UPDATE: Book on 2011 UConn Men's Championship Season - Now Available | The Boneyard

UPDATE: Book on 2011 UConn Men's Championship Season - Now Available

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Update No. 3: A few new updates: The first, is that after the success of my first signing at the Black Bear Hartford, I will be doing signings in different parts of the state as well. I am working right now to have them in the Fairfield area, New Haven and at the Co-Op in Storrs. As dates become available, check back here, visit www.uconnbook.com or e-mail at uconnbook@gmail.com (You can also sign up for the mobile phone service as explained below!).

As for the Kindle version there is still no update just yet. However, it is my hope that it'll be available in the next week.

And finally, the Unlikeliest Champion now has a Mobile VIP club. It's free and simple to use. Just text the word "UConn2011" to the number 90210, and through that service that, you'll learn about free giveaways, discounts, events and more.

As always, thank you all for the support and Happy New Year!



Update No. 2: Just wanted to send a quick note that if you're headed to the UConn campus (in Storrs), the UConn Co-Op is now selling copies of 'The Unlikeliest Champion!' Get your copy there, or any of the available channels listed below.

In addition, a number of you have asked about a Kindle version of the book being available, and the answer is an absolute YES. I finalized the documents awhile back, and it's my hope that by mid-January it'll be available. I'm sorry I could not have it out sooner, but it is coming soon.

For updates on the Kindle version and more, please go ahead follow 'The Unlikeliest Champion's' Facebook page or shoot me an e-mail at uconnbook@gmail.com.

So far, the support for the book has been amazing, and I cannot thank you enough.

Happy Holidays to all!

Update: Hello again everyone. As you might’ve guessed, this is Aaron Torres, author of the new book, “The Unlikeliest Champion,” chronicling the UConn Huskies 2011 National Championship run.

First and foremost, I want to go ahead and thank you all for your questions and comments since my initial post a few weeks ago. It’s been fun to answer them all and to get to know you all a little bit better here. In the process, it has further helped me plan things out for when the book is actually released.

Speaking of which, I come here today with an update. I am proud to say that (for those of you who did not pre-order), the book is now available for purchase! Again, I cannot thank you all enough for the support over these last few weeks. It means more than you’ll ever know.

For those interested in ordering, here are the essentials:

All the information you need is at www.uconnbook.com, including how to purchase a signed, autographed copy. It’d be my absolute pleasure to sign any purchase that is made by clicking on the “Buy Now” button there. Anything ordered through next Monday (December 19) should arrive comfortably before Christmas.

In addition, for those of you who are looking for the quickest way to get your hands on the book, go ahead and purchase it through the publisher, by clicking here (you can also find the publisher’s page at www.uconnbook.com as well). By purchasing through the publisher, you can pick your own shipping speed, and have the book in your hands in a timeframe which works best from you. Also, for those interested in purchasing the book straight from Amazon.com, it's available there as well. A Kindle option will be available within a few weeks as well. I’ll keep everyone updated as best I can.

And to everyone who was nice enough to pre-order the book, I absolutely cannot thank you enough. I genuinely mean that. To give you a bit of a timeframe as well, I hope to have you books in the mail late this week and in your hands by the beginning of next. E-mail UConnBook@gmail.com for any further questions.

And really, that’s all I’ve got for you this afternoon.

Again, I want to thank you all for the unbelievable support through this process. Writing a book is as tough and challenging as one might expect it to be, but the response from everyone has been amazing. It really did make the whole process worthwhile.

And of course, I need to thank the 2011 UConn Huskies for giving us a season we’ll never forget. Sitting here today heading into 2012, I still can’t believe what I saw with my own eyes last spring.

Thank you all, and for any further questions or comments, feel free to post below, or e-mail me at UConnBook@gmail.com. More information, including excerpts and other goodies check out www.uconnbook.com as well.

Go Huskies!

Aaron

**********​

Hello good folks of The Boneyard!

My name is Aaron Torres, and much like the rest of you, I’m a tried and true, dyed in the wool UConn fan. I was born in Connecticut, raised here and attended UConn a few years back. I still visit the school occasionally, get to games as often as possible, and like you, cringe every time I hear Randy Edsall speak. Woops, did I say that out loud?

In all seriousness though, like you, I also cherished every moment of last year’s run by our UConn Huskies to the college basketball National Championship. I stayed in on Thanksgiving Eve to watch them take down Kentucky in Maui, rearranged my schedule to see all five games in the Big East Tournament, and even my paid out of my own pocket to get down to Houston for the Final Four (something that my credit card company is still harassing me about to this day, by the way). I also shrieked in horror when Roscoe Smith threw the ball the length of the court at Texas, felt physically ill after the Senior Day loss to Notre Dame, and was as surprised as anyone when UConn won the last 11 games of their season to take home the title. Quite frankly, I still can’t believe that actually happened.

But besides being a UConn fan, I’m also a writer, one which has had work published all over, including Sports Illustrated, Slam Online, the Hartford Courant and a bunch of other places.

It’s also why I come to you today. Because on my flight home from Houston last April, after I’d just seen the UConn Huskies- our UConn Huskies- take home a title, I couldn’t get one thought out of my head: Someone needs to write a book about this team. Of the ups and downs, good and bad, and of a season which started with UConn unranked in both polls, and culminated with them winning one the most unexpected titles in recent college basketball history.

And well, I did decide to write that book. And I wanted you all to be the first to know.

The book is called “The Unlikeliest Champion,” and it’s the only book of its kind to take you through the entire championship run from the beginning to the end. It is still a week or two away from being ready for purchase, but I did however want to make you all- the most die-hard of UConn fans- aware of it a bit ahead of time. Think of this as a “soft opening” at a restaurant kind of.

You can find all the details on the book at UConnBook.com or TheUnlikeliestChampion.com, but in the meantime, I’ll fill you in on a few details here. In the book I used a lot of my own previously written columns, as well as new material and background information that you just can’t find anywhere else. I talked to high school and AAU coaches of the stars of the 2011 team, college basketball’s top analysts and writers, and other college coaches too. Simply put, this is the most complete narrative of last year’s championship season you’ll find anywhere.

Again, the book is still just a few days away from being able to purchase (update: the book is now available for purchase! Visit www.uconnbook.com for details!) but I wanted to make you all aware a bit ahead of time. I know this is a tough economy, and that budgets are tight this time of year. My only request is that you keep me in mind in the coming days and weeks as you plan your holiday shopping. I will certainly keep the great folks who run The Boneyard in the loop, and be sure to inform all of you when the book is available for purchase.

In the meantime if you’re interested in the book (and I hope by now I’ve convinced you that you should be) you can also stay updated at www.UConnBook.com.

Also, for any other questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail UConnBook@gmail.com, and I’ll be sure to personally get back to you as quickly as I can.

Thank you so much for your time, and I look forward to being in touch with each and every one of you.

Again, don’t be a stranger.

Happy holidays.

Aaron Torres
 

YearoftheHusky

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Hello good folks of The Boneyard!
My name is Aaron Torres, and much like the rest of you, I’m a tried and true, died in the wool UConn fan.

Ummm, uhhh ... wouldn't that be "dyed" in-the-wool? :)

Great idea on the book; looking forward to checking it out.
 
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Nice! I enjoy reading your blog from time to time. This sounds like a great book to buy, put on the shelf for a year or two and then read to remember this great joy this season was.
 
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Well I appreciate it either way. And if anyone has any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to ask!

When you go on your book tour, you better make a stop in L.A. - Tyler
 
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Is it going to have any insight to anything? Like stuff we wouldnt know about other than reading your book or have any statistical data? I read the other book about the final 4 run and thought that i really didnt get as much out of it as I was expecting other than a few interesting stories. This group here is going to be critical and rightfully so because many of us are diehards and know more about the team than the beat writers do.
 
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The excerpt on the website about the Kemba/Brandon Jennings recruitment was very good. Most of us probably knew the story already, but it was cool to have the quotes from Tom Moore, Book Richardson, etc.

If there's similar detail on the other players, I'd definitely consider buying this book.

I bought the book "Big East Confidential" a few months ago, which was written about the 2011 Big East season. Based on the title, I was expecting some "confidential" material, or at least some behind-the-scenes stuff that the average fan wouldn't be aware of. Instead, the book was the biggest pile of garbage I've ever read. Most of chapters - and I swear I'm not kidding here - were literally titled "January 5th" or some other date, and read as follows: "Syracuse beat Villanova behind 21 points from Kris Joseph. Meanwhile in South Bend, Notre Dame overcame a 10 point deficit to beat Georgetown thanks to 14 second half points from Carlton Scott." It was as if the author perused the espn.com game recaps of each Big East game and plagiarized a few sentences from each. Oh and the best part - there were about two paragraphs in the final chapter dedicated to the fact that a Big East happened to win the National Championship.

Needless to say, I'm hoping that Aaron's book is more like the website excerpt than the book I just described.
 
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Folks, you're allowed to be critical, and frankly you should be.

However, if you enjoyed the excerpt, I suspect that you too will enjoy the book. I've got background stories and anecdotes that I suspect you haven't heard anywhere else... and even if you have, are more in-depth and detailed than are found anywhere on the 'net and beyond. And with the in-season stuff, yes, I give more than "Kemba Walker scored 28 points to beat Notre Dame," unless it was a game, or situation that didn't call for much to be said.

Like I said in the piece above, there simply isn't any narrative that I know of which gives a more in-depth, soup-to-nuts account of everything, like this book does.
 
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Sounds interesting and if it has what it takes and what we would like to read about the 2011 season not just a lot of repeating stuff which we already have read it will be a winner.
 
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is this written from a fans prospective or were you a team manager or had access to the team? Not that a fan of a team cant write a brilliant story or anything like that, just interested
 

Fishy

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I bought the book "Big East Confidential" a few months ago, which was written about the 2011 Big East season. Based on the title, I was expecting some "confidential" material, or at least some behind-the-scenes stuff that the average fan wouldn't be aware of. Instead, the book was the biggest pile of garbage I've ever read. Most of chapters - and I swear I'm not kidding here - were literally titled "January 5th" or some other date, and read as follows: "Syracuse beat Villanova behind 21 points from Kris Joseph. Meanwhile in South Bend, Notre Dame overcame a 10 point deficit to beat Georgetown thanks to 14 second half points from Carlton Scott." It was as if the author perused the espn.com game recaps of each Big East game and plagiarized a few sentences from each. Oh and the best part - there were about two paragraphs in the final chapter dedicated to the fact that a Big East happened to win the National Championship.

I like when people publish their own books and I've bought and read every one that's been bandied about over the past several years. They're going to be a little rough around the edges because they're published on a shoe string without teams of editors, etc.

That said, Big East Confidential was the worst book ever written - you have recapped it perfectly. It made me hate words.

Looking forward to Aaron's book, though.
 
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is this written from a fans prospective or were you a team manager or had access to the team? Not that a fan of a team cant write a brilliant story or anything like that, just interested

The book is certainly written from a fan's perspective. Some (but hardly all) are a handful of real-time articles I wrote after the biggest events of the last two years (the disastrous 2010 season, Maui, live on the ground from Houston). From there, I filled in everything else by talking to a number of different people: writers, analysts, fellow college coaches, etc. to give the most complete overview of the season which I could.

Hopefully this FAQ page will help answer some of your questions, but certainly if there's more, please ask: http://www.uconnbook.com/p/faq.html
 
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I can think of several instances where 'died' was appropriate.

Good luck with the book.

ps - did anyone ever document the other 2 NCs??
 

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Folks, you're allowed to be critical, and frankly you should be.

However, if you enjoyed the excerpt, I suspect that you too will enjoy the book. I've got background stories and anecdotes that I suspect you haven't heard anywhere else... and even if you have, are more in-depth and detailed than are found anywhere on the 'net and beyond. And with the in-season stuff, yes, I give more than "Kemba Walker scored 28 points to beat Notre Dame," unless it was a game, or situation that didn't call for much to be said.

Like I said in the piece above, there simply isn't any narrative that I know of which gives a more in-depth, soup-to-nuts account of everything, like this book does.
The excerpt seems good. I've always wanted a book that goes behind the scenes into the operational aspects, e.g., training table, weight room, trainer's work, logistical with baggage, travel, how many tutors working how often, etc...
 
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I'm in, just placed my order. Now please get it here before Christmas. Good luck
 
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Seems cool, what kind of book is this? Is this like a story of how UConn won the Tourney? or a Year-in-Review type of book?

Need another UConn book on the shelf anyways :p
 
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When you go on your book tour, you better make a stop in L.A. - Tyler


Thanks so much TZ, and I will be making the stop. I know you've got the connections to find me a good spot for a signing!
 
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Seems cool, what kind of book is this? Is this like a story of how UConn won the Tourney? or a Year-in-Review type of book?

Need another UConn book on the shelf anyways :p

Yes, I would call it more a "Year in Review," than anything. It looks at the 2010 season, the low expectations entering 2011, in through the entire 2011 season beyond. As I've mentioned, its in-depth and as detailed as anything you'll read anywhere.
 
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I'm in, just placed my order. Now please get it here before Christmas. Good luck

Thanks so much! And I promise, it'll be there before Christmas. Even if I've got hand deliver it myself!
 
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Ordered mine too. Luckily for you I need before the last day of Chanukah.. December 20-28
 
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