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WHEN MARCH WENT MAD
By: Seth Davis
The Game That Transformed Basketball
Times Books
March 2009
On Sale: March 3, 2009
336 pages
ISBN: 0805088105
EAN: 9780805088106
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Sports
The dramatic story of how two legendary players burst on the scene in an NCAA championship that gave birth to modern basketball Thirty years ago, college basketball was not the sport we know today. Few games were televised nationally and the NCAA tournament had just expanded from thirty-two to forty teams. Into this world came two exceptional players: Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Though they played each other only once, in the 1979 NCAA finals, that meeting launched an epic rivalry, transformed the NCAA tournament into the multibillion-dollar event it is today, and laid the groundwork for the resurgence of the NBA. In When March Went Mad, Seth Davis recounts the dramatic story of the season leading up to that game, as Johnsonβs Michigan State Spartans and Birdβs Indiana State Sycamores overcame long odds and great doubts that their unheralded teams could compete at the highest level. Davis also tells the stories of their remarkable coaches, Jud Heathcote and Bill Hodgesβwho were new to their schools but who set their own paths to build great teamsβand he shows how tensions over race and class heightened the drama of the competition. When Magic and Bird squared off in Salt Lake City on March 26, 1979, the world took noticeβto this day it remains the most watched basketball game in the history of televisionβand the sport we now know was born.
 Media BuzzNewsHour with Jim Lehrer - April 6, 2009
Morning Edition - March 17, 2009
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