The Rebounder by Thomas J. Dygard (penguin group, 1994)

Mrs. Moen, I’d like you to meet Coach Doug Fulton.  Doug is twenty-five and coaches the Hamilton High Panthers high school basketball team in western Illinois.  He loves basketball, but the team he coaches every year always has smaller players on it.  He dreams that he will have a taller player to get the rebounds and win the Spoon River Conference.  In his third year of coaching he met a kid named Chris Patton.  Chris was his only chance at winning the conference, but Chris had an accident at his old school and wouldn’t play.  Coach felt bad for Chris so he tried to help Chris get his self-confidence back because he not only cared about him as a player but as a person. He also wanted Chris to help him to get the title.  Chris was his only chance at winning the conference.