Making March Madness: The Early Years of the NCAA, NIT, and College Basketball Championships, 1922-1951 (Sport, Culture, and Society)

An essential read for sports historians and basketball fans.”—Johnny Smith, author of The Sons of Westwood: John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty That Changed College Basketball. “Chad Carlson’s entertaining and insightful story captures the drama of college basketball’s evolution from a regional sport to a national phenomenon

Throughout the NCAA Tournament’s history, underdogs, Cinderella stories, and upsets have captured the attention and imagination of fans. Making March Madness is the story of this premiere tournament, from its early days in Kansas City, to its move to Madison Square Garden, to its surviving a point-shaving scandal in New York and taking its games to different sites across the country.Chad Carlson’s analysis places college basketball in historical context and connects it to larger issues in sport and American society, providing fresh insights on a host of topics that readers will find interesting, illuminating, and thought provoking.