Rating: 
Summary: Last Amatuers A Must Have For High School Age BBall Fanatics
Review: In reading The Last Amatuers, I must say it has to be one of the best basketball based books I have ever read. I have read Season on The Brink, and Where The Game Matters Most, and this is by far the best one ever. It shows that academics MUST come before athletics, and that small schools dont always lose the guarantee games, and that the mid, and low major teams can run with the big dogs. I highly recommend it to high school basketball players who have a passion for in depth basketball readings.
Rating: 
Summary: A Worthwhile Look at the Patriot League
Review: This book was not terriby interesting from a general interest perspective but it is good for someone who is interested in learning about the lower echelons of Division I college basketball. I personally enjoyed the profiles of some of these players: their growing up, high school playing, who recruited them, who didn't. Alot of the book is game descriptions: pre conference games, conference games, the conference tournament, and then Lafayette in the NCAA tournament against Temple. The season is the 1999-2000 one, ending in March 2000. I skipped about 40 pages of the regular season going to the start of the conference tournament because I started to get a little bored. But a good book. The writing is clear and I suppose he did as much with the subject as could be done.
Rating: 
Summary: A great way to look beyond the glitz of March Madness
Review: As we enter into another March season of college basketball the glitz, the fever and the madness of Division I basketball becomes a spectacle that overshadows, or even drives, the problems of collegiate basketball, or as Feinstein once referred to it as "free farm teams for the NBA." But strip away the trappings of TV and privelage, and you have the Patriot League of Division I basketball. This league is about as far removed from the big schools as can be, and still have a chance to play them. This is the story of a season in the life of players who play the game because they love it, not because it is going to be their future. Often times these are the players that the big school scouts have let pass, or the ones that choose smaller schools instead of the big basketball powerhouses so that they can play ball *and* get an education. Feinstein doesn't sugar coat it - it's still Division I ball, which means a lot of work and injuries appear. But the Partiot league is smaller gyms, small crowds, long bus rides. It's people who want to be there. And it's still the excitement of the game, and how the standings go. You are swept up in a season from start to finish, wondering along with the players who is going to end up on top, and how will they do in the tournaments. While in order to bring you into the story you must be surrounded by the players and caches, often times the cast of characters can get Tolstoy-ish in scope and hard to keep straight. I almost need to read it again now to focus on who as well as the what. Still, this is a great book to just enjoy the purity of sport. It is worth infinitely more than a dozen stories of the NBA pros lives, or the antics of those destined for the NBA draft. It's a great antidote to the madness of TV and reminds you why some of these guys are really there.
Rating:
Summary: The Never Give Up League
Review: I've had season bball tickets as long as Alumni Hall at Canoe U has been selling them and rarely miss a home game. This is a great book about a Don't Say Die league. Not only does John Feinstein, who also does color for Navy football games have a keen insight into life at The Yard, he really lets one know and appreciate the fine student athletes at the other Patriot League schools. This is more than a book about round ball, its an solid introduction to a very solid group of schools. If you enjoy colleges for more than training future pros, you have to read The Last Amateurs.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed Every Word
Review: This is more than a good basketball book; it's a great book that happens to be about basketball. As readers have come to expect from John Feinstein, the insider reporting is so provocative that one might think the author doubled as an assistant coach for any (or all) these teams. The intensity of the writing and the descriptive power that John Feinstein brings to a seemingly offbeat or slow subject (Patriot League basketball) will grab you like you are at center court. I went into this book with low expectations because of the subject matter, and ended it believing I just finished one of the better books I remember reading in a long time. It's well worth your time!
Rating:
Summary: FAN-tastic
Review: This book was for the true basketball fan. Anybody that couldn't get past the "Patriot League as backdrop" are missing the point. D1 BB and FB have gotten out of control as money making machines for the Universities, and subsequently priorities have been skewed. This book gives us a glimpse inside a league that is trying to keep those priorities in balance.
Rating: 
Summary: Bogged Down
Review: I have read and enjoyed all the Fienstein books but this time I got bogged down. He should have just concentrated on a couple of teams. I got confused reading about the entire league.
Rating:
Summary: A book for college basketball purists!
Review: In "The Last Amateurs" (a title that sounds like it could be a Bruce Willis film title), author John Feinstein ("A Good Walk Spoiled" and "The Majors" to name a few), returns to his true love, college basketball. In revisiting a subject that he last broached in his "expose'" of Bobby Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers in "Season on the Brink", Feinstein proves very quickly that this book is a labor of love and that he is indeed a true fan of the sport. His subject matter is the 1999-2000 basketball season of Patriot League members, Navy, Lafayette, Lehigh, Army, Bucknell, Colgate, and Holy Cross. Although I consider myself a serious fan of college basketball, I must admit, I knew very little about this league or its teams until reading this book. Having grown up a fan of Big Ten basketball, I'm not sure I could have identified the states, let alone the cities, that these Patriot League teams called "home". And, while I was certainly recognized the names of the league best known coaches, Ralph Willard and Don Devoe, the rest of the leagues coaches and players toiled away in basic anominity. Feinstein changed all that. His description of the dedication and effort that these teams put forth every year, with little national recognition, was intriguing. He drove you to get to know these players and coaches better. And, along the way, gave the reader a vision of what college basketball (and athletics) should really be about - working toward graduation and playing for your school's pride (instead of playing to impress NBA scouts). This is the purist's view of college basketball and it was refreshing to read! I would encourage any fan of college athletics to give this book a try. In a sport where one's allegiance to his school lasts only until agents come knocking at his door, it is refreshing to read about players who genuinely care for one another and their alma mater. To read about these true "student-athletes" (who worried about missing classes and took course work with them on road trips) is a tremendous breath of fresh air.
Rating:
Summary: The Honor and Integrity of the Game Lives
Review: At one point in my life I was an NBA fan. Two dream teams later I have grown increasingly disgruntled with the style of play (traveling is never called if it is a potential highlight move)and the attitudes of professional players. Teamwork appears important only to the extent it will enhance one's marketability. I do not watch the NBA anymore. Major college basketball has been infected with these attitudes. For example, Jason Williams has been pilaried in some circles for remaining at Duke for his senior year so that he can get his degree. The question repeated on talk shows is why doesn't he take the money and go to the NBA. Then there is the Patriot League. John Feinstein's description of the 1999-2000 season in "The Last Amatuers" is refreshing in that it takes a look at players who play the game because they love to play. Only two of the schools offer scholarships to these players. Basketball players who will help teams are rejected because their grades and test scores fail to qualify them for admission. One starting player profiled in this book quits prior to his senior year because he needs to improve his grades so he can go to law school. The coach of a Division 1 school supports this decision. After reading the first two chapters of this book you wonder where one goes to find this fantasyland. Feinstein does an excellent job of drawing you into this world with honest descriptions of the players, their skills (or lack thereof)and how they ended up at the school they are playing for. The reader gets a real sense of how competitive the players in this league are. These players do not look at their playing in this league as intramural sports. They compete and they want to win as much as if not more than the major college player. You also get to know the coaches, their personalities and why they are coaching in this league. Two of them are former major college coaches and they prefer the relative obscurity of the Patriot League to the limelight of regular tlevision appearances and the NCAA tournament. Feinstein does such a compelling job of connecting the reader to the league and its personalities that I have found myself bookmarking the Patriot League website so that I can keep up with what is happening in the league this year. And for those of you who are wondering I am not an alumnus, I went to Furman University.
If you are old-school and wonder where the mid-range jumper went and why players refuse to play defense because it might negatively impact their offensive stats, you won't be able to put this book down.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: I loved this book. The book is intended for the true Basketball aficianado, not a passing fan. You get a great peek at what life is like for some true Student-Athletes, and great insight into life on the road in the Patriot League. I did not attend one of these schools and was still riveted to the book.
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