Barry Wilner

This review is based on a complimentary copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. Thankfully. Quite frankly, this book is borderline terrible.

The only thing positive I can offer is that it does contain some interesting, if trivial, facts that I didn't know. That's about it.

As for the negatives, I can only echo and expand upon what's already been said. First and foremost, the writing is truly dreadful. As another reviewer noted, in two separate chapters show more (one on the UCLA dynasty the other on "great performances") the authors use almost the exact same language. It's incredibly lazy writing (and editing), and it makes for a repetitive and boring read. Let me give one example. In the chapter on the UCLA dynasty, the authors write: “Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was the most heralded freshman to ever play at UCLA—maybe anywhere in the history of college basketball. In an era when freshmen couldn’t play for the varsity, Alcindor was clearly the most notable sports name on campus even before he played in his first basketball game.” Two chapters later (in the section on Alcindor in the chapter on great performances) the authors write: “Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, was the most heralded freshman to ever play at UCLA—and maybe anywhere in the history of college basketball. In an era when freshmen couldn’t play for the varsity, Alcindor was clearly the most notable sports name on campus when he arrived in Westwood.” That’s right, we have the addition of the word “and” and a change from “even before he played his first basketball game” to “when he arrived in Westwood.” This type of thing happens time and time again. In the UCLA chapter and the separate section on Bill Walton, the reader is subject to the exact same quote from John Wooden and is told in exactly the same words that Walton “played with inflamed knees that needed constant medical attention.”

In addition to the repetition, the authors have a penchant for inserting completely useless quotes; apparently, for the sole purpose of using a quote. The authors even resort to quoting college basketball guides. One example should suffice: “’It looked like a short, quick tournament for City College,’ the CCNY basketball guide said.” I still have no idea why recourse to the CCNY basketball guide for that quote is either necessary to make that point or somehow provides more authority or enhances the underlying fact (e.g., by using a particularly noteworthy or pithy turn of phrase).

Finally, as far as the writing goes, the authors contradict themselves within pages and confuse basketball issues that authors of a book about basketball should understand. For contradiction, on page 56, the authors write: “It may sound laughable today, but Kurland was praised in an article by Life magazine for being ‘balanced and coordinated in spite of his height.”” I took this to mean that what was “laughable” was the generalization that tall players are generally uncoordinated, yet five pages later the authors write that Lew Alcindor was “unusually coordinated for a big man.” Laughable. But for different reasons. The authors also confuse goaltending with basket interference (an excusable mistake if made by a casual fan, but inexcusable in a book about basketball). Readers are told that the goaltending rule was “obviously directed at [Bob] Kurland,” who played in the 1940s, and other tall players. That’s correct. However, five pages earlier, the reader is told that “another rules change came in response to [Bill] Russell: players would not be allowed to touch the ball on its downward arc toward the basket. This became known as ‘goaltending.’” This is an accurate description of goaltending, but Russell played a decade after Kurland, and the goaltending rule was already in place (although the authors don’t give a date for adoption of the goaltending rule, but readers can infer that if the rule was directed at Kurland it must have followed shortly thereafter). What the authors must intend here is a reference to basket interference.

I could go on and on with the copious examples of atrocious writing, but I’ll leave it at that. As for the other flaws, I’ll be brief. As others have observed, notwithstanding the subtitle, this book is not a history of the NCAA tournament in really any sense. There’s very little discussion of the origin of the tournament, its interplay with the NIT, how teams have been selected and seeded throughout its history, how sites are chosen, how and why the tournament has expanded, etc. The closest the authors come is the final ten pages of the book, much of which is in a text box on the NIT inserted into the chapter on the movement toward players leaving early (which has nothing to do with the NIT as far as I can tell). Instead, there are brief snippets about coaches, teams, and players (which often repeat information in other chapters). That’s fine, but it’s not what the subtitle indicates. As for structure, other than the fact that the book contains chapters and sections, there is none. Rather, the snippets are thrown together in what appears to be a completely random order.

To put it in a sentence: I love college basketball, but I had to try very hard to make myself finish this book. show less

To me this book felt like a conversation between two know-it-all college guys. For the most part it seems to be a contest of who could come up with the best story from the NCAA basketball tournament over the years since it was first started rather than a detailed history of the tournament. Certain events are retold, certain players are brought up time and again, even when irrelevant to the point or the story, as if he was the favorite player of the person telling the story. It is not show more chronological, geographical, told in sections based on teams, schools, or coaches, or even ranked from best to worst or most shocking moment in the tournament. The whole book is just a random compilation of facts, stories, and buzzer-beaters. For someone very interested in reliving the tournament, not in learning about it, this is a great book. For everyone else, you'd have to be very committed to make it all the way through. show less

Much as I was looking forward to this book, it ended up being incredibly disappointing. Full of one-liners and fast overviews of material that most sports fans will already know, there's just not much content here.

Three very telling facts: A) I don't really follow either golf or basketball, but even I knew about many of the anecdotes that related to those sports. B) I consider myself a casual sports fan, and yet, I could give you more detail on some of the scandals and flubs detailed here. show more C) Perhaps most telling of all: The longest chapter of the book is a collection of sections summing up and outlining highlights from favorite sports movies. (That's right--the longest chapter in a nonfiction book about sports is related to summing up comedies that any reader will have already seen.)

The authors obviously enjoy sports, but when it comes down to it, this book is a running-through of headlines and one-liners, and has very little depth. It's written in more the style of a coffee table book that would sell itself through tons of pictures and the occasional graphic overview of statistics. But those things are missing because it's printed as a traditional book--and, as such, it's a disappointing affair.

On the whole, I just can't recommend it. It might be an entertaining read for the average middle school boy who likes sports, but doesn't know much about past craziness, but for an adult reader who enjoys sports.... well, again, there's just not much here. show less

Hugely disappointing. The book should be called "Some Random Stuff About College Basketball, Mainly UCLA". By giving it the title "The Big Dance - the Story of the NCAA Basketball Tournament", the authors are promising something that they just don't deliver.

The book should give a year by year account of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament from 1939 to today, with a preliminary chapter or two about what happened before the tournament began and how it was originally conceived. Then each year show more should be encapsulated so that the reader gets an idea of what the major story-lines were; which teams were the biggest surprises and biggest disappointments, the best and worst games, the best individual performances, etc.

Instead we get this random hopping around with no clear story and no real purpose. I'm a huge fan of history and of college basketball. March Madness is just about the best time of year for a sports fan. This book should have been a slam dunk with me, but I couldn't even finish it. show less