Customer Reviews

The Best Game Ever: How Frank McGuire's '57 Tar Heels Beat Wilt and Revolutionized College Basketball

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's really two games. I invited neighbors over to watch on my new TV. Most were NOT big basketball games. We were playing Michigan State. We had professors pounding on the floor and yelling. One woman couldn't stand the three overtime tension any more and locked herself in the bathroom. When a close friend who had been out of town returned home, I said, "You missed the greatest game ever." But then we had to play Kansas and Wilt Chamberlin. Coach put his shortest player on the floor to tip-off against Wilt. The crowd roared with laughter. Psyched Wilt out of his socks. The game went to triple overtime. I always said the team ("four Irishmen and a Jew") was made up of Drama Majors. Every game in their undefeated season was a cliff hanger. This book captures the whole story, the undefeated season, the finals, the whole nine yards. Don't miss it!

"The Best Game Ever" is about the 1956-57 University of North Carolina basketball team. All 5 starters and the coach, Queens own Frank McGuire, were New York City guys-"5 Irishmen and a Jew", as the coach termed it. McGuire is the principal character here as the Tar Heels sprint to a perfect 30-0 season and the NCAA championship. The spotlight is on the '57 tournament, in which Carolina won triple overtime victories on successive night to take the college crown. Those victories came against Michigan State in the semi and the University of Kansas in the final. There is virtual play by play commentary on the Kansas game as McGuire and rival coach Dick Harp match strategies. One wonders why the Jayhawks failed to make more use of 7-1 center Wilt Chamberlain or why they let the Tar Heels back in the game by slowing the pace late in the contest. This reviewer would have appreciated a fuller epilogue: What happened to these Tar Heels, especially the colorful McGuire? Chamberlain was so distraught by the loss that he dropped out of school, not to return to the UK campus for over 40 years. There are some factual glitches: Niagara University is located in Niagara Falls, not Buffalo and the old St. Ann's Academy was run by religious brothers, not priests. Also, what "back entrances" of the old Madison Square Garden did kids sneak in? This reviewer -and all his buddies-would have loved to known about that one! Despite the nitpicking, BGE is highly recommended. It is just what it purported itself to be, a straightforward sports story of a specific and special time in college basketball. A solid 4 stars is an appropriate rating but the faithful will wish to add back that 5th Carolina blue and white star.

If you look at the last several reviews here, you might notice a coincidental theme. There are a lot of books out there with titles that are the Greatest Game Ever, or The Best Game Ever, or the Most Fabulous Game in History.

In the case of this book, "The Best Game Ever.", and note the period at the end, you probably could make a case for "The Greatest Weekend of Basketball by one team ever." That's what Adam Lucas' story of the 1957 North Carolina basketball team essentially focuses, although the Tar Heels' entire season is covered in interesting detail here.

This seems like an appropriate title to read after a North Carolina basketball championship, which happens every so often, but the Tar Heels weren't always so good. Frank McGuire jumped from St. John's to UNC to guide the team in the 1950's, and he brought with him several players from New York City. The most interesting part of the book is the tale about what college basketball was like in the Fifties in terms of recruiting, etc. The players who were interviewed for the book were all quite forthcoming about what life was like for a New York City player to come to the cloistered South of that time. It was like moving to a different world.

North Carolina had something of a charmed life as it went through the season, escaping several close calls without a loss. It made it to the NCAA Final Four, although it wasn't called that then, and played Michigan State on a Friday. That game went three overtimes before the Tar Heels won. The reward was a Saturday night date with Kansas and its new sophomore star, Wilt Chamberlain. Wilt was so good that Kansas was favored going into the game.

The final was the "best game ever," as this also went into three overtimes. Somehow, someway, North Carolina figured out a way to win. The game revolutionized basketball in Chapel Hill, and turned the area into Basketball Country.

Lucas publishes "Tar Heel Monthly," which covers North Carolina sports. It's a little surprising, in spite of that background, that he concentrates so much on the North Carolina side of the story. The book easily could have taken about 50 more pages on the Kansas side of the story, which was fascinating in its own right.

Still, every great team probably deserves its own book, and the North Carolina squad is no exception. The casual hoop fan will enjoy taking a look back via "The Best Game Ever." It's brisk and to the point. North Carolina fans -- the obvious audience for it -- should give it an extra star.

I gifted this book to my father, a former ACC player and huge college basketball fan. He started reading it the day he got it, went to bed and finsished it the next morning! Even though these games were played over 50 years ago, they are still every bit as exciting today. A MUST read for any college basketball fan.

It is a very good book that will appeal to anyone who remembers the Roche era at South Carolina from 1969 to 1971. The book provides a good look at McGuire's coaching style that no longer exists in college basketball.

North Carolina fans of the McGuire years will enjoy the background and current status of the national championship team, and provides details of almost every game of the NCAA championship team.

Though, there are only a couple of references to McGuire career at South Carolina, the book would be interesting to anyone that remembers his South Carolina teams from 1964-1973 and how similar they were built to the North Carolina model.

The best and only book, to my knowledge, covering McGuire's years at South Carolina is called "Roundball Culture" and is very good. However, it is very hard to find and the price exceeds $ 100.00. It does provide a detailed look inside McGuire's years at South Carolina giving equal attention to each the sixteen years.

Lucas just doesn't have the panache to build up the dynamics nor convey the excitement / drama of the game. The fact that he is publisher of "Tar Heel Monthly" indicates that he is more of a homer and neither an objective journalist nor a literary talent to do justice to the topic. For those who grew up hearing about this game for years, you may not be able to tap into the thrill of the the game that "revolutionized college basketball" with this book.