The filmmakers had trouble filling the FieldHouse with extras for the final game, and needed to move people around when shooting different angles. Extras were given 1950's hairstyles and their clothing was checked for anachronisms.

Based on the 1954 Indiana State champs, Milan Indians.

The announcer at the final game is Hilliard Gates, who announced the "real" game.

The actual game was played between the Milan Indians and the Muncie Central Bearcats. For the movie, the South Bend Central Bears were the opponent. The true championship took place in 1954, not 1952 as in the movie, and the score was Milan 32, Muncie Central 30.

In the locker room before the final game, on the blackboard are the last names of the players on the opposing team. These are the real last names of the actors who make up the Hickory team.

The theater that was closed for the final game burned down in 1998.

The movie was renamed "Best Shot" in Europe because most Europeans wouldn't know what a Hoosier was.

The actor who played Jimmy Chitwood (Maris Valainis) was the only player on the Hickory team not to play high school basketball. He did play college golf at Purdue his freshman year.

Wade Schenck, who plays equipment manager/reluctant player Ollie McClellan, has his real-life sister Libbey Schenck encouraging him during the games as a Hickory cheerleader (credited).

An actual Milan Indian Guard, Ray Craft, was in the movie. Craft was the person that greeted the Huskers when they got to the state finals, and he also was the one that told Coach Dale that it was time to take the court before the state final.

Maris Valainis was told that whether he made the last shot or not, people were going to rush the floor because of the need for a wide shot of the court. Luckily, he made it as shown in the movie.

Steve Hollar who played Rade Butcher was actually playing basketball for DePauw University at the time. This caught the attention of the NCAA. Later it was deemed that he was acting and not playing and was given a three-game suspension and was charged 5% of his acting fee.

The scene with Jimmy and Coach Dale talking while Jimmy shot baskets was filmed in one take. Maris Valainis said that he "wasn't even listening to him." "I was just concentrating on making them and I made one and they kept going in."

Jack Nicholson was the original choice to play Coach Norman Dale but had a schedule conflict. Told the producers he knew they were on a tight schedule to shoot, and if they found another actor to go ahead. If not, he could do it the next year. Gene Hackman then signed on for the part. (from the DVD bonus features)

For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk.

The actor playing Ollie once left the set to watch his high school basketball team play. He was a junior on the team when he got the role and was feeling homesick, so he decided to go watch them. The crew had to contact his mother to get him to return.

Ranked #4 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Sports" in June 2008.

During one of the games, Hickory is shown playing Decatur. The Director was born in Decatur, Indiana.

Said director David Anspaugh, "[Before filming began] I was so excited to have Gene Hackman. He was the coolest guy to hang out with. He was funny and irreverent and [told] great stories and all that. And then, first day of shooting, I didn't recognize [him]. He became an entirely different person. And he just made it hell on Earth for me every day. ... He was everything negative. He wanted off the movie."

Continuity

Coach takes Rade out of the first game for not following his 4 passes rule. In the next shot, Rade is playing.

During the first practice, after Coach Dale dismisses two players from the team, they do drills with five players, then a two-man passing drill with six players, then another drill with five players.

When Shooter's son visits him in the hospital the clock on the wall reads 9:50. After the conversation that lasts a few minutes, the clock still reads 9:50 at the end of the scene.

Everett Flatch cuts his shoulder open, and Coach Dale benches him. In the next shot, he's visible on the court.

In the final game, with the score 16-8, Jimmy scores a basket, making the score 16-10, and the scoreboard displays 6:39 left in the 2nd half. When Jimmy scores again shortly after, the scoreboard reads 0:35 left in the first half with a score of 16-4.



Factual errors

From the very first scene when Coach Dale and Cletus tour the Hickory gym while Jimmy practices shooting, and continued through the entire movie during all the home games, correct protocol for the US flag hanging on the Hickory gym wall is that the blue field be placed to upper left; it was placed with the blue field to the right.

The game sequences show the scoreboard in every gym including the names of the two participating schools. In fact, most scoreboards in high school gyms during that era would have their school's name (or nickname) identified on the right side, whereas the team on the left would be identified simply as "visitor".

The highway that Coach Dale is driving on at the beginning of the movie, as well as a few country roads, have white lines painted on the sides of the road. White lines were not added to roads until the beginning of 1963.

When the team bus arrives at Butler Fieldhouse, it is shown decorated with long crepe-paper streamers. But when the bus was driven at highway speeds heading toward the Fieldhouse, these streamers would have been ripped to shreds within minutes.

High school basketball season runs from November through March, including playoffs. Several outside scenes include trees sprouting fresh green leaves.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

After the tournament starts, Coach Dale and Myra go for a walk in the woods. It's March, but fall harvest corn appears in the background. That's correct for the time period; the corn has been picked, but the corn stalks aren't mashed to ground the way modern harvesters leave them.

When Shooter's son stays after class to talk with the coach about his father, the map on the board, marked 'United States', shows Hawaii. Hawaii was annexed on July 7, 1898 and became a state in 1959.

The flag used in the final game may appear to be hanging backward, as the blue field is seen to be on the right. This, however, is due only to the camera angle, as all the fans sitting in the seats behind the basket see the blue canton (or "union") on their left. When a flag is hanging such that it can be viewed from both sides (e.g., over a street or above a sporting venue), the union should be toward the north or east.

Early in the film, when Coach Dale dismisses two players, it is said that Hickory high school has 64 boys. Later, during the state final radio broadcast, the announcer says that total enrollment for Hickory is 64. In Indiana high school boys basketball, enrollment is based on the number of students eligible to play, so 64 boys and 64 students would be correct.



Revealing mistakes

During the final, championship game the camera cuts to the opposing team's coaches a couple of times. They are both sitting, one looking amused and the other slouching while looking completely bored. Odd, considering the fact that their team is playing for the state championship.



Anachronisms

The scoreboard at the final game is more electronic than the mechanical clocks and numerical flip-cards used in the 1950s.

In the basketball scenes at the State Finals, the backboards have padded edges. Backboard padding wasn't added until years after the movie setting.

At the pep rally, the sousaphone player uses a Conn brand mouthpiece, first designed in the 1970s.

Butler Fieldhouse did not have multicolored seats in 1952.

In the Hickory Gym, the line where the modern free throw lane was removed is clearly visible.



Crew or equipment visible

During the regional game of the tournament, Ollie loses the ball while dribbling. A few seconds later, as the players run down court, a camera on a scissor lift, a light, and crew members can be seen briefly on the left edge of the frame.



Errors in geography

During his first meeting at the school, Coach Dale is standing in front of a European map showing Germany as a single country. In the 1950s, all maps of Europe clearly indicated East and West Germany as separate countries. This was in fact still the case in 1986 when the film was produced; however some maps by this time had East and West Germany shown together using the same country color.



Plot holes

Leading into the final game, there is much discussion about the tremendous size advantage of Hickory's opponent. Then they play the game and the Hickory players are as big as or bigger than the opponent's players.



Character error

In the locker room prior to the start of the state championship game, the coach is seen writing on the chalk board. At the top of the board he has clearly misspelled the word "penetration" as "penetraetion".

During the vote to keep or get rid of the coach, they take a revote. They ask those who want to keep the coach, then who's opposed. An old man mouths something, which is assumed "NAY". But he appears happy when the coach stays.

(at around 1h 35 mins) When the four boys finish singing the national anthem, a woman to their right on the lower level begins waving while everyone else is still.