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What: “Campus Chaos”

Authors: Dick Vitale with Dick Weiss

Publisher: TimeOut Publishing

Even if you don’t like Vitale’s bombastic style, there’s no question he is passionate about college basketball. He really does love the game, and in this book he confronts it much as a father would confront a misbehaving child.

The result is a pretty good read.

Co-author Weiss, a sportswriter for the New York Daily News who previously worked for the Philadelphia Daily News, has teamed with Vitale on two other books, “Time Out, Baby!” and “Holding Court.” It’s obvious someone did a lot of research for this book, and our guess is that it was Weiss. One hint, there is quite a bit about college football’s troubles too.

The book tackles such issues as underclassmen leaving school for the NBA, the infiltration of agents, gambling, point-shaving and recruiting problems. Another issue is athletes who couldn’t care less about going to class. Vitale singles out North Carolina State’s Chris Washburn, noting how he would sneak away after an assistant coach had escorted him to class. Vitale offers a lot of opinions and possible solutions, but sidesteps the role television and its money play in corrupting college basketball.

Otherwise, though, Vitale hits pretty hard. Chapter 9 begins, “Is there any honor left in college basketball? Doesn’t appear to be. It seems everywhere I look, programs are in a state of conflict. And worse than that, I see less and less sportsmanship and more and more selfishness.”

Vitale got some quotes from some of his coaching friends and put them on the book jacket.

Says Utah’s Rick Majerus: “Dick has a passion for the game like I have a passion for pasta. Like my peers, I look upon Dick as a coaches’ confidant. This book takes on issues facing college basketball today and offers valuable insights and solutions.”

Says Indiana’s Bob Knight: “Each of us can agree or disagree with Dick’s suggestions for improving college basketball. Personally, I agree with a lot more of them than I disagree, but on every one of them, I know one thing: it’s from the heart. That’s the way Dick does everything.”

Hard to argue with that.