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

Many people in the world of basketball
don’t really believe in the press because
it’s not perfect: it can be beaten by a
well-coached team with adept ball
handlers and astute passers. Even
Ranadivé readily admitted as much. All
an opposing team had to do to beat
Redwood City was press back. The girls
were not good enough to handle a taste
of their own medicine. But all those
objections miss the point. If Ranadivé’s
girls or Fordham’s scrappy
overachievers had played the
conventional way, they would have lost
by thirty points. The press was the best
chance the underdog had of beating
Goliath. Logically, every team that
comes in as an underdog should play that