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7 basketball books for March Madness and beyond

Here are excerpts from seven books by some of the biggest names – coaches and players – in college basketball.

7. “In My Skin: My Life On and Off”

  • By Ross Atkin Staff writer

By Brittney Griner

It Books

224 pages

(A dominating 6 ft. in. 8 in. center in college, Brittney Griner led Baylor to the 2012 NCAA championship before the Phoenix Mercury made her the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft.)

“The day before the [WNBA All-Star] game, in one of the conference rooms at the Mohegan Sun hotel, league executives showed us various designs under consideration for the new uniforms they’re hoping to unveil for the 2015 season. But there was one problem; we didn’t like what we saw. Apparently the idea is to come up with something more ‘appealing’ to fans. What that means, of course, is that the designs were an obvious attempt to create something more traditionally feminine, to show our bodies in a way that will attract more men. Everything was tighter, more streamlined, and the shorts were even shorter than the ones we wear now. (I wore longer shorts in college.) There was actually an option to wear leopard-print tights beneath our shorts. I can probably think of a few women in the league who might like that look, but the bottom line is that the uniforms we saw won’t flatter a lot of our players. We have some big girls in the WNBA, lots of different body types. A razorback jersey, essentially a track outfit, doesn’t really work for a woman who is six foot four and 210 pounds. Not everybody in this league is stick-thin; most of us aren’t. We care more about comfort on the court than sex appeal.” 

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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