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  • Published: 18 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9780525564751
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99

The Back Roads to March

The Unsung, Unheralded, and Unknown Heroes of a College Basketball Season



#1 New York Times bestselling author John Feinstein returns to his first love--college basketball--with a fascinating and compelling journey through a landscape of unsung, unpublicized and often unknown heroes of Division-1 college hoops.

#1 New York Times bestselling author John Feinstein returns to his first love--college basketball--with a fascinating and compelling journey through a landscape of unsung, unpublicized and often unknown heroes of Division-1 college hoops.

John Feinstein pulls back the curtain on college basketball's lesser-known Cinderella stories--the smaller programs who no one expects to win, who have no chance of attracting the most coveted high school recruits. To tell this story, Feinstein follows a handful of players, coaches, and schools who dream, not of winning the NCAA tournament, but of making it past their first or second round games. Every once in a while, one of these coaches or players is plucked from obscurity to lead a major team or to play professionally, cementing their status in these fiercely passionate fan bases as a legend. These are the gifted players who aren't handled with kid gloves--they're hardworking, gritty teammates who practice and party with everyone else.

With his trademark humor and invaluable connections, John Feinstein reveals the big time programs you've never heard of, the bracket busters you didn't expect to cheer for, and the coaches who inspire them to take their teams to the next level.

  • Published: 18 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9780525564751
  • Imprint: Knopf US
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99

About the author

John Feinstein

John Feinstein spent years on the staff at the Washington Post, as well as writing for Sports Illustrated and the National Sports Daily. He is a commentator on NPR's "Morning Edition," a regular on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters" and a visiting professor of journalism at Duke University.

His first book, A Season on the Brink, is the bestselling sports book of all time. His first book for younger readers, Last Shot, was a bestseller. His current book for younger readers is Vanishing Act.

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Praise for The Back Roads to March

  • "Perfect. A wonderful book by a wonderful sports journalist." --Booklist (starred review)
  • "It's all net for Feinstein's passionate basketball history." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)