Madness: The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals

by Mark Mehler, Charles Paikert

The annual NCAA Basketball Tournament, which has become known as “March Madness” has emerged as a major sports event, matched only by the Super Bowl and the Olympics. In Madness , Mark Mehler and Charles Paikert tell the stories behind the ten most compelling and memorable championship games in tournament history, from North Carolina’s triple-overtime victory over Wilt Chamberlain’s Kansas Wildcats in 1957 to Duke’s heart stopping victory over underdog Butler in 2010.
As a bonus, five more games that just missed the cut are also examined. Madness goes beyond the games to tell the the backstories of these classics, each entirely unique unto itself. For example, Jim Valvano taking his impossible dream of a national title and making it come true for the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack; Rollie Massimino turning spaghetti and clam sauce into inspiration for his underachieving 1985 Villanova team; and Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, breaking down in tears while taking a Broadway curtain call in front of a wildly-applauding audience who two hours earlier didn't know who these two guys were decades after their head-to-head matchup in 1979.
Some of these stories also resonate far beyond the basketball court, including the 1966 triumph by the Texas Western Miners, which helped chisel away the college basketball color line and stamped their victory as "Glory Road." Over sixty years of college basketball history is brought to life in this must-have for all basketball fans.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published February 13, 2018

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books are always subjective and the authors made no bones about it and have stated that the games they chose were purely subjective. At the end of the book, they provide five games that could arguably have been included, but the 10 they did pick are a pretty good group. They included my all-time favorite final - Jimmy V's NC State vs Houston in 1983, so I am satisfied, but it was equally interesting to read about their other choices, and I swear that reading most of these was like sitting court side at the game while at the same time, listening to a play-by-play analyst calling the "shots!" The authors were passionate and enthusiastic about their subject matter.

Fabulous!

[Jennifer Judge · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you make every game a life and death proposition, you’re going to have problems. For one thing, you’ll be dead a lot.” The book Madness, The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals, starts out with introducing this quote, in which I believe contributes to introducing the attitude of the whole book itself. Madness, The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals, written by Mark Mehler, covers the history, strategies, and matchups of the ten most icon championship games of the NCAA. On top of that, Mark Mehler relives the glories of the coaches, while reflecting on their personal coaching dreams. While reading this book, you will get an inside look of not only the economical, but also the social significances of the games.

Madness, The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals goes into detail about many on edge games throughout the history of the NCCA. As said before, not only are statistics thoroughly discussed, but social aspects of the games are significantly mentioned. One example of this was the 1979, Michigan State vs Indiana State Championship. During these chapters the relationship between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson was a very intriguing topic. Not only are the top ten games discussed throughout the book, but five games in addition that barely missed the cut are also mentioned. These five championships are found in the last chapters of the book.

After reading Madness, The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals, I would recommend the book to anyone interested in the topic of basketball or sports in general. As a basketball player, I found the history and insight information very interesting and believe anyone with the same interests would agree. I also believe that readers of any age would enjoy this book. The only thing that I would consider is that the terminology could be considered appealing to older readers. Overall, if you are looking for an interesting and educational sports book, Madness, The Ten Most Memorable NCAA Basketball Finals is a good contender.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, a nice quick read about what the author believes to be the 10 best NCAA men's basketball finals of all time. I really loved the chapters on the Michigan/Seton Hall game, the North Carolina/Georgetown game, the Villanova/Georgetown game, but felt the others either didn't tell me anything new or were lacking more information. Still a great book for people kind of wanting a cliff-notes version of the tournament. Closer to a 3.5 in my mind, but not quite memorable for a 4-star rating.

[Al Menaster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this. Brief summaries of ten (plus a few more) ncaa basketball finals..

[Jean J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Minor gripe: if you're going to title your book as a top ten, you should number the chapters as a countdown