ABOUT THIS BOOK

Throughout the NCAA Tournament’s history, underdogs, Cinderella stories, and upsets have captured the attention and imagination of fans. Making March Madness is the story of this premiere tournament, from its early days in Kansas City, to its move to Madison Square Garden, to its surviving a point-shaving scandal in New York and taking its games to different sites across the country.Chad Carlson’s analysis places college basketball in historical context and connects it to larger issues in sport and American society, providing fresh insights on a host of topics that readers will find interesting, illuminating, and thought provoking.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Chad Carlson is an associate professor of kinesiology and an assistant men’s basketball coach at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A former college and semiprofessional basketball player, he now teaches and researches selected topics within the fields of sport history, sport philosophy, and sport and religion.

REVIEWS

“Chad Carlson’s entertaining and insightful story captures the drama of college basketball’s evolution from a regional sport to a national phenomenon. An essential read for sports historians and basketball fans.”

—Johnny Smith,author of The Sons of Westwood: John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty That Changed College Basketball

“Informative and enjoyable … will be of use to scholars and aficionados alike.”

—Murry Nelson, author of Big Ten Basketball, 1943–1972

“Those of us fortunate enough to teach courses on March Madness will appreciate Carlson’s masterful coverage of its origin story, and the foundation it provides for other readings on the evolution of the tournament such as Aram Goudsouzian’s King of the Court or Johnny Smith’s Sons of Westwood. But sport history and even business history courses could make use of a book that writes the unknown history of a very well-known topic. Although the density of the text may not be suitable for lower-level or underprepared college students, upper-level courses and graduate seminars will doubtless engender a lot of conversation if they choose to assign Making March Madness.”
—Andrew R.M. Smith, Sport in American History, January 2018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Series Editor’s Preface

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1. Prolegomena to the Tournaments, 1901–1937

Chapter 2. Genesis of the Kansas City and New York City Tournaments, 1937–1938

Chapter 3. The NABC and the Inaugural NCAA Tournament, 1938–1939

Chapter 4. Toward Sustainability and Financial Solvency, 1939–1940

Chapter 5. Early Peaks and Valleys, 1940–1942

Chapter 6. New York City and True National Championships, 1942–1945

Chapter 7. Postwar Boom, 1946–1950

Chapter 8. The Scandal, Damage Control, and Alternate Options, 1950–1951

Epilogue. New Beginnings, with Leverage, 1952–2005

Appendix A. AAU National Tournament Champions, 1897–1952

Appendix B. Retrospective Polls, 1893–1952

Appendix C. Continuous College Basketball Postseason Tournaments, 1937–1952

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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