The Best Game Ever: How Frank McGuire’s ’57 Tar Heels Beat Wilt and Revolutionized College Basketball

The Best Game Ever is a revealing look at the University of North Carolina Tar Heels’ 1956-57 season, one of the most storied in college basketball history. From the first day of practice, when forward Lennie Rosenbluth predicted a winning season, to the final game, a triple-overtime victory over Wilt Chamberlain’s legendary Kansas team, the season developed into what many sports historians believe was the start of college basketball hysteria not only on Tobacco Road, but nationwide. The 1956-57 Tar Heels finished a perfect 32-0. The only previous team in Carolina history to achieve perfection was the 1924 team, years before the NCAA Tournament was created.

Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly, America’s most widely read magazine devoted to University of North Carolina athletics. He is a featured columnist on TarHeelBlue.com and the author or coauthor of six books on North Carolina basketball, including the program’s official chronicle of its first 100 years, Carolina Basketball: A Century of Excellence.