David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

(Darren Dugan) #1

Italian kids fouled out. None of them
were as good as Erving. It didn’t matter.
Fordham won 87–79.
In the world of basketball, there are
countless stories like this about
legendary games where David used the
full-court press to beat Goliath. Yet the
puzzle of the press is that it has never
become popular. What did Digger
Phelps do the season after his stunning
upset of UMass? He never used the full-
court press the same way again. And the
UMass coach, Jack Leaman, who was
humbled in his own gym by a bunch of
street kids—did he learn from his defeat
and use the press himself the next time
he had a team of underdogs? He did not.

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