Bravehearts: The Against-All-Odds Rise of Gonzaga Basketball

That all changed in 1998. That year, Gonzaga's men's Division 1 basketball team won their first game in the NCAA tournament. Then they won their next game. And their next one. Suddenly, the funny sounding school with little basketball heritage and a fraction of the resources of most big time college basketball programs, was one game away from the Final Four. It stunned the college basketball world and made the once unpronounceable Gonzaga a household name.

Most remarkable of all, however, is that Gonzaga has continued to stun the college basketball world, making deep runs into the NCAA tournament almost every year since then—and without compromising on the small-school values that still separate it from the basketball factories in terrorizes each March.

Little Big Man is the inspirational and touching story of Gonzaga's rise from college basketball obscurity to near mythic status as everyone's favorite underdog. Acclaimed college basketball writer Bud Withers has covered the Zags since it all begin. In dramatic, and at times poignant, fashion he reanimates the events of the last few years, adding flesh to the personalities and summoning the details, great and small, that make up this unforgettable story. Readers will meet players such as big time high school recruit Blake Stepp, who chose Gonzaga because of what it wasn't, a big time school. They'll meet Dan Dickau, who transferred from the big state school to become an All American and cover boy at Gonzaga. They'll meet former coach Dan Monson, who instilled a fearless attitude among the players, and Mark Few, the current coach who parlayed that into even greater success. Finally, they'll meet Father Tony Lehmann, the longtime chaplain who died in March of 2002. The inspirational leader of the basketball team, Lehmann touched the lives of untold numbers of Gonzaga players, past and present, and his life and influence courses through the story.

If you're a Gonzaga alumni or related to one, this would make a nice gift.


Good school, great team, so-so book   December 28, 2002
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This was a light, fast, enjoyable read, but in the end, my pleasure stemmed from the subject moreso than the author's skill. Having read many of John Feinstein's works, I was expecting an "inside" look at the Gonzaga program: the story of a season through the eyes and words of players and coaches. Instead, Mr. Withers cobbles together a series of brief histories: of the school, of the coaching staff, of the team, of the WCC, etc. Although there are interviews with coaches, players and recruits, it seemed as though Withers spent most of his time compiling and recounting articles from newspaper achieves and school promotional literature.

If you like college hoops, and have enjoyed Gonzaga's seeminingly improbable success in recent NCAA tournaments, then you'll enjoy this book. If, however, you want to know what it's like to be a student-athlete or coach campaigning towards the "big dance" next March, this book doesn't deliver.