The Best Basketball Book

• Prescott

  I am looking for a basketball related book for a a guy who loves schoolyard, high school, and college hoops.
  
  I need recommendations. Please help. Thanks.
• hoops23

  

  I was going to mention the "Book of Basketball" by Bill Simmons, but it's all about the NBA...
  
  I'll get back to you, unless some others beat me to the punch.
• wildcats20

  

  Anything by John Wooden, but they are more philosophy than basketball. But all are great reads.
• wes_mantooth

  

  There are a couple of older books out about Bob Knight that are tremendous. The Steve Alford one is my favorite.
• wildcats20

  

  Another really good basketball/philosophy book would be "Leading with the Heart" by Coach K.
• k_boogy

  Just a few books that I have read and absolutely love are Bob Knights: My Story which is his biography. Great book if you are a Knight fan. Talks bout everything from his high school years to when he played at OSU and of course coaching. Has some really good stories with him and ted williams, pete newell, and some other greats. Dean Smith: A Coach's Life.. Talks about his whole career at UNC very good read. And I also liked Coach K's Five point play and Leading with the Heart. Five point play talks about the 2001 National Championship team, and Leading with the Heart is a good book that covers a little of everything on Coach K's beliefs.
  
  Ive probably read about 15 books basically of college basetball coaches or their philosophies and those are definitely my favorites
  
  Hope this helps a little
• wildcats20

  

  I prefer "The Carolina Way" over "A Coach's Life" but both are great reads. Forgot about "My Story." Another good one, is "Playing for Keeps" about Michael Jordan as well as "The Big O".
• cologino

  "Fall River Dreams" and "My Losing Season"
• k_boogy

  Ya Carolina Way is very good too. I cant believe I forgot bout that one.
• wildcats20

  

  I'm also in the process of reading Roy's new book, "Hard Work". Only about 50 pages in or so, but it's been a good read thus far.
• reclegend22

  

  Heck, why not...
  
  One book I wouldn't miss is Blue Yonder: The United State of Kentucky Basketball. Granted, it's all about Kentucky, but it doesn't matter. The book covers everything from Kentucky Wildcat history, including fascinating profiles on Rick Pitino and the Baron himself; the phenomenon of the famous Sweet 16 , one of the last remaining one-champion high school state tournaments in the country, what Kentuckians refer to as "The Greatest Show on Earth"; the many high-profile prep school legends the state has seen, including "King" Kelly Coleman, who, according to Bluegrass lore, once scored 70 points in a game drunk, and whom Adolf Rupp once labeled the best high school hoops player to ever live; the Wildcats' ride through the 1996-97 season, under the star leadership of former Ohio State Buckeye Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer; and the often maddening and alarming relationship members of the Commonwealth have with the state's basketball team, with in-depth profiles of a number of self-proclaimed UK "number one" fans. Some of these people, I mean, I'm not sure where the author found them.
  
  That's what this book is, a look into the heart of what Kentucky basketball means to its fans, and the lengths they take to cheer their team on. Blue Yonder's author, Lonnie Wheeler, paints stories of court hearings over custody of UK season tickets in divorce cases, fans who drive 600 miles one way to watch UK play every home game, doctors and successful businessmen who spend their nights after work breaking down game film and sending their findings to the Wildcat coaching staff, one man who laid down and balled in a Footlocker store after Kentucky dropped an NCAA Tournament game to Marquette in the early '90s, fans who camp out in front of Memorial Coliseum in Lexington for months just to get free tickets to Big Blue Madness, which they could just as easily have gotten by camping out three days beforehand.
  
  And the best parts of the book, the small anecdotes that have become wrapped as much in UK lore as the seven national championships and over 30 Southeastern Conference titles. My favorite, the story of the man police found wandering in a snowy cemetery in below zero temperatures one winter night in southern Ohio. When asked what he was doing, the man told police he was looking for a lost girl. The police then went to the man's house and found a group of men huddled around a television, with the Wildcats caught in a nail biter. Questioning why the men were not out looking for the child, the officer was answered, "Oh yeah, we'll look for her when the game's over."
  
  Though these are the things of fables, and can't possibly be true, they are so interesting and fun to read about. This book is one of the best I've read on basketball.
  
  Others...
  
  Fall River Dreams, Maravich, Heaven Is A Playground, A March to Madness, Where the Game Matters Most and To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever (an ahdonis special, for sure).
• reclegend22

  

  Where the Game Matters Most is about Indiana High School Basketball, and the final season of the one-class state tournament in 1997. It follows a number of teams and coaches, and really gets into the heart of why basketball means so much to the entire state of Indiana.
  
  To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever is an in-depth look at the Duke-North Carolina rivalry, and the hate it inspires, from the eyes of a staunch Tar Heel fan. Notwithstanding, it's probably the best book I've ever read on the Rivalry in Blue, and one of the better books I've ever read period.
  
  Highly recommended.
• wildcats20

  

  I'll have to check that one out rec. Sounds interesting.
• Phog Allen

  Bill Self: At Home in the Phog.
  
  Really goes into detail about Coach Self's career and the national championship season. I love the later chapters where one chapter is devoted to the Elite Eight win over Steph Curry and Davidson to put Coach Self and Kansas into the 2008 Final Four, the Final Four win over UNC, and the national championship game win over Memphis. Coach Self breaks down the game tape possession by possession and you really get to see those games through the coaches eyes.
  
  Even more than that you see what a head coach goes through when he has to tell kids he loves he is leaving for another job. He discusses how Bruce Weber took shots at him and how he felt Roy Williams didn't handle leaving KU the best. The book is honest and very candid. It is a must read for any Kansas fan but any college basketball fan would enjoy it.
• Thunder70

  

  A friend of mine got to interview 30 or so coaches around the country and then wrote a book about it. It's a pretty good read...
  
  www.DestinationBasketball.com
• reclegend22

  

  I own the book, Thunder. Although I haven't gotten around to reading it yet.
  
  I look forward to doing so.
• wildcats20

  

  THUNDER70 wrote: A friend of mine got to interview 30 or so coaches around the country and then wrote a book about it. It's a pretty good read...
  
  www.DestinationBasketball.com

  Great book! Totally forgot about it looking at my bookcase, mainly because my dog tore the cover off of it.
• mattinctown

  I agree, To Hate Like This Is To Be Happy Forever is a great read on the Duke-UNC rivalry, even though it's somewhat biased toward UNC