It’s almost that time of year again, when the Madness descends upon North America, swallowing up basketball fans and non-fans alike. And while we don’t know what will transpire in next month’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, we do know one thing for sure – it won’t top what happened on March 28, 1992. That was when Duke’s Christian Laettner hit “The Shot’, beating Kentucky at the buzzer in the final of the NCAA East Regional. Veteran sportswriter Gene Wojciechowski tells the tale of this shot in his latest release, The Last Great Game: Duke vs Kentucky and the 2.1 Seconds The Changed Basketball.
I’ve already been asked, “a book about just that shot?”. Well, no, not exactly. While the book culminates in Laettner’s miraculous shot at the buzzer, it isn’t the whole story. Wojciechowski beautiful details the backstories of all the participants in the game, which is what makes this book really great. We find out that Laettner wasn’t just despised by the fans of Duke’s rivals – his own teammates (especially Bobby Hurley) also had a love-hate relationship with him. We learn of Rick Pitino’s insane work ethic and crazy workouts he put his team through. We get mini-biographies on Laettner, Coach K, Pitino, Jamal Mashburn, Hurley and many others. We get a lot of insider basketball goodness.
So, yes, it is a book about one basketball shot. But it is also a book about so much more.
Grab a copy here:
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
