Before the jump shot, basketball was an earth-bound game. In fact, inventor James Naismith did not originally intend for players to move with the ball. The inspired invention of the dribble first put the ball handler in motion. The jump shot then took the action upward. But where, when, and how did the jump shot originate? Everybody interested in basketball knows the answer to that question. Unfortunately, everybody knows a different answer. John Christgau delves into basketball's evolution, following the supposed inventors of the jump shot to the games in which they first took to the air. He discovers that a number of pioneer players, independently but from the same inspired possibility, can each claim credit for inventing the jump shot. John Christgau is the author of several books including Spoon, winner of the Society of Midland Authors Best Fiction Award. He played basketball for three years at San Francisco State University and was named to the All-Conference team twice.

Bill Reynolds built his youth around sports. As a boy in a blue-collar Rhode Island town, he spend his hours shooting hoops and dreaming of stardom. From his adolescence to high school fame to a scholarship at Brown University, Reynolds enjoyed the perks of athletic glory. But those days soon ended and the onetime star drifted between his past and an uncertain future. "Glory Days" is a warm, touching, and funny book about what happens when jocks grow older --about getting a life without losing touch with your dreams.

The charismatic basketball coach at the University of Connecticut reveals the victorious secrets behind his team's breathtaking journey to the 1999 NCAA Division I National Championship--and along the way shares his philosophy for winning.
It was one of those games that basketball fans will talk about for years. Here was the seemingly unbeatable Duke Blue Devils pitted against the first-time finalist Connecticut Huskies, and at stake was the ultimate crown: the National Championship. On that unforgettable night in St. Petersburg, Jim Calhoun and his amazing team wrote a new chapter in the storied history of the UConn Huskies program, putting the perfect exclamation point on a season to remember.
But behind the high drama that fateful night in Florida lay an even more fascinating tale of one man's rise to college basketball preeminence. In Dare to Dream, the Huskies iron-willed coach, Jim Calhoun, for the first time shares his own story about his inspirational family and the tragedies they faced; about his early successful years at Northeastern, where he began to compile the first half of a unique double (he's the only coach to have won at least 250 games at two different Division I schools); and about his assumption of ultimate responsibility at the sleeping giant in Storrs, Connecticut.
Along the way, Jim Calhoun paints fascinating portraits of the players who have done battle for him, and of the unsung heroes behind the scenes whose hard work and dedication to Connecticut basketball have kept the dream alive. In just thirteen years, Jim Calhoun has turned the Huskies into one of the leading basketball programs in the country, and in this moving, funny, and inspiring book, he takes us behind the scenes to show us just how he did it.

"From the Hardcover edition."

David G. Faucher shares his successful full-participation model of coaching youth basketball in this Baffled Parents Guide. Faucher, the head coach of the mens basketball team at Dartmouth College, covers creating good habits, offensive skills and defensive basics, dealing with parents, first aid and safety, and game rules.

In this charmingly honest book, Detroit Piston Grant Hill shares the wisdom and values imparted to him by his parents and speaks his mind on a variety of topics, showing how anyone--especially young people--can "change the game", on and off the court. Photos.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) has long been respected as the premier coaching organization of the sport, and its membership includes some of the most illustrious figures and foremost teachers in basketball history. "NABC Drill Book, Volume I" contains over 100 of the best drills for improving a team's offense and defense -- including improving transitions between the two. Included here are drills from the following great teachers of the game:

• Bob Knight
• Pete Newell
• John Wooden
• Mike Krzyzewski
• Roy Williams
• Tex Winter
• Dave Odom
• Rick Samuels
• Dick Davey
• Lute Olson
• Jerry Tarkanian
• Wimp Sanderson
• Jerry Krause
• Tubby Smith
• James Seward
• Denny Crum
• And Many More

As fire is to prairie or water to fish, so is basketball part of the natural environment in Indiana. Round ball, or Hoosier Hysteria is so much a part of the state s heritage that many people believe basketball was invented in Indiana. Naismith s game is a virtual religion in the state.
While everyone knows about the growth of basketball in high schools and in college, the story of Indiana s role in the development of professional basketball has not been told before. It is a fascinating, passionate, lively story of men who loved the game and were willing to play for nickels, of raucous fans, local heroes, and love of the game.
Growing out of an award-winning documentary, Pioneers of the Hardwood tells the story of the growth of professional basketball in Indiana in the good old barnstorming days. Gould covers the Indianapolis Em-Roes, the Fort Wayne Pistons (later the Detroit Pistons), the Indianapolis Kautskys, and the Indianapolis Olympians. He sets his story within the context of the times and also discusses some of the teams that the local heroes competed against, including the famous New York Celtics (the original Celtics) and the gifted Harlem Rens, the first all black professional team.
The book is based on extensive research as well as revealing interviews with former players John Wooden, collegiate all-American Ralph Beard, Pat Malaska, Frank Baird, and others. Indiana teams were frequently "world champions." The Fort Wayne Pistons dominated professional basketball for a number of years.

Pioneers of the Hardwood is an essential part of the story of the growth of professional basketball in the first half of this century. As Gould puts it, "Before stars such as Larry Bird or Oscar Robertson, before the high-priced basketball shoe advertisements, and before the success of the NBA, before the Indiana Pacers, the forefathers of professional basketball forged a remarkable legacy as unlikely and as magical as a last-second shot spells a championship. Under primitive conditions, these fabled sportsmen laid a hardwood foundation for others to follow." This is their story."

In Champions Again former UCLA star Keith Erickson revisits past players and follows today's Bruins through their 1994-95 season. Erickson gives an inside look at the talent, teamwork, and faith that made the UCLA Bruins champions again.

An irreverent, hilarious insider's look at big-time NCAA basketball, through the eyes of the nation's most famous benchwarmer and author of the popular blog ClubTrillion.com (3.6m visits ). Mark Titus holds the Ohio State record for career wins, and made it to the 2007 national championship game. You would think Titus would be all over the highlight reels. You'd be wrong.
In 2006, Mark Titus arrived on Ohio State's campus as a former high school basketball player who aspired to be an orthopedic surgeon. Somehow, he was added to the elite Buckeye basketball team, given a scholarship, and played alongside seven future NBA players on his way to setting the record for most individual career wins in Ohio State history. Think that's impressive? In four years, he scored a grand total of nine--yes, "nine"--points.
This book will give readers an uncensored and uproarious look inside an elite NCAA basketball program from Titus's unique perspective. In his four years at the end of the bench, Mark founded his wildly popular blog Club Trillion, became a hero to all guys picked last, and even got scouted by the Harlem Globetrotters. Mark Titus is not your average basketball star. This is a wild and completely true story of the most unlikely career in college basketball. A must-read for all fans of March Madness and college sports

One. Two. Three. That's as long as it took to sear the souls of a dozen young American men, thanks to the craziest, most controversial finish in the history of the Olympics-the 1972 gold-medal basketball contest between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's two superpowers at the time. The U.S. team, whose unbeaten Olympic streak dated back to when Adolf Hitler reigned over the Berlin Games, believed it had won the gold medal that September in Munich-not once, but twice. But it was the third time the final seconds were played that counted. What happened? The head of international basketball-flouting rules he himself had created-trotted onto the court and demanded twice that time be put back on the clock. A referee allowed an illegal substitution and an illegal free-throw shooter for the Soviets while calling a slew of late fouls on the U.S. players. The American players became the only Olympic athletes in the history of the games to refuse their medals. Of course, the 1972 Olympics are remembered primarily for a far graver matter, when eleven Israeli team members were killed by Palestinian terrorists, stunning the world and temporarily stopping the games. One American player, Tommy Burleson, had a gun to his head as the hostages were marched past him before their deaths. Through interviews with many of the American players and others, the author relates the horror of terrorism, the pain of losing the most controversial championship game in sports history to a hated rival, and the consequences of the players' decision to shun their Olympic medals to this day.

Known as the "Man in the Brown Suit" and the "Baron of the Bluegrass," Adolph Rupp (1901--1977) is a towering figure in the history of college athletics. In Adolph Rupp and the Rise of Kentucky Basketball, historian James Duane Bolin goes beyond the wins and losses to present the fullest account of Rupp's life to date based on more than one-hundred interviews with Rupp, his assistant coaches, former players, University of Kentucky presidents and faculty members, and his admirers and critics, as well as court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and other archival materials. His teams won four NCAA championships (1948, 1949, 1951, and 1958), the 1946 National Invitation Tournament title, and twenty-seven Southeastern Conference regular season titles. Rupp's influence on the game of college basketball and his impact on Kentucky culture are both much broader than his impressive record on the court. Bolin covers Rupp's early years -- from his rural upbringing in a German Mennonite family in Halstead, Kansas, through his undergraduate years at the University of Kansas playing on teams coached by Phog Allen and taking classes with James Naismith, the inventor of basketball -- to his success at Kentucky. This revealing portrait of a pivotal figure in American sports also exposes how college basketball changed, for better or worse, in the twentieth century.

When Hubert Davis was named head men's basketball coach at the University of North Carolina in April 2021, history had already been made, as Davis became the program's first Black head coach. But after two difficult seasons, it was hard to imagine how quickly a new staff, a new playing style, and a new roster blending established players with prominent transfers and talented freshmen would be able to change the story-except within the fabled Smith Center locker room and practice gyms, where photos of the New Orleans Superdome helped players and staff focus on the possible. In words and photos full of behind-the-scenes moments, this book reveals how belief in the program's rich traditions and in one another enabled the 2021-2022 Tar Heels to achieve what at times seemed impossible, writing a thrilling new chapter in the story of Carolina basketball. From Davis's remarkable work to build a new staff and roster to the ups and downs of the conference season to the amazing run through March to the pinnacle of the college game, the story takes fans through one of the most dramatic years in program history.

? Kate Fagan and her father forged their relationship on the basketball court, bonded by sweaty high fives and a dedication to the New York Knicks. But as Kate got older, her love of the sport and her closeness with her father grew complicated. The formerly inseparable pair drifted apart. The lessons that her father instilled in her about the game, and all her memories of sharing the court with him over the years, were a distant memory. When Chris Fagan was diagnosed with ALS, Kate decided that something had to change. Leaving a high-profile job at ESPN to be closer to her mother and father and take part in his care, Kate Fagan spent the last year of her father's life determined to return to him the kind of joy they once shared on the court. All the Colors Came Out is Kate Fagan's completely original reflection on the very specific bond that one father and daughter shared, forged in the love of a sport which over time came to mean so much more. Studded with unforgettable scenes of humor, pain and hope, Kate Fagan has written a book that plumbs the mysteries of the unique gifts fathers gives daughters, ones that resonate across time and circumstance.

From one of the most highly respected college coaches in the nation, the only book to show how to teach winning basketball plays to kids age 14 and under

Like no other, "The Baffled Parent's Guide to Great Basketball Plays" gives you a total playbook for coaching middle and junior-high schoolers through the ins and outs of on-the-court tactics. NCAA coach Fran Dunphy provides 75 winning plays complete with easy-to-follow instructions on how to execute each move for maximum scoring.

In a city mired in endless decay, where the youth suffer through all the horrors of urban blight, hope comes in a most unassuming form: a tiny brick schoolhouse run by two Felician nuns where a singular basketball genius takes teenagers from the mean streets of Jersey City and turns them into champions on the hardcourt. Coach Bob Hurley had been working miracles at St. Anthony High School for over thirty years, winning state and national championships and offering his players rescue from their surroundings through college scholarships, when he met his most dysfunctional team yet. In "The Miracle of St. Anthony" Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to these streets.

In "The Miracle of St. Anthony," acclaimed sports journalist Adrian Wojnarowski follows Hurley through a gripping and heartrending season, as he struggles to lead a troubled team to glory through his unparalleled understanding of the game and his ceaseless determination to see no more children lost to the city streets.
Acclaim for "The Miracle of St. Anthony: "
aIt takes two ingredients to make a book special: a great story and a great storyteller. "The Miracle of St. Anthony" has both. Bob Hurley is a remarkable coach; Adrian Wojnarowski is his equal as a writer.a
aJOHN FEINSTEIN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF "A SEASON ON THE BRINK"
aTakes you through this miracle season where this high school basketball team didnat have the greatest talent but somehow came out on top . . . [Coach Hurley] is dedicated to these city kids and helping them overcome the obstacles that the city can offer. A lot of his lessons are not about basketball, but about life, and doing things the right way.a
aBILL RAFTERY, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL"
aCompelling.a
a"Chicago Tribune"
aA classic.a
a"Boston Globe"
aAstonishinga
a"New York Post"
aHard to put down.a
a"The Washington Post"

Remembered in name but underappreciated in legacy, Forrest "Phog" Allen arguably influenced the game of basketball more than anyone else. In the first half of the twentieth century, Allen took basketball from a gentlemanly, indoor recreational pastime to the competitive game that would become a worldwide sport. Succeeding James Naismith as the University of Kansas's basketball coach in 1907, Allen led the Jayhawks for thirty-nine seasons and holds the record for most wins at that school, with 590. He also helped create the NCAA tournament and brought basketball to the Olympics. Allen changed the way the game is played, coached, marketed, and presented. Scott Morrow Johnson reveals Allen as a master recruiter, a transformative coach, and a visionary basketball mind. Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Wilt Chamberlain, and many others benefited from Allen's knowledge of and passion for the game. But Johnson also delves into Allen's occasionally tumultuous relationships with Naismith, the NCAA, and University of Kansas administrators. Phog: The Most Influential Man in Basketball chronicles this complex man's life, telling for the first time the full story of the man whose name is synonymous with Kansas basketball and with the game itself.

The New York Times bestseller Out of the greatest dynasty in American professional sports history, a Boston Celtics team led by Bill Russell and Bob Cousy, comes an intimate story of race, mortality, and regret About to turn ninety, Bob Cousy, the Hall of Fame Boston Celtics captain who led the team to its first six championships on an unparalleled run, has much to look back on in contentment. But he has one last piece of unfinished business. The last pass he hopes to throw is to close the circle with his great partner on those Celtic teams, fellow Hall of Famer Bill Russell. These teammates were basketball's Ruth and Gehrig, and Cooz, as everyone calls him, was famously ahead of his time as an NBA player in terms of race and civil rights. But as the decades passed, Cousy blamed himself for not having done enough, for not having understood the depth of prejudice Russell faced as an African-American star in a city with a fraught history regarding race. Cousy wishes he had defended Russell publicly, and that he had told him privately that he had his back. At this late hour, he confided to acclaimed historian Gary Pomerantz over the course of many interviews, he would like to make amends. At the heart of the story The Last Pass tells is the relationship between these two iconic athletes. The book is also in a way Bob Cousy's last testament on his complex and fascinating life. As a sports story alone it has few parallels: An poor kid whose immigrant French parents suffered a dysfunctional marriage, the young Cousy escaped to the New York City playgrounds, where he became an urban legend known as the Houdini of the Hardwood. The legend exploded nationally in 1950, his first year as a Celtic: he would be an all-star all 13 of his NBA seasons. But even as Cousy's on-court imagination and daring brought new attention to the pro game, the Celtics struggled until Coach Red Auerbach landed Russell in 1956. Cooz and Russ fit beautifully together on the court, and the Celtics dynasty was born. To Boston's white sportswriters it was Cousy's team, not Russell's, and as the civil rights movement took flight, and Russell became more publicly involved in it, there were some ugly repercussions in the community, more hurtful to Russell than Cousy feels he understood at the time. The Last Pass situates the Celtics dynasty against the full dramatic canvas of American life in the 50s and 60s. It is an enthralling portrait of the heart of this legendary team that throws open a window onto the wider world at a time of wrenching social change. Ultimately it is a book about the legacy of a life: what matters to us in the end, long after the arena lights have been turned off and we are alone with our memories. On August 22, 2019, Bob Cousy was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom

When Victoria Cape moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in the early 1970s, she had no idea that her desire to play basketball would change the game for women and the sport in Tennessee. Encouraged to sign up for basketball by her athletic father, Victoria was in for a shock: the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association endorsed an entirely different form of the game for high school women than the version of basketball commonly played around the country. Women played six-on-six basketball, in which offensive players stayed on one half of the court, and defensive players on the other half-defenders could spend their entire careers without taking a shot. Victoria Cape sued the TSSAA, and her lawsuit paved the way for women to play basketball by the same rules as men and served as an early test case of groundbreaking Title IX legislation. Further adding to the case's history-making precis was the presence of a young Pat Summitt, recently elevated to head coach of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, who bravely testified on behalf of Cape during the lawsuit. Full Court Press is a valuable addition to research on how individual initiative can bring about social change-in Tennessee, in the sporting world, and as a part of the broader struggle for women's equality. Written in a lighthearted and inspiring style, this book is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the many achievements of Pat Summitt, Tennessee women's basketball, or women's sports history in general.