GOING BIGTIME: the Spectacular Rise of Umass Basketball

In Going Bigtime, award-winning writer Marty Dobrow takes readers through one of the most compelling sports stories in recent American history. Using in-depth profile, revealing anecdote, and keen analysis, he chronicles the colorful University of Massachusetts basketball teams of the sixties and seventies that included legendary figures Julius Erving and Rick Pitino, then describes the eighties squads that plunged to embarrassing levels, only to be rescued by a charismatic coach named John Calipari.
Ranked 259th of 267 Division I teams in the eighties, UMass rose to the top. The ascent culminated in 1995-96, a season in which the Minutemen reached the Final Four and spent most of the year ranked Number 1. Calipari earned national Coach of the Year honors, and star player Marcus Camby was tapped Player of the Year.
UMass enjoyed the considerable spoils of its success, but also paid a price. During the Calipari years, the team was rocked by controversy: a much-publicized grades scandal, the infamous "John Chaney incident," and the dismissal of Mike Williams - a clutch player for the ages. Following the magical 1995-96 season, Camby made a wrenching confession about his illegal entanglement with agents, and Calipari took his resurrection act on the road, signing a fat contract to coach the New Jersey Nets.
Dobrow provides the most penetrating profiles ever written about Calipari, Camby, and his UMass teammates, while at the same time exploring the complexities of an obscure program gaining fame.

Marty Dobrow has covered UMass basketball for five seasons at the Daily Hampshire (Mass.) Gazette.