When Ken Carter was asked who should play him in the movie, he wrote down one name: Samuel L. Jackson.
The actors practiced in the gym for more than five hours a day.
The real Ken Carter was on set every day as a consultant. He said that Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of him is 98.5 percent accurate.
The filmmakers shot the game scenes over and over from many different angles. The actors had to run a single play over one hundred times to get these shots.