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Where the Game Matters Most: A Last Championship Season in Indiana High School Basketball
In 1997 Indiana crowned its last all-state champion, marking the end of an eighty-seven-year-old Hoosier tradition. Despite public outcry, the statewide tournament has been replaced by four divisional tournaments based on school size. Small-school teams no longer will have the chance to compete against big-school Goliaths for the state title. Where the Game Matters Most captures the passion and the personalities, the triumphs and the heartbreak of this final all-comers season. Through the most intense basketball season in Indiana history, William Gildea follows four teams. Bringing alive the extraordinary bonds forged among players, coaches, schools, families, and entire towns, Where the Game Matters Most is a compelling evocation of a truly historic championship season.
- GenresSportsBasketball
240 pages, Hardcover
First published December 8, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 23, 2017
In my book Where The Game Matters Most by William Gildea is about High School Basketball in Indiana. In the book, basketball isn’t just a sport, it's a religion. They are also talking about the movie The Hoosiers. Their saying that in “1997 and Indiana crowd it’s last all-state champion, marking the end of an eighty-seven-year-old Hoosier tradition.” It is a statewide tournament that has been replaced by four divisional tournaments based on the school sizes.
Two things I liked about this book is that it talks about the movie The Hoosiers, and that I own the movie and I enjoy the movie a lot. Another thing is that it involves basketball and that it is my favorite sport and that I also enjoy. One thing I did not like about the book I read is that it left me wanting to know more information about the topic in the book. I would recommend this book to a group of people who like sports but mostly that like the sport basketball or if they have ever seen the movie Hoosiers so they can relate the movie to the book.
Two things I liked about this book is that it talks about the movie The Hoosiers, and that I own the movie and I enjoy the movie a lot. Another thing is that it involves basketball and that it is my favorite sport and that I also enjoy. One thing I did not like about the book I read is that it left me wanting to know more information about the topic in the book. I would recommend this book to a group of people who like sports but mostly that like the sport basketball or if they have ever seen the movie Hoosiers so they can relate the movie to the book.
April 11, 2022
The end of the one-class or non-class HS basketball tournament came in 1996, and the author covers some of the favored teams, players and coaches on their journey.
Interesting to high school hoops fans.
Interesting to high school hoops fans.
April 12, 2015
Where the Game Matters Most by Washington Post sportswriter, William Gildea, is a thrilling complement to Indiana high school basketball’s “last championship season”.
I thought that this piece of nonfiction literature was very compelling. It was rich with rhetorical elements, especially dialogue and reflection. I give this book four out of five stars. Since the book had a lot of dialogue and reflection, it was realistic. Gildea reflects on how much people didn’t want the state championship tournament to change from a single winner to four classes and four state champions. Indiana is a state that lives and breathes basketball. Most people just wanted to stick with the original tournament with one winner. Bobby Plump (famous former high school basketball player) said, “The thing that hurts the most, he said softly, is that kids won’t have the chance to experience what we did” (Gildea 188). Plump played on a small-school team and they won the single-class state tournament. Since he had such joy from winning the championship, he wanted other kids to feel the same joy. The memories of Plump’s championship season will last forever.
To wrap up, I gave Where the Game Matters Most four out of five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue and reflection of this book. I didn’t give it five stars because it wasn’t the best book I have ever read. It mostly explains how much pressure was on the players and the coaches to do well in the last single champion tournament. Gildea made me wonder what it would have been like to be in one of those high school gyms during the ‘96-97 basketball season.
I thought that this piece of nonfiction literature was very compelling. It was rich with rhetorical elements, especially dialogue and reflection. I give this book four out of five stars. Since the book had a lot of dialogue and reflection, it was realistic. Gildea reflects on how much people didn’t want the state championship tournament to change from a single winner to four classes and four state champions. Indiana is a state that lives and breathes basketball. Most people just wanted to stick with the original tournament with one winner. Bobby Plump (famous former high school basketball player) said, “The thing that hurts the most, he said softly, is that kids won’t have the chance to experience what we did” (Gildea 188). Plump played on a small-school team and they won the single-class state tournament. Since he had such joy from winning the championship, he wanted other kids to feel the same joy. The memories of Plump’s championship season will last forever.
To wrap up, I gave Where the Game Matters Most four out of five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue and reflection of this book. I didn’t give it five stars because it wasn’t the best book I have ever read. It mostly explains how much pressure was on the players and the coaches to do well in the last single champion tournament. Gildea made me wonder what it would have been like to be in one of those high school gyms during the ‘96-97 basketball season.
June 3, 2009
This book makes me want to move to Indiana. It's about high school basketball's single class system and how it was changed to multiple classes after the 1997 season, eliminating the chance for a small school to live out their own "Hoosiers" story. High school basketball is life in Indiana and this book will suck you in.
February 6, 2009
Since I didn't grow up in Indiana, I didn't know how big the high school game was. Sure, I heard about it's popularity. But, until you've experienced it or at least read this book you won't know.
I wouldn't have picked it out myself, but my brother in law Doug gave it to me and it's fantastic.
I wouldn't have picked it out myself, but my brother in law Doug gave it to me and it's fantastic.
July 22, 2008
The story of the final season of one-class basketball in Indiana. This is real life, so there's no manufactured drama, but the story is still solid for any basketball fan.
July 2, 2016
lots of nostalgia in here for me, having grown up going to a lot of the games in that 96/97 Anderson High School season.
July 24, 2016
Indiana HS basketball.
July 14, 2007
This is an awesome book that explains what high school basketball means in Indiana.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews