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by William Gildea (Author)
No state loves basketball -- especially high school basketball -- more than Indiana does. Each winter high school basketball fever grips the state, with games broadcast every night -- and a climactic championship tournament in March.
Last season, however, Indiana crowned its last all-state champion, marking the end of an eighty-five-year-old Hoosier tradition. Next year, small-school teams -- like the one in the movie Hoosiers -- will no longer have a chance to upset the big-school Goliaths and go all the way.
In Where the Game Matters Most, William Gildea captures all the drama, tension, and excitement of this final all-state championship season. Following the fortunes of four very different teams, he brings to life the traditions, the rivalries, the mounting pressures, and the desperate dreams as the season moves toward a dramatic final showdown in Indianapolis. Here is a brilliant evocation of a place where basketball is not only a game but a way of life.
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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 Despite public outcry, the statewide tournament has been replaced by four divisional tournaments based on school size.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.
