Don Haskins, a future Hall of Fame coach of tiny Texas Western University, bucks convention by simply starting the best players he can find: history's first all-African American lineup.

An autistic black boy uses his memory for numbers to break into his employer's safe and steal its monetary content to provide the rent that his abusive father has demanded from him, who then uses the money to repay a loan shark. With the help of his Big Brother, Zig Zag learns that he must do the right thing and get the money back or face being taken away to a juvenile detention home.