In MIRACLES ON THE HARDWOOD, author John Gasaway traces the rise of Catholic college basketball - from its early days (Villanova made an appearance in the Final Four in the first NCAA tournament in 1939) to the dominance of the San Franciso Dons in the 1950s and the ascendance of powerhouses Georgetown, Villanova, and Gonzaga-through their decades-long rivalries and championship games. Featuring interviews with notable coaches, players, alums, and fans -- including Loyola Chicago's most famous and dedicated fan, 99-year-old Sister Jean -- to get at the heart of what makes these universities excel at this sport. Small in number but devout in the game's spirit, these teams have made the miraculous a matter of ritual, and their greatest works may be yet to come.

The definitive biography of the basketball legend Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, from the author of Michael Jordan: the Life. Magic Johnson is one of the most beloved, and also controversial, athletes in history. He lifted the dowdy sport of American pro basketball into the global spotlight, a transformation driven by his ability to eviscerate opponents with a grand sense of fun. He was a master entertainer who directed basketball to the heights of both glory and epic excess, all of it driven by his mind-blowing no-look passes and personal charm. At the charismatic height of his power, Johnson shocked the world with his personal story which pushed public awareness of the HIV and AIDs crisis. Through hundreds of interviews with Johnson's coaches, representatives past and present, teammates, opponents, friends and loved ones, including key conversations with Johnson himself, this is the first truly definitive study of the revolutionary player: the man, the icon, Magic Johnson.

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.

A groundbreaking, timely history of the largely unknown early days of Black basketball, bringing to life the trailblazing players, teams, and impresarios who made the game From the introduction of the game of basketball to Black communities on a wide scale in 1904 to the racial integration of the NBA in 1950, dozens of African American teams were founded and flourished. This period, known as the Black Fives Era (teams at the time were often called "fives"), was a time of pioneering players and managers. They battled discrimination and marginalization and created culturally rich, socially meaningful events. But despite headline-making rivalries between big-city clubs, the savvy moves of innovative businessmen, and the undeniable talent of star players, this period is almost entirely unknown to basketball fans. Claude Johnson has made it his mission to change that. An advocate fiercely committed to our history, for more than two decades Johnson has conducted interviews, mined archives, collected artifacts, and helped to preserve this historically important African American experience that otherwise would have been lost. The Black Fives is the result of his work, a landmark narrative history that braids together the stories of these forgotten pioneers and rewrites our understanding of the story of basketball.

"They don't know me. They don't know what I'm capable of." Diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder, a form of autism, as a toddler, Anthony Ianni wasn't expected to succeed in school or participate in sports, but he had other ideas. As a child, Ianni told anybody who would listen, including head coach Tom Izzo, that he would one day play for the Michigan State Spartans. Centered: Autism, Basketball, and One Athlete's Dreams is the firsthand account of a young man's social, academic, and athletic struggles and his determination to reach his goals. In this remarkable memoir, Ianni reflects on his experiences with both basketball and the autism spectrum. Centered, an inspirational sports story in the vein of Rudy, reveals Ianni to be unflinching in his honesty, generous in his gratitude, and gracious in his compassion. Sports fans will root for the underdog. Parents, teachers, and coaches will gain insight into the experience of an autistic child. And everyone will triumph in the achievements of Centered.

Derrick Rose achieved an improbable childhood dream: being selected first overall in the NBA draft by his hometown Chicago Bulls. The point guard was a phenom, winning the Rookie of the Year award and electrifying fans around the world. In 2011, he became the youngest MVP in league history. Rarely had a bond between a player and fans been so strong, as the city wrapped its arms around the homegrown hero. Six years and four knee surgeries later, his career was seemingly on the brink of collapse. But Rose never believed his struggles on and off the court were anything other than temporary setbacks. I’ll Show You is an honest, intimate conversation with one of the world’s most popular athletes, a star whose on-court brilliance is matched only by his aversion to the spotlight. Rose opens himself up in a document that is as unflinching—and at times as uncomfortable—as a personal diary. Detailing his childhood spent in one of his city’s most dangerous neighborhoods; his relationships with both opponents and teammates; the pain and controversies surrounding his career-altering injuries; his complicated relationship to fame and fortune; and his rise, fall, and reemergence as the player LeBron James says is “still a superhero,� I’ll Show You is one of the most candid and surprising autobiographies of a modern-day superstar ever written.

Outstanding. Unbelievable. Mindblowing.
These are just a few of the words used to describe the talents of LeBron James. He was a sensation in his early days playing AAU ball in Akron, Ohio-and continued to amaze through his four years as a high school phenomenon. Now going into his fifth year as a star of the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is touted as the best player in basketball today. And for good reason: his dunks are monstrous, his no-look passes are things of beauty, his three-pointers seem effortless. But even more importantly, he is that one-of-a-kind superstar whose main goal isn't to rack up the stats-it's to make his team better.

Jerry West is one of the most revered and enigmatic sports icons of all time, but beneath the surface lies a complicated man who shares his true story with unflinching candor.
WEST BY WEST recounts West's difficult journey from an abusive childhood in West Virginia (and the loss of a beloved brother to war) to his All-American success at West Virginia University, and his brilliant 40-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers. He speaks openly for the first time about his lifelong battle with depression, low self-esteem, and his complex relationships with NBA legends Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant, with owners Jack Kent Cooke and Jerry Buss, coach Phil Jackson, and many more. Unsparing in its self-assessment, WEST BY WEST is a profound confession and a magnificent inspiration, a book that generated much discussion when it was published last year and is sure to be talked about for years to come.

Kobe Bryant is a legend - The Rise is a fascinating look at his early life and how he became regarded as one of basketball's greatest ever players. Kobe Bryant's death in January 2020 did more than rattle the worlds of sports and celebrity. It took the tragedy of that helicopter crash to reveal the full breadth and depth of Kobe's influence, and by tracing and telling the oft-forgotten and lesser-known story of his early life, The Rise promises to provide an unparalleled insight into Kobe. In The Rise, readers travel from the cracked concrete basketball courts of Philadelphia in the 1960s and 70s - where Kobe's father, Joe, became a playground, college and professional stand out - to the majesty and isolation of Europe, where Kobe spent his formative years and to the leafy suburbs of Lower Merion, where Kobe's legend was born. The story culminates with his leading Lower Merion to the 1995-96 Pennsylvania state championship - a true underdog run for a team with just one star player, Kobe - and with the 1996 NBA draft, where Kobe's dream of playing pro basketball culminated with his acquisition by the Los Angeles Lakers. With exclusive access to a series of never-before-released interviews during Bryant's senior season and early days in the NBA. Mike Sielski's The Rise reveals insights never seen before. For a quarter-century, these tapes and transcripts preserved Kobe's thoughts, dreams and goals from his teenage years, and they contained insights into him and told stories about him that have never been revealed before. This is beyond a mere basket ball book. This is an exploration of the making of an icon and the effect of his development on those around him - the essence of the man before he truly became a man.

Written for both coaches and fans who love the game, this extraordinary book features the defensive coaching insights of 33 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coaches, including Larry Brown, John Wooden, Jody Conradt, Pete Newell, and Adolph Rupp. Each coach has his own section consisting of his legacy with bullet points highlighting their contributions to the game, followed by their biography, a scouting report, and lessons and instruction accompanied by easy-to-read diagrams.

For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life. Women's basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others.

For nearly one hundred years, basketball has been an important part of Japanese American life. Women's basketball holds a special place in the contemporary scene of highly organized and expansive Japanese American leagues in California, in part because these leagues have produced numerous talented female players. Using data from interviews and observations, Nicole Willms explores the interplay of social forces and community dynamics that have shaped this unique context of female athletic empowerment. As Japanese American women have excelled in mainstream basketball, they have emerged as local stars who have passed on the torch by becoming role models and building networks for others.

For 31 years, The Dallas Mavericks had seasons end in disappointment. Every year, they tried again to find the right combination, only to find another dead end. But in the 2010-11 season, the Mavericks finally found the right mix around their superstar, Dirk Nowitzki, and shocked the basketball world by winning their first NBA Championship. Through extensive interviews and covering the Mavericks as a passionate journalist, Sturm illuminates what exactly brought the Mavericks together as a team. THIS YEAR IS DIFFERENT covers all the important details of the Dallas Mavericks' 2011 championship season, including: The transformation of the Dallas Mavericks franchise from perennial loser to NBA powerhouse. Dirk Nowitzki's career-long battle to cement his dynasty with an NBA championship, including a bitter loss in the 2006 Finals to Dwyane Wade's Miami Heat. Tracing the ups and downs of the 2011 campaign, as the Mavs soared to the top of the standings, only to suffer critical injuries mid-season and a string of losses which threatened their playoff hopes. A game-by-game recap of the Mavericks' 2011 playoff run, as they battled through the quarter-, semi-, and Western Conference Finals for a chance to compete for the NBA championship. The epic story of the 2011 NBA Finals, as Nowitzki and the Mavs took on Miami's "Big Three," in a rematch of Dallas' heartbreaking loss in the 2006 Finals, and how the Mavericks overcame all odds to win their first NBA Championship.

Ted Strong Jr. (1917-1978) was a two-sport athlete, a major star of the Negro Leagues and one of the original Harlem Globetrotters. His prominence in the Negro Leagues led Branch Rickey and other white baseball league owners to consider Strong as one of several possible players to integrate major league baseball, and he was a key force on the basketball court when the Globetrotters defeated the then-invincible Minneapolis Lakers in 1948. Despite his athletic dominance in the 1930s and 40s, Strong Jr. has largely been forgotten in American sports history. In Ted Strong Jr.: The Untold Story of an Original Harlem Globetrotter and Negro Leagues All-Star, Sherman L. Jenkins finally shares the fascinating story of this star athlete. Born Theodore Relighn Strong Jr. in South Bend, Indiana, Strong Jr., the eldest of fourteen children, was fortunate to have a positive influence in his father-a baseball player himself. Strong Jr. went on to play in seven Negro League Baseball East-West All-Star games, receiving the most votes in all of Black baseball history in 1939, and was a key member of the 1940 Harlem Globetrotter basketball team that won the World Professional Basketball Championship. Jenkins details all of this and more, including Strong Jr.'s frustrations with integration efforts promised by white baseball team owners and the eventual decline of the Negro Leagues after the entrance of Jackie Robinson into Major League Baseball. Through hours of interviews with Strong Jr.'s father and with friends and teammates of his brother Othello, along with extensive research of newspaper archives, this book provides rich insights into an unsung hero in the American sports landscape. For baseball and basketball fans of all ages, Ted Strong Jr.'s biography displays for the first time the determination and guts of a man who was idealized by many African Americans in the early twentieth century.

James Naismith invented the game of basketball as a physical education instructor at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. That December of 1891, his task was to create a game to occupy a rowdy class during the winter months. Almost instantly popular, the game spread across the country and was played in fifteen countries by the end of the century. And yet basketball never had an overriding presence in Naismith's life, as he was also a minister, doctor, educator, and coach. So what did Naismith think about the game of basketball? In The James Naismith Reader, Douglas Stark answers that question using articles, speeches, letters, notes, radio interview transcripts, and other correspondence, including discussions on the game's origins, Naismith's childhood game duck on a rock in Canada, the changing rules, basketball as a representation of Muscular Christianity, and the physical education movement. From Naismith's original rules written in 1891 to an excerpt from the posthumous publication of his book Basketball: Its Origin and Development, Naismith's writings range over a fifty-year period, showing his thoughts on the game's invention and as the game evolved during his lifetime. The first volume to compile the existing primary sources of Naismith's views on basketball, The James Naismith Reader reveals what its inventor thought of the game, as well as his interactions with educators and instructors who assisted the game's growth.

As the face of the NBA's new world order, Giannis Antetokounmpo has overcome unfathomable obstacles to become a symbol of hope for people all over the world; the personification of the American Dream. But his backstory remains largely untold. Fader unearths new information about the childhood that shaped "The Greek Freak"-from sleeping side by side with his brothers to selling trinkets on the street with his family to the racism he experienced. Antetokounmpo grew up in an era when Golden Dawn, Greece's far-right, anti-immigrant party, patrolled his neighborhood, and his status as an illegal immigrant largely prevented him from playing for the country's top clubs, making his NBA rise all the more improbable. Fader tells a deeply human story of how an unknown, skinny, Black Greek teen, who played in the country's lowest pro division and was seen as a draft gamble, transformed his body and his game into MVP material. Antetokounmpo's story has been framed as a feel-good narrative in which everyone has embraced him-watching him grow up, sign a five-year supermax contract extension worth $228 million, and lead the underdog Bucks to the NBA Championship in 2021. Giannis reveals a more nuanced story: how lonely and isolated he felt, adjusting to America and the NBA early in his career; the complexity of grappling with his Black and Greek identities; how he is so hard on himself and his shortcomings-a drive that fuels him every day; and the responsibility he feels to be a nurturing role model for his younger brothers. Fader illustrates a more vulnerable star than most people know, a person who has evolved triumphantly into all of his roles: father, brother, son, teammate, and global icon. **Instant New York Times Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Bestseller, Wall Street Journal Bestseller, USA Today Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller** **Mirin Fader Selected as the 2021 Sports Media Author of the Year by The Big Lead**

A typical NBA game can yield approximately 2,800 statistical events in thirty-two different categories. In Numbers Don't Lie Yago Colas started with a simple question: How did basketball analytics get from counting one stat, the final score, to counting thousands? He discovered that what we call "basketball"-rules, equipment, fundamental skills, techniques, tactics, strategies-has changed dramatically since its invention and today encompasses many different forms of play, from backyards and rec leagues to the NBA Finals. Numbers Don't Lie explores the power of data to tell stories about ourselves and the world around us. As advanced statistical methods and big-data technologies transform sports, we now have the power to count more things in greater detail than ever before. These numbers tell us about the past, present, and future that shape how basketball is played on the floor, decisions are made in front offices, and the sport is marketed and consumed. But what is the relationship between counting and what counts, between quantification and value? In Numbers Don't Lie Colas offers a three-part history of counting in basketball. First, he recounts how big-data basketball emerged in the past twenty years, examines its current practices, and analyzes how it presents itself to the public. Colas then situates big data within the deeper social, cultural, and conceptual history of counting in basketball and beyond and proposes alternative frameworks of value with which we may take fuller stock of the impact of statistics on the sport. Ultimately, Colas challenges the putative objectivity of both quantification and academic writing by interweaving through this history a series of personal vignettes of life at the intersection of basketball, counting, and what counts.

In Havin' a Ball one of basketball's most colorful characters and storytellers chronicles his life in the game, from high school coach in New Jersey to head coach in both the NBA and the WNBA. Richie Adubato isn't a Hall of Fame name, but he's one of basketball's most beloved coaches, with a lifetime of stories that are humorous and heartfelt, poignant and personal. Adubato's career has crossed paths with many of basketball's most memorable people and events. Starting in the 1960s, he was part of the Jersey Guys, a group of young junior high and high school coaches-including Hubie Brown, Dick Vitale, and Mike Fratello-who all later went on to coach in the NBA. He was hired as Vitale's assistant coach with the Pistons in 1979. Then, three years later, he was hired by Hubie Brown as the Knicks' assistant coach. He would stay in pro basketball for the next twenty-five years, with stints as head coach for the Dallas Mavericks and Orlando Magic and the WNBA's New York Liberty and Washington Mystics. In fact, he is the first coach to have led teams in both leagues to the playoffs. Adubato grew up as an Irish Italian Jersey kid with modest aspirations who went on to experience a fascinating ride in pro basketball. He tells readers how a young Magic team led by Shaquille O'Neal came undone, about his years coaching the Mavericks at a time when the NBA was never more popular, what it was like to coach in the WNBA when the Liberty were outdrawing the Knicks in attendance, and what it was like to coach with, and against, other Hall of Famers. Havin' a Ball takes readers into locker rooms, planes, practices, games, and off court to the inner world of pro basketball with an insider's unique perspective.