If you’re a college basketball fan, or own a television, you know Dick Vitale isn’t afraid to offer his opinion in his style.
Vitale has written several books over his three-decade broadcasting career, but his latest could be considered ammunition, as well as literature.
Moments in College Basketball.”
The two lists cover the 30 years he has been an ESPN broadcaster, so the UCLA dynasty, Indiana’s perfect season, Pistol Pete, Jerry West and Oscar Robertson weren’t eligible. Still, that leaves plenty to sift through, and that’s where the fun begins.
There’s no way to please everybody with lists like these, especially in a sport where people wear their passions on school-colored sleeves.
ing bookshelves worried about.
Vitale, with co-author Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News, went with Patrick Ewing of Georgetown, Christian Laettner of Duke, Ralph Sampson of Virginia, Michael Jordan of North Carolina and Danny Manning of Kansas as the top five players.
Let the screaming begin from fans of Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, Isiah Thomas of Indiana, Akeem Olajuwon of Houston, David Robinson of Navy and Len Bias of Maryland, the next five on the list.
You could put all those names in a hat and any five would still be a viable list. That’s what makes this venture impossible, but fun.
Vitale even adds a list of 50 more players who deserve mention.
As for moments, No. 1 was North Carolina’s improbable national championship under Jim Valvano in 1983 followed by Laettner’s shot at the buzzer that gave Duke an overtime win over Kentucky in the 1992 regional final. And don’t forget Villanova’s “perfect game” to beat Georgetown for the national championship in 1985; Keith Smart’s corner jumper that gave Indiana the 1987 title over Syracuse; and then-freshman Jordan’s jumper from the same side of the Superdome court as Smart that led North Carolina to the national championship over Georgetown in 1982.
houting match worthy of some of the coaches who have drawn a technical or two over the years.
And the West Coast already has expressed its displeasure with the players list. North Carolina and Duke have 14 players among the top 50. The entire Pac-10 conference has two, the first being Sean Elliott of Arizona at No. 26.
If Vitale’s lists don’t do it for you, there are plenty of books about college hoops out there.
Life for Current and Future Pro Athletes.” Author Marc Isenberg covers the gamut for young athletes from selecting an agent to relating to the media to financial matters for days as an amateur and a pro.
That’s a book many former athletes probably wish they had many problems and dollars ago.
Coaches, too, are busy sharing their secrets. Two recent books cover the extremes of the profession.
“Bill Self: At Home in the Phog” is a biography of the Kansas coach that came out following the Jayhawks’ national championship season. It chronicles Self’s coaching career from his days as assistant through head coaching stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois. The book offers an inside look into the life of a coach and discloses great details on the games in the national championship run, including the overtime title game against Kansas.
But not every coach makes it to the title game.
Kangaroos” is a look at the other side of Division I basketball. The book’s title comes from his three schools’ nicknames – Terriers, Ospreys and Kangaroos.
In that world, dinners on the road are usually at a place where the words “all you can eat” are prominent, where coaches worry about laundry as much as opponents and there seems to be just as much fun.
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