The Road to Madness

“This is the most comprehensive book on one of the most game-changing seasons in college basketball history. Not only is the 1973–74 season pivotal to understanding the tournament we watch every March, it is also an essential chapter in the long and enduring legacy of basketball in North Carolina.” — Jay Bilas, ESPN

“J. Samuel Walker and Randy Roberts’s The Road to Madness is one of the best basketball books ever written. It’s both extremely well researched and elegantly written. I highly recommend it!” — Douglas Brinkley, Rice University

“In this blow-by-blow account of the 1973–74 season, Walker and Roberts offer a concise narrative history that explains the dramatic origins of the contemporary American sports phenomenon known as March Madness. Engagingly written and persuasively argued, this book was so much fun to read. It will speak to the basketball fan who, like me, watched these events unfold, as well as the contemporary fan who grew up with 'The Big Dance' in full swing.” — Thomas Borstelmann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“Offer[s] an intimate glimpse at the inner workings of the NCAA.” — News and Observer

“Belongs in libraries everywhere. . . . Meets both the needs of fans as well as scholars. . . . A good lively read.” — ARETE

“A masterfully written contribution to the growing canon of sports historiography and deserves a considerable audience.” — Journal of Southern History

“Successfully recounts the dramatic 1973-1974 college basketball season and shows how it inspired monumental changes in the NCAA tournament.”—Kansas History