/* Starred Review */ Gr 8 Up — The  fates of four  college basketball players come together as their teams meet in a semifinal game of the  NCAA Basketball Tournament. Malcolm McBride and Michael Jordan (who bears the  burden of being named after the  game's greatest player) are members of the  vaunted Michigan State Spartans while Roko Bacic and Crispin Rice play for the  underdog Troy University Trojans. Their stories are told by means of flashbacks, journal entries, newspaper accounts, and TV interviews weaving in and out of the  play-by-play. Brash, outspoken Malcolm, who grew up in a crime-ridden Detroit housing project and whose sister was killed in a drive-by shooting, makes no secret of his desire to secure a lucrative pro contract after one year of college basketball. For Roko, basketball is his ticket to a better life after his escape from war-torn Croatia. Michael's self-confidence has suffered from his inability to live up to his famous name, and Crispin is having second thoughts about a hasty (and public) proposal to a possibly faithless girlfriend. Malcolm, Michael, and Roko come across as being especially complex, multifaceted, driven individuals. Malcolm is in many ways the  least likable but most compelling of the  protagonists. He boldly speaks truth to power in challenging a college athletic system that routinely exploits student athletes while raking in hundreds of millions of dollars from their unpaid labors. With exciting game action and a candid exploration of the  hypocrisy inherent so-called amateur sports, this gritty, realistic, and riveting novel deserves the  wide audience it will no doubt attract.—Richard Luzer, Fair Haven Union High School, VT --Richard Luzer (Reviewed March 1 , 2012) (School Library Journal, vol 58, issue 03, p177)