They identify the mystery man as a Minnesota State professor, Thomas R. They lie to their dads, and Susan Carol gains access to restricted rooms and areas. Unsure who to tell or who will believe them, Stevie and Susan Carol take it upon themselves to investigate who’s blackmailing Chip and why. As Stevie writes his article about the frenzied atmosphere of the Superdome, Susan Carol writes down the details of the interaction between Chip and the suspicious man in a gray suit. Joseph’s University and then lose in the championship against Duke. Near a loading dock, Stevie and Susan Carol stumble upon Chip and a mysterious man who tells Chip that Minnesota State has to beat St. As Stevie searches for a unique angle, he and Susan Carol encounter the Superdome and its numberless security guards and argue flirtatiously about college ball. Weiss tells Stevie that countless articles will focus on Chip, so maybe Stevie should look for a different story.

Stevie also meets the longtime coach of the Duke Blue Devils, Mike Krzyzewski-Coach K-and discovers he’s a nice person.įor his first article, Stevie intends to write about Chip Graber, the star of the Minnesota State team coached by Chip’s dad. They meet a scalper and the ebullient ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale. With Weiss by his side, Stevie learns how money and media dominate the yearly sporting event. Each day of the Final Four, Stevie and Susan Carol have to write an article that will run in a smaller newspaper. Two established sports journalists-Dick Weiss and Bill Brill-guide Stevie and Susan Carol through the hoopla of the Final Four. She is from North Carolina and likes the Duke Blue Devils, which upsets Stevie because he thinks Duke receives too much attention. She’s with her dad and is the same age as Stevie but much taller, so she looks older than he does. Stevie’s dad, who loves sports, accompanies him to New Orleans, where they meet the other winner, Susan Carol Anderson. Stevie adores college basketball and idolizes sports reporters like Mike Lupica and Tony Kornheiser. Due to his excellent writing, he wins a contest sponsored by the US Basketball Writers Association (USBWA), so he gets to go write articles about the Final Four in New Orleans at the Superdome. It’s 2005, and Steven-most people call him Stevie-Thomas is a 13-year-old aspiring journalist from Philadelphia. This study guide uses an ebook edition of the book published by Yearling in 2005. Last Shot is the first volume in the six-book Sports Beat series of sports mysteries.

It delves into the themes of teamwork, illusion versus reality, and money’s role in compromising the ethics and morals of collegiate athletics. His book won the 2006 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. Last Shot, Feinstein’s first book for young readers, incorporates real-life college basketball players, coaches, and figures into a fictional scheme to fix the result of the 2005 college basketball Final Four.

The last shot john feinstein