This was an interesting journey through the 2018-19 NCAA men's basketball season from start to March Madness through the lens of the mid-majors in a variety of lower-level conferences such as the Patriot League, MEAC, Ivy League, Atlantic 10 and many others. Author John Feinstein follows several games in depth, talks to coaches, and introduces readers to some great players with great stories that they would otherwise have never heard of. ( )

John Feinstein spent the year going on the road to the lessor known schools that play NCAA Division 1 basketball. These are schools where the games are played to smaller crowds. The gyms seat somewhere between 2,500 to 5,000 fans. Teams are usually not on television regularly and the team have one shot to make the big dance in March. Feinstein allows the players, coaches and the stadiums shine. ( )

You can never go wrong with a sports book written by John Feinstein. Feinstein covers mid major basketball teams not Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and all the usual basketball powerhouses. Instead he follows teams like Army, Temple, LaSalle, Lafayette, Harvard etc. who are competitive but don’t have the resources, huge arenas and TV exposure.

The interesting parts of the book are the challenges that the coaches face in the smaller schools. Limited recruiting budgets and opportunities, transfers, modest travel arrangements, staffing etc. Feinstein has a special affection for the Palestra and The Big Five. He covered the last year of coaching for Fran Dunphy and Phil Martelli. Feinstein intimates that Dunphy got a raw deal on his way out.

All these teams and coaches are under pressure to win their conferences in order to get into the NCAAs as very few of them get at large bids. If their teams don’t get into the NCAA tournament or the NIT, coaches will generally get fired.

Most of Feinstein’s travels are for teams in NY, NJ, PA, DE, VA, NC, CT that are driving distance from his home. There are a number of great profiles and Feinstein recounts interesting stories of coaches like Lefty Driesell, Bobby Knight and Jim Calhoun.

If you like college basketball, you’ll really enjoy this book... ( )

Final Four title by good author