If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Great Film overall

Best movie ever!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This film is about the very successful college basketball coach, Nolan Richardson. He made a huge name for himself coaching for Tulsa and Arkansas universities--with a winning percentage a very admirable .711--and an NIT and NCAA title. The first portion of the film concerns Richardson's early years and the difficulties he and other Black Americans faced in the years he was a high school and college player. Not surprisingly, he grew up a bit bitter and with a bit of a chip on his shoulder--as he grew up in a very prejudiced atmosphere in the South. However, this attitude helped him when he became a coach--it energized him and pushed him to succeed. This let to him becoming a top coach with a top program by the 1990s. The only problem is, the same anger that helped him eventually led to his downfall--and this makes up the latter portion of the ESPN film. All in all, a rather sad film--you really feel for the guy and you wonder what might have happened because of his ill-timed actions. Well worth seeing.