num_pages: 336
description: 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 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 Johnsons Michigan State Spartans and Birds 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 Hodgeswho were new to their schools but who set their own paths to build great teamsand 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 noticeto this day it remains the most watched basketball game in the history of televisionand the sport we now know was born.
language: English
title: When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball
publisher: Times Books