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Matt Doeden
MILLBROOK PRESS MINNEAPOLIS
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Text copyright 2016 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the
prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion
of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
Millbrook Press
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doeden, Matt.
The Final Four : the pursuit of college basketball glory / by Matt Doeden.
pages cm. (Spectacular sports)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Audience: Age: 1018.
Audience: Grade: 9 to 12.
ISBN 978-1-4677-8780-2 (lb : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4677-9730-6 (eb pdf )
ISBN 978-1-5124-1783-8 (Audisee)
1. NCAA Basketball TournamentHistoryJuvenile literature. I. Title.
GV885.49.N37D64 2016
796.323'63dc23 2015025429
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 CG 12/31/15
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CONTENTS
Introduction: March Madness
From the Basement to the Big Time:
A History of the College Basketball Championship
Down to the Wire:
The Greatest Games of the Final Four
Unforgettable: Memorable Moments of the Final Four
Looking Ahead: The Future of the Final Four
Source Notes
Glossary
Further Reading
Index
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INTRODUCTION
March Madness
T
he clock ticks down the seconds... 5... 4... The roar of the crowd is deafening.
A player drives toward the basket, stops, steps back... 3... 2... 1...The shot goes up. Camera flashes fill the arena. The clock strikes 0 as the ball banks off the backboard and drops toward the rim.
Few sporting events can match the pure excitement of the Final Four. After a tough regular season and weeks of battling through the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 Mens Basketball Championship tournament, four teams gather to try to stake their claims as the best in the land. For more than three-quarters of a century, the Final Four has given fans thrills, chills, and more than a share of heartbreak. Its college basketballs biggest stage, and only one team can survive.
Opposite page: The Duke Blue Devils and the Wisconsin Badgers battle in
the 2015 NCAA title game.
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FROM THE BASEMENT
TO THE BIG TIME
A History of the College
Basketball Championship
T
here were no cameras, no packed seats, and no food vendors at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 9, 1895 .
No fanfare of any kind. No one could have known it at the time, but in the basement of the universitys science building, history was being made.