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Sunday Morning News

College Hoops Kicks Off Season

Aired November 12, 2000 - 8:48 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: College basketball season is upon us. It might seem like today's basketball players only take to the courts in return for a big paycheck and lots of endorsements. But there is a group of athletes out there who are devoted to the game and their stories are the focus of a new book. It's called "The Last Amateurs." The author, Mr. Behind The Scenes, himself, John Feinstein, joining us from our Washington bureau this morning.

John, good to see you again.

JOHN FEINSTEIN, "THE LAST AMATEURS": Thanks, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing just great on this Sunday morning. Glad to see you're up as well.

Now what's a guy like you, who goes behind the scenes in some of the biggest sports programs around, doing in smaller time college sports?

FEINSTEIN: Well, that's the question I was asked by the Patriot League people themselves when I first called them and said I wanted to do this book. And I really just got to the point where having been around big time athletics and college athletics for so many years, I felt almost as if I needed a cleansing. I was at a big time camp two summers ago watching the high school stars play and sitting with college coaches it seemed like every one of them was either going straight to the NBA or needed somebody to take his SATs for him to get into college or had an agent.

And I walked out the door and happened to bump into Emmitt Davis (ph), who's the coach at Colgate. And I was discussing this with him and he laughed and started telling me a story about a player on the Colgate team who had quit because his academic adviser told him he needed extra time to study to get a Rhodes Scholarship. And he'd written his Rhodes essay about the pain of giving up basketball.

Now, this was someone who wasn't a star, wasn't even a starter at Colgate, but giving up the game was still very wrenching for him because no matter what level you play it at, you care about it, you put time into it, it means a lot to you.

So I thought it would be fun to write about kids who play the game because they love to play, not because they're going to be millionaires and have shoe contracts. And I had a wonderful time doing it.

KAGAN: And so you go behind the scenes. Share with us some of the differences that you found in, let's say, a smaller time Patriot League type program versus a Duke or Indiana that you spent so much time with in North Carolina.

FEINSTEIN: Or Stanford.

KAGAN: Or Stanford. OK. Their numbers...

FEINSTEIN: To bring your alma mater.

KAGAN: OK.

FEINSTEIN: Right. You know, just one small example, Dan Bowen (ph), who was a player at Bucknell, had a toe injury and as a result they had to cut out the top of his sneaker in order to allow him to play because, so the sneaker wouldn't rub against the injury. And at Duke or Stanford or Indiana, if somebody has a problem with a sneaker, you throw the sneakers away and you've got a hundred more pairs waiting for you from your shoe company.

At Bucknell, they had to write a letter to their shoe company explaining why they had damaged the sneaker, requesting a replacement pair. That's sort of the difference between the multi-million dollar programs and the Patriot League programs.

The other thing, Ralph Willard (ph), the coach at Holy Cross, told me a story. He'd been at Pittsburgh in the big east and his first day back at Holy Cross he had an early morning practice and he walked into the gym and the kids were waiting for him, which was no surprise. You want to make an impression on the new coach. But he looked and every one of them had a school book open at 6:30 in the morning and it was like oh my god, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. These are real students.

KAGAN: Well, speaking of Kansas, if we could take a, just a little turn there towards Division One programs, who do you like this year?

FEINSTEIN: Well, as usual, Arizona probably has the most talent. The ACC will be back this year with three potential final four teams in Duke, North Carolina, Maryland. Your alma mater will be very good, Stanford. And I'm looking for Lafayette or Navy to come out in the Patriot League and pull a big upset this year.

KAGAN: All right, you're pulling for them.

FEINSTEIN: Big time.

KAGAN: Well, you know, at least one will be at the big dance.

FEINSTEIN: They get their moment in the sun, their 15 minutes of fame, absolutely.

KAGAN: That they do. John Feinstein, thanks for joining us. The book, once again, "The Last Amateurs." Good to see you again.

FEINSTEIN: Thanks, Daryn.

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