When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball

About this book

"A must-read for anybody who considers themselves a basketball fan."Michael Wilbon The Washington Post On March 26 1979 basketball as we know it was born. The NCAA championship game played that day launched an epic rivalry between two exceptional players: Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Larry Bird. Though they played each other only once as college athletes that game transformed the NCAA tournament into a multibillion-dollar enterprise and laid the foundation for the resurgence of the NBA. To this day it remains the highest-rated basketball game college or pro in the history of television. In the national bestseller When March Went Mad Seth Davis recounts the dramatic story of the season leading up to that game as Johnsons Michigan State Spartans and Birds Indiana State Sycamores overcame long odds and great doubts to reach the games grandest stage. Davis also tells the stories of their remarkable coaches Jud Heathcote and Bill Hodges and he shows how tensions over race and class heightened the drama of the competition. Davis combed through several years worth of newspaper and magazine coverage interviewed nearly one hundred people and watched dozens of games to reconstruct the colorful historic and improbable narrative of how Larry Bird and Magic Johnson burst on the scenea coming-of-age story that continues to resonate. The Final Four the NBA and the game of basketball have never been the same.