Your ticket to playing, coaching and following basketball

From the basics to the latest tips on playing, coaching, drills and techniques, this friendly reference offers you expert advice on the plays, strategies and moves on and off the court. Basketball For Dummies, Australian Edition, is geared for beginners, seasoned players and anyone wanting to enjoy this fantastic game.

Discover how to:

• Understand the rules
• Get into basketball shape
• Play effective offence and defence
• Improve your shooting
• Enjoy the sport with your kids

Richard 'Digger' Phelps is the renowned basketball coach from the University of Notre Dame in the United States, where he won more games than any coach in the uni's history. He led Notre Dame to 14 NCAA tournament appearances, including the uni's only Final Four appearances in 1978. He still holds the NCAA record for seven victories over number one teams. He is now a college basketball analyst for TV network ESPN, and he served as basketball analyst for CBS Sports during the 1992 and 1993 NCAA tournaments. In 1984, he was a commentator for the US TV network ABC Sports during the Los Angeles Olympics.

John Walters has been writing and reporting on football, television and general interest topics for Sports Illustrated in the US for more than 11 years.

Special contributor Tim Bourret is the Sports Information Director at Clemson University in South Carolina in the US. He is in his 23rd year at the school and has won more than 86 national and regional awards for his publications, including 14 dealing with basketball. He is also the 'colour' commentator on the Clemson Basketball Radio network. Bourret, a Double Domer (1977 and 1978), has followed Digger Phelps's career since 1974, when he was one of the 11,000 Notre Dame fans who stormed the court after the Fighting Irish ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak.

Andrew Gaze is Australia's greatest ever basketball player with a career résumé second to none. Named the greatest player of the NBL's first 25 years, Gaze holds the NBL career records for games (612), points (18,908) and assists (3531). He won the NBL MVP award (which is now named after him) seven times, won the scoring title 14 times and played a key hand in the Melbourne Tigers winning two championships in an NBL career that lasted from 1984 to 2005. Internationally, Gaze played 297 games for Australia, including five Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) and four World Championships (1986, 1990, 1994, 1998). He was also given the honour of carrying the Australian flag at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Gaze also played in Greece with Apollon Patras, in Italy with Udine, and in the United States with Seton Hall University (1989 NCAA Final Four) and the NBA teams Washington and San Antonio (1999 NBA championship). Since his NBL retirement, Gaze has been the lead commentator on radio SEN's NBL broadcasts and has started his coaching apprenticeship with the Melbourne Tigers junior boys' program.

Grantley Bernard is a sportswriter for the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne. A sportswriter for almost 20 years, he has covered basketball since 1987. He has also been actively involved in basketball, first as a player (since 1974) and lately as a coach.