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

growing up to be marine biologists.
Ranadivé knew that if they played the
conventional way—if they let their
opponents dribble the ball up the court
without opposition—they would almost
certainly lose to the girls for whom
basketball was a passion. Ranadivé had
come to America as a seventeen-year-
old with fifty dollars in his pocket. He
was not one to accept losing easily. His
second principle, then, was that his team
would play a real full-court press—
every game, all the time. The team ended
up at the national championships. “It was
really random,” Anjali Ranadivé said. “I
mean, my father had never played
basketball before.”