Transition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip-Hoop

by L. Jon Wertheim

A study of the transformation of high-school basketball in America's heartland assesses the influence of such factors as technology, multiculturalism, commercialization, and more on the sport of basketball in Indiana, looking at the growth of the women's game, the influx of players of foreign heritage, the influence of big money, and the emphasis on style rather than shooting. Reissue.

Genres: Sports, Basketball, Nonfiction, History

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

L. Jon Wertheim is the executive editor of Sports Illustrated. A sports journalist with a passion for psychology and economics, he is the author of such New York Times bestsellers as Scorecasting (written with Toby Moskowitz) and You Can’t Make This Up (written with Al Michaels).

Reviews

[Josh Skogman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book for a kid who grew up in southern Indiana in the late 80’s. Brought back so many memories and captured the passion that is Indiana basketball. Really enjoyed how the book, although centered around boy’s high school basketball, touched on all aspects that make up basketball in Indiana. This includes issues that many would not want to discuss when romanticizing (racism, agents, AAU, etc).

[Austin]

In the book “Transition game by” L. Jon Wertheim it takes place on a basketball court. It starts on how the team is having the best season they have ever had and that’s only because of one of their players they just got is the best in the NBA. But one morning that player died and the team does not know what to do and one of the players gets up and gives a huge speech that really touches them.
I like this book because it is about sports also because there are moments where you don’t know what is happening and it makes you start think about their situation. I recommend this book because it has a lot of action and and it makes you guess on what is gonna happen next. Also i recommend this to people that like a lot of sports because this is a action packed sports.

[Cathy Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one night. The experience was actually therapeutic. "Oh! So that's why I am the way I am! It's because I grew up in Indiana!" It is near about impossible to talk about race and sports, but Wertheim does an admirable job here. When I hear people talk about how much "the game has changed," it's often code for how "it's devolved," or "things aren't like they used to be now that the game is so black." Wertheim examines this huge subject by looking through a smaller lens, the lens of Indiana basketball, where the game stayed "white" for a very, very long time.

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very uneven. In trying to tell so many disparate stories, linked only by their connection to the state of Indiana, the author wasn't able to generate sufficient interest in any individual story to drive the narrative. Some stories were very interesting, others were not. Most frustrating was the feeling that the author wrote whole sections with a thesaurus close at hand. I'll never understand why people in sports feel the need to show off their vocabularies by frequently misusing big words.

[Shawna Prather · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun to read because I knew some of the people and teams mentioned.

[Zachary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read about half of this.

[Mandy Acord · Rating 3 out of 5]

It dated itself quickly but otherwise a very good book.