Customer Reviews

A March to Madness: The View from the Floor in the Atlantic Coast Conference

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I grew up in the Southeast on a steady sports diet of ACC basketball and football, followed each team closely each year, and, of course, later attended an ACC school. I graduated in the spring of 1996 -- just a few months before the 1996-97 season Feinstein chronicles in this book began. So I thought I knew all about the ACC and its sundry characters.

Boy was I wrong. Feinstein's insights and access showed me an entirely different side of the ACC world I only thought I knew. The spotlight here is on the coaches and we get to know most of them intimately -- their background, their fears, their expectations, their personal lives, their triumphs and failures. It's all fascinating stuff, although, frankly, I expected a little bit more about the players themselves. Instead, players like Tim Duncan and Vince Carter have mere bit parts in the background. But they were college players and I guess Feinstein really couldn't drag them into the commercial world of book writing.

Since the focus of the book is on the coaches themselves, the amount of access each coach gave Feinstein set the tone for the entire project. It is more than obvious that coaches like Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Maryland's Gary Williams, Wake Forest's Dave Odom, Clemson's Rick Barnes, Virginia's Jeff Jones, and Florida State's Pat Kennedy gave Feinstein as much access and interview time as he wanted and they are covered thoroughly in the book. On the other hand, it's apparent NC State's Herb Sendek, Georgia Tech's Bobby Cremins, and, most importantly, North Carolina's Dean Smith didn't give Feinstein nearly as much time, access, and information as the others. Smith, in particular, is portrayed as an outside, shadowy figure and a pretty mean one at that. Smith could have helped by being more cooperative with Feinstein but, then again, Dean had a job to do and it didn't involve having a writer lurking around his locker room and office for a year. By contrast, Mike Krzyzewski apparently gave the Duke grad the keys to the Duke campus, and that, coupled with Duke's typically great season, give the book a decidely uneven feel. I don't know if that is bias, but I do know when Duke's Greg Newton is mentioned more often than Wake's Tim Duncan or North Carolina's Vince Carter, it's a problem. As much as Feinstein tries to paint a complete portrait of all nine coaches and all nine schools, he simply cannot and the book suffers because of it.

Nevertheless, A MARCH TOWARD MADNESS is a treat for ACC fanatics, college basketball fans, and anyone interested in the inner workings of the world of college coaching. The most amazing thing is, the ACC is such a colorful league, you could write a book like this about each and every season. The names may change (a lot of the coaches in this book are already gone) but the passion, the intensity, and the competitiveness are always there.

...and certainly the best book on basketball I've read. Better for me than A Season On the Brink - better written, and the central characters are more sympathetic than Bobby Knight. But I'm a long-time ACC fan.

The book gives you great perspective on life as a basketball coach: how hard it is to climb the ladder, how uncertain the job is, how coaches' success depends on recruiting great players. The best parts of this book are the portraits of the coaches and how they got where they are today. Stories about Bob Kennedy and Gary Williams getting into a screaming match at the scorers table as assistant coaches; Jim Valvano and Rick Pitino at basketball camps in the off-season; and so on. Really compelling stories about the basketball life, including comments on the toll it takes on coaches' marriages.

The book has some drawbacks. For one, you almost need to be an ACC fan. I was already familiar with and interested in most of the characters in the book, but fans in other parts of the country may not be. Also, as time goes by and people move on out of the ACC, the book may become less and less relevent. All the players from that season are gone; many of the coaches too. I think only Herb Sendek, Dave Odom, Gary Williams, Mike Krz. are still coaching at those schools: gone are Rick Barnes, Pat Kennedy, Bobby Cremins, Jeff Jones, and of course El Deano. And the book really doesn't focus on the players at all: it's almost entirely about the coaches.

But some of the criticisms made by other reviewers don't seem valid to me: (1) Duke - I thought Feinstein bent over backwards NOT to show a Duke bias. But Duke finished first in the league that year, Duke has been one of the dominant programs in the game, plus Feinstein had some compelling stuff about Duke. Of course they took a prominent position in the book. (2) Dean - I thought Feinstein painted a great and fair portrait of Dean Smith. You get a real feel for the competitive old gentleman, who drinks scotch and beats the pants off you, but is the only ACC coach who doesn't swear ("My parents would never speak to me again."). Opinions of and reactions to Smith permeate the league (of course), so a lot of what other people say about Smith contains little jabs and digs. Feinstein reports on the long-running feuds between Smith and the other colorful coaches in the league, like Lefty Dreisell. But I think Feinstein's attitude is completely respectful. See the introduction, where a fan suggests the game may have passed Smith by, and Feinstein rattles off "Fourteen straight wins, another Final Four appearance..." etc. Feinstein doesn't get as CLOSE to Dean as he does to the other players, but that's not too surprising. (3) The "Les Robinson Game" - Feinstein reports that's what the league COACHES call it, not a nickname he made up. (4) Carolina-Duke - Well, this game is one of the centerpieces of the college basketball season, especially when it's played in Cameron. The league just announced its new TV schedule, and the headline was when the 2 Carolina-Duke games were and what national broadcasters are going to carry them. Of course Feinstein spends a chapter on it. No book on the ACC would be complete without... etc.

So some of the criticisms don't make sense to me. But we all seem to agree this is an excellent book. If you have ANY interest in college basketball, this is one bok you have to read.

you will after reading this book. I read the "Madness" in my first year of college at UVA- the year after it was published- and a love affair began. Whereas I used to not care less about basketball, this book signed over my life to the ACC. The soap opera-like stories, play-by-play excitement, and obvious love for the game captured me, and ever since I have been a virtual hermit during March. The biases are there, but that's part of the charm. In the ACC you love your team, but you love the game even more.

I'm not a college hoops fan, but having come from the University of Connecticut (back when winning the NIT was a big deal for us), I figured I should try to read something about the sport that has come to define my alma mater.

I chose well. No, UConn is not a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the subject of this season-long profile by John Feinstein. But Feinstein gives a solid appreciation for what college basketball is all about through the experiences of the coaches, players, refs, execs, and fans active in the ACC, which Feinstein claims is perhaps the most competitive b-ball conference in Division 1, year in and out. "Let down just the slightest bit and you become instant roadkill," he writes.

Feinstein gives you a sense of the different coaching styles at play here, from Dean Smith's traditional approach at North Carolina to Rick Barnes' cut-up quirkiness at Clemson to Dave Odom's huggy-bear avuncularity at Wake Forest. He relates tales about the history and folklore of the conference that make one feel like an instant Dick Vitale just from reading them, even if the terms "traveling" and "charging" make you flash on American Express. Most importantly, he writes a book that really opens up the world of college basketball to the more casual fan, or even curious non-fan.

That's what I liked the book. I read it, relished it, and enjoyed it with practically no knowledge of the sport going in. The way Feinstein writes about how different refs call different fouls, for example, was both illuminating and entertaining reading.

Feinstein also writes candidly about contracts, recruiting, marriages (failed and successful), burnout, death, and all the other factors that affect college coaches. Players are less the focus, and I get the feeling that Feinstein speaks from personal experience late in the book when he speculates about how an inability to relate to his young players may have moved Dean Smith to retire at 66. The absence of a players' perspective is unfortunate, but it kind of follows with the focus of the book being on the nine coaches, seven of whom gave Feinstein total access.

Feinstein obviously worked hard, and at times his narrative seems to be everywhere at once. Really great work on game descriptions, too, the way he uses them judiciously to punch up the storyline without letting them overtake the rest of the book.

Finally, this is a must-read for fans of Duke and their coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski comes off the best in this book, and while some charge Duke grad Feinstein with bias, the truth is Krzyzewski has the most to offer, both as a man and as a coach. The story of his "drawing the line" before a big game with North Carolina is worth the price of the book by itself. Between him and Dean Smith, I'm surprised Feinstein had time at all for poor Pat Kennedy of Florida State, but he works hard at balance.

What most comes across in this book is the amazing drive of the people involved. "If you're good enough to reach a goal, then there's still someplace else to go," says Maryland coach Gary Williams. "You don't just stop. You keep trying to be better."

There are minor holes in "A March To Madness," but what makes it great is the fact its author shares Williams' passion for excellence. There's no let up.

'A March to Madness' follows the Atlantic Coast Conference through the 1996-97 season with Feinstein's signature behind the scenes access. For a fascinating contrast, read this book and then read Feinstein's also excellent 'The Last Amateurs' about the Partiot League. The Patriot League has more true student-athletes, healthier competition, and a lot less money.

'A March to Madness' portrays the high stakes, high pressure, big money atmosphere behind big-time college sports. The ACC is great college basketball conference, but this book tears away most of the romantic myths. The reader is, however, treated to behind the scenes looks at coaches like Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, and Gary Williams, as well as big name players like Vince Carter and Tim Duncan. It's especially interesting to read about Williams' agonies of doubt - this book was written 6 years before the Terps won the NCAA title.

Very highly recommended for readers who enjoy college basketball or John Feinstein.

John Feinstein is a great writer, and this book is a look at one season in the ACC. He follows the teams around the conference for a season, giving us the background of the players and coaches and showing us the high and low points of the season.

For those of us who didn't go to one of these schools, it's a great way to learn about the basketball traditions of the conference, the history of the rivalries, the conference tournament, the arenas, the fans, etc.

Even if you're not an ACC fan, if you like college basketball you should enjoy this book.

A March to Madness by John Feinstein is an in depth look at each men's basketball program in the Atlantic Coast Conference. I liked that Feinstein did an equally large amount of research for the history of each school and the conference in general. "On May 8, 1953, at the Sedgfield Inn in Greensboro, the seven schools voted unanimously to leave the Southern Conference and form a new league called the Atlantic Coast Conference."(p95). I also liked how John didn't just tell about the coaches' lives at work, but also their life at home and their person relationship with their players. Another part of the book I liked was the game summaries with how the coaches felt at each part and what they said to their players before, during, and after the game.

The theme of the book, in my opinion, is if you are a coach than you lead your life just like you coach your team. You have the same work ethic. You have the same expectations to succeed, and the same drive to their definition to success. As a coach myself, not on the level of these men but a coach no the less, I agree with the theme. In coaching and everything else I do I strive to reach my goal, in coaching its winning it all, in life it could be something as simple as getting to a friend's house the time I say I'm going to be there.

This book is a great read. I highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in learning what goes on behind closed doors in one of the toughest conferences in all of NCAA basketball. I thought the book was a little Duke biased but I have no problem with that because of my Duke ties.

No true college hoops should be without this book. Feinstein does another terrific job of showing the reader inside basketball. Thanks to the cooperation of the ACC coaches and players, the season becomes meaningful to the reader. AN enjoyable read. I would say something negative, but there was nothing bad about the book.

John Feinstein is one of the most prolific writers in the field of sports journalism. He has written books covering everything from the harshness of playing for Bobby Knight ("A Season on the Brink") to romance of the little schools of the Patriot League ("The Last Amatuers"). When "A March to Madness" was released, I was quite pleased to find a tribute to a season that was so memorable to me. At the dawn of the 1996-97 NCAA Basketball season, I was in my second year at the University of Maryland. I found it difficult to really get into the basketball team my first year because it seemed like more hype than product. It was in 1996-97, that I truly began to embrace the Terrapins. "A March to Madness" chronicles their up-and-down season along with the other eight members of the ACC basketball conference (thought to be the best in the country). Feinstein was given unlimited access to all the teams by all the coaches (save for North Carolina's Dean Smith, who is notoriously stingy about that kind of access) and, as a result, put together a compelling record of, not only the season itself, but the background of the players, schools, and coaches that made that season what it was. Feinstein tells the story of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski leading the Blue Devils' resurgence to the top of the ACC standings just two years after a debilitating injury crushed himself and the Duke basketball program. He follows the quest of Dean Smith to break Adolph Rupp's all-time wins record. The journey of the conference's and country's best player, Tim Duncan of Wake Forest, to end his memorable 4-year career with a National Title comes to an end much too soon and is captured in agonizing detail by Feinstein. Feinstein also covers other notable stories like the surprising run by the upstart Maryland Terrapins to a Top 5 ranking before lack of depth and experience caused them to fall back to the back and the inexplicable implosion of Georgia Tech just one season after it missed the ACC Title by two points.

Feinstein's gift when it comes to writing is that brings life to the people he covers rather than just treating them like statistics in a news report. In "A March to Madness", the reader comes to understand the backgrounds and struggles of all of the coaches. On one level or another, the reader can identify with all of them. Feinstein treats the notable players much the same way. This book is a quick read and a truly memorable exposition of the mad world of ACC Basketball.

I have read a few of other books by this author and I liked this one the best.

A March to Madness marches us through the ACC basketball season and on to the NCAA Tournament. Traditionally, the ACC is the toughest basketball conference in the country. Schools like Duke, UNC, Maryland, Clemson, and NC State regularly punish their opponents. The same schools are also seen in the Final Four almost every year.

A March to Madness is a great book, one that any college basketball fan will love. I may be a bit biased because of my ACC allegiance (Florida State), regardless it is a great book. I especially liked the short profile of each coach and their respective programs. Then as the season moves on and other teams are left behind (FSU), the coaches get personal. I loved the knowledge of some of the intense rivalries, especially between Coach K and Dean Smith.

John Fienstein is a great sports writer, and this book is a slam dunk.