical tips on the game and life

The definitive biography of basketball genius Julius Erving--the icon who transcended his sport and defined an era

Julius Erving, aka Dr. J, was a wizard with the basketball, performing feats the world had never seen before: midair spins and whirls punctuated by powerful slam dunks, which he was the first to glamorize. In a career that lasted from the 1970s well into the 1980s, he was one of the first players to make extemporaneous individual expression an integral part of the game, setting the style of play that has prevailed ever since. He's also long been respected as a gracious, dignified, and disciplined man. As there are great men of history, there are great men of sports, and Dr. J is just such a man.

This book tells Dr. J's amazing story, following his basketball journey from his Long Island childhood to the street games of New York City to a college career as his skills, reputation, and character grew. It follows his entrance into the ABA, where he revolutionized the game by glamorizing the dunk, and his conquering of the NBA, where he was Michael Jordan before there was a Jordan. It relates the family struggles he's had since leaving the game and charts the transformation of the man into myth.The first complete biography of one of the greatest and most popular basketball players of all timeDraws on interviews with Dr. J's childhood friends and his family to teammates and coaches at all levelsWritten by a "New York Times" sports journalist and author of "Asphalt Gods: An Oral History of the Rucker Tournament"Includes Erving's years as a player with the Virginia Squires, New York Nets, and Philadelphia 76ers

Read "Doc" and follow the incredible journey of the basketball genius who elevated the game off the hardwood and helped make it America's passion.

Coaches: Win more games by teaching your players the fundamental skills, intangibles and finer points of the game that other coaches don't know. Help your players eliminate costly turnovers by learning to read the defense, score more points by fine tuning your fast break and improve your offensive attack skills. Players: Take your game to another level by learning the skills and details of the game the elite players know. Learn how character issues can impact a player either positively or negatively. Gain insight into the minds of coaches and learn to think like a coach on the court. Fans: Have a deeper appreciation of the game beyond just recognizing the type of defense or offense being used. Impress your fellow basketball fans with your knowledge of the finer points of the sport and become a true connoisseur of the game of basketball. "There has never been a book before for coaches, players and fans like The Game of Basketball. For the coach, this book is about moving a player's game to a higher level. For the player, the information in this book can make the difference between being an average player and a good player or even a great player. For the fan who wants to appreciate the sport and the nuances of the game, this book provides many of tiny details the average fan is never aware of." Rusty Rogers - 2 Time NAIA Div. II National Championship Coach and 2 Time National NAIA Coach of the Year "Once again Kevin Sivils has produced a book that ought to be in every coach's library. Too often, we fall into the trap of thinking that Xs and Os are the holy grail, but Coach Sivils reminds us of the truth articulated by John Wooden over 50 years ago, "It's not what you do, it's how well you do it." I've never seen a better compilation of the little things that can turn a basketball player into a "Player." Coach Doug Porter - Head Coach Olivet Nazarene University Women's Basketball - 8 Time Coach of the Year

The game of basketball has gone global and is now the world's fastest-growing sport. Talented players from Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa are literally crashing the borders as the level of their game now often equals that of the American pros, who no longer are sure winners in international competition and who must compete with foreign players for coveted spots on NBA rosters. Yet that refreshing world outlook stands in stark contrast to the game's troubled image here at home. The concept of team play in the NBA has declined as, in the aftermath of the Michael Jordan phenomenon, the league's marketers and television promoters have placed a premium on hyping individual stars instead of teams, and the players have come to see that big-buck contracts and endorsements come to those who selfishly demand the spotlight for themselves.

Even worse, relations between players and fans are at a low ebb. Players are perceived to be overpaid, ill-behaved, and arrogant. Fans, paying hundreds of dollars for tickets, often act boorishly and tauntingly. This tension boiled over on the night of November 19, 2004, at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan, during a Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game, when players brawled with fans as much as each other in what was, in fact, a racial skirmish. When the Pacer players entered the stands throwing punches, they had truly smashed an altogether different kind of border.

In the aftermath of that sorry spectacle, regular-season television ratings declined for NBA games. Playoff-game ratings plummeted. Sales in NBA-licensing products sagged by a reported 30 percent. For the millions of Americans who cherish basketball, the love affair has reached a stateof crisis.

Few people care as deeply and know as much about basketball as Harvey Araton, the highly literate and well-traveled sports columnist for "The New York Times." For many a season, Araton has observed "the ballers," as the players call themselves, at college tournaments, the NBA, and the Olympics. He has enjoyed a pressbox seat while watching the great 1980s rivalries of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the transcendent career of Michael Jordan, and the slow unraveling of the game through the 1990s until the present season, as newly arrived players and league officials misunderstood and misapplied the mixed lessons of Jordan's legacy. Calling on his many years of watching games, of locker-room interviews, of world-hopping reportage, Araton takes us to scenes of vivid play on the court and to off-camera dramas as well.

In this taut, simmering book, the author points his finger at the greed and exploitation that has weakened the American game. And with uncommon journalistic courage, he opens a discussion on the volatile, undiscussed subject that lies at the heart of basketball's crisis: race. It begins, he argues, at the college level, where, too often, undereducated, inner-city talents are expected to perform for the benefit of affluent white crowds and to fill the coffers of their respective schools in what Araton calls a kind of "modern-day minstrel show." It continues at the pro level, where marketers have determined that "gangsta" imagery provides for a livelier entertainment package, never mind the effect it has on the quality of team play. And where, moreover, players themselves, often both street smart and immature, decide to live up to the thuggish stereotypes.

HarveyAraton knows the players well enough to see beyond the stereotypes. He knows that for every clownish Dennis Rodman there is also an admirable David Robinson. For every Ron Artest, there is a Tim Duncan. Combining passion and knowledge, he calls on the NBA to heal itself and, with a hopeful sense of the possible, he points the way to a better future.

Unflinching, timely, and authoritative, "Crashing the Borders" is the beginning of a much-needed conversation about sport and American culture. For those who care about both, this book will be the must-read work of the season.

The Butler Way opens with a discussion of the Butler Way. Barry Collier, a former Butler player, was hired as coach in 1989 and slowly rebuilt a program that has declined since the days of Tony Hinkle. Collier emphasized the Butler way which featured team play. Fans will also be pleased to read about the famed Hinkle Fieldhouse, the greatest coaches, teams, players, and great moments in the storied history of Butler basketball.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

In the mid-1950s three unrecruited black basketball players, coached by a white former prison guard who had never before coached a college team, led a small Jesuit university in San Francisco to two national titles. "The Dandy Dons" describes for the first time how the unprecedented accomplishment of the Dons, led by coach Phil Woolpert and future hall-of-famers Bill Russell and K. C. Jones, paved the way for black talent in major college basketball and transformed the sport.
James W. Johnson traces the backgrounds of the coach and players, chronicles the heart-stopping games on the road to the championships, and details the Dons' novel techniques: a more vertical game, more central defense, and intimidation as part of game strategy. He also gives a textured picture of life on an integrated basketball team amid a culture of racism and Jim Crow in mid-twentieth-century America.

It was love at first sight . . . One day I picked up a basketball, and it never let me go.

For fifty seasons Lute Olson has been teaching young athletes the skills of basketball---and life. Starting as a high school coach, he worked his way to the top of the basketball world---winning more than a thousand games, a national championship and world championship, producing some of the NBA's biggest stars, and eventually being enshrined in the basketball Hall of Fame.

But Lute is far more than a basketball story. His partner for forty-seven years in building championship programs was his high school sweetheart; his story is also a love story of a couple who together built a sports legend. Lute and Bobbi Olson were a team. Their almost half-century love affair ended with Bobbi's death from cancer. Lute explores how he dealt with her death and how he moved forward to find a new love.

This is the chronicle of one American boy's dream to become a great basketball coach---his achievements, his coaching strategies, and how he dealt with his beloved wife's death---the wins and losses he faced as boy, man, and coach. But always with one constant in his life, the game of basketball. This is the story of fifty seasons in the life of Lute Olson.

Praise for "Lute!"

"Lute Olson's story is the true American dream. He is a legendary coach who has shared his vision of winning with all his players---now we are given the chance to learn too. It's inspirational and downright heartwarming." ---Jim Nantz, CBS Sports

." . . it is exactly what you would expect from Olson---intelligent, first-class, sprinkled with dry wit---personal in ways you might not anticipate."

---"Tucson""Citizen"

"This is not a basketball book. It is not a book about a coach. It is the most unexpected of all things from the inscrutable Olson: the story of his personal life." ---"Arizona"" Daily Star"