"Miracles on the Hardwood" by John Gasaway

[Scoop Snoop]

John Gasaway's book on the history of Catholic college basketball is stuffed with scores, stats, championship stories but he also delves into the humanity of players, coaches and fans to offer a total package.

Beginning in 1939, the NIT and NCAA held competing national championships. Catholic schools preferred the NIT in the early years and have won 22 NITs and 10 NCAAs. Gasaway cites 1955 as the highpoint of Catholic dominance with the championship games of the NIT and NCAA featuring four Catholic teams. The University of San Francisco won back to back NCs in '55 and '56 with Bill Russell leading them. The '80's saw Georgetown winning the NC in '85 and Villanova in '86 but the in the '90s no Catholic team made the Final Four.

Chapters dedicated to specific teams include Loyola, Marquette, Georgetown. Gonzaga and Villanova. In "McGuire and Marquette" he captures the spirit of the "Al Era" beautifully. He quotes Al's response to Father Raynor's suggestion that Al should choose the NCAA over the NIT in '70- "I don't hear confessions and you don't coach this team!" He notes Marquette's post McGuire decline and offers a brief account of the 2003 team but no mention at all of Buzz.

In "Wright and Villanova" Gasaway writes about how Wright crafted his team  into what it is today.  Gasaway begins by focusing on how Wright learned from failure. Three years after reaching the Final Four in 2009, Wright had his highest ranking class ever yet finished an embarrassing 13-19. Gasaway states that Wright is "creative and independent" and prizes "character along with, or even before talent" (italics mine). That's my favorite line from the book. Of course Wright's system is also featured but all good teams have a well developed system.

The one major disappointment in the book was Gasaway's neglect of the "new" Big East. He covers the original in detail but offers only a few brief sentences on the current Big East. I saw the dissolution of the original conference as a huge threat to Marquette in particular and Catholic basketball in general. Today, it is the de facto corporate headquarters of major Catholic teams -even with Gonzaga not being in the Big East.

Gasaway covers a multitude of other subjects including racism, point shaving, academic standards, and sexual assault. He pulls no punches.

There is no shortage of humor in the book. When a Loyola player was kicked out of school for "academic deficiencies" (4 F's and a D) one of his teammates joked "he spent too much time and effort on just that one class". Adolph Rupp hated playing at Notre Dame for, among other reasons, the visitors' bench was always right in front of ND's band. Covering a St. Johns' game, Al commented on Lou Carnesecca's ugly yellow, red and brown "lucky sweater"- "That sweater looks like a pizza that was dropped in the street". And last, but not least, Gasaway's son Rob suggested an alternative title to his dad's book- "Holy Shot!"   

 

[MauraDay]

My dad read it, and he loved it! I play to borrow it and read it over the summer.

[MUDPT]

It’s excellent, just for the Marquette chapter. Lots of stuff I didn’t know.

[Galway Eagle]

Villanova made the final four in 2009 not just the elite 8.

[Scoop Snoop]

Villanova made the final four in 2009 not just the elite 8.

OOPS! Thanks. I edited my post to reflect that.

[mileskishnish72]

Snoop, who am I missing? I got Nova with 3, USF 2, HC, LaSalle, GT, Loyola and MU with one each.

[Scoop Snoop]

Snoop, who am I missing? I got Nova with 3, USF 2, HC, LaSalle, GT, Loyola and MU with one each.

Damn! I really try to be accurate but you cannot tell from my post today. First Galway catches me when I did not reread far enough into a page to see that Nova made it to the FF before writing about their '09 season. I could have sworn that 11 was the number of Catholic NCAA NCs that Gasaway stated but since he seems to have been meticulous it would be disingenuous of me to blame him. You named all 10. One more edit. Mea Culpa.

[Billy Hoyle]

There is no shortage of humor in the book. When a Loyola player was kicked out of school for "academic deficiencies" (4 F's and a D) one of his teammates joked "he spent too much time and effort on just that one class".

A friend of mine is an admin for a college athletics department and had to dismiss their star hoops player (eventual NBA player) a few years ago. He cheated in four of his five classes. In the meeting  she asked “what happened in then fifth one? Didn’t you care enough?” 😆😆