So You Want To Be A Basketball Blogger?

BEVERLY HILLS (MI) – Back in the ‘60s, the rock band The Byrds had a big hit with a tune called “So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star?” Here’s a sample:

“So you want to be a rock and roll star
Then listen now to what I say
Just get an electric guitar
Then take some time and learn how to play
And with your hair combed right
And your pants fit tight
It’s gonna be all right”

If any of you out there have ever entertained the thoughts of perhaps changing the lyrics to that tune to “So You Want to Be a Basketball Blogger?” you can skip the hair part and forget about the tight pants. All you actually need to get blogging is an opinion and a bunch of really great links.

For those of you who have simply wondered “Where does Swampy find all of this crap?” — Here’s your answer (in order of the frequency that I visit the sites):

— Shameless plug:

https://www.udpride.com/

I know…linking to the site on which you are already reading this is kinda dumb. Sue me.

— #1A UD hoops site:

http://dayton.rivals.com/

— The UD Men’s Basketball Page, especially in-season for video streaming linky goodness:

http://www.daytonflyers.com/sports/m-baskbl/dayt-m-baskbl-body.html

— When there is no video available, we out-of-towners can always count on Larry and Bucky:

http://streaming.newstalkradiowhio.com/_players/coxradio/index.php?callsign=WHIO

I’ve answered this question before, but yes: Larry and Bucky are fully aware that their mike is open during commercial breaks on the webstreams.

— ESPN’s College Basketball home page:

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/

Lotsa material here: Andy Katz, Dickie V, Dana O’Neill (who does a nice job covering UD and the A-10), “St. Joe” Joe Lunardi and his goofy Bracketology, Jay Bilas, Doug Gottlieb, BG’s buddy Fran Fraschilla, Rick Pitino’s buddy Pat Forde, former UD Assistant Reggie Rankin, former WSU Head Coach Paul Biancardi and the list goes on.

— Jody Demling’s blog in the Louisville Courier-Journal:

http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/demling/blog.html

As far as I can tell, Jody and the C-J created the “full-time college basketball recruiting blog for a newspaper” paradigm. It obviously helps that he is covering national powers UK, UL and IU at a time when they have three of (arguably) the best recruiters around in Shady Cal, Slick Rick and Tom Crean.

When I grow up, I want to be Jody Demling.

— I don’t visit it nearly as often (yet) but the Indianapolis Star has hired a pair of semi-full-time recruiting bloggers named Kyle Neddenreip and Jeff Rabjohns:

http://www.indystar.com/section/SPORTS0615

Kyle and Jeff have the advantage of following basically the same 3 schools plus the totally loaded Indiana HS Class of 2011, several of whom are in the BG Recruiting Funnel.

— The DDN. You can call it “The Daily Worker” or whatever you please, but Flyer beat reporter Doug Harris has been on top of his game this off-season:

http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/daytonflyers/index.html

— Rivals.com Recruiting Page:

http://basketballrecruiting.rivals.com/

And Scout.com:

http://scouthoops.scout.com/

Yeah, you’ve gotta subscribe, but every now and then they will throw you a bone for free.

— College Chalk Talk, which is devoted exclusively to the only basketball conference with its HQ in Newport News, VA:

http://collegechalktalk.com/

— The “UD Blogging Triumvirate” consisting of the Blackburn Review:

http://www.blackburnreview.com/

Flyer Fieldhouse (currently in the midst of an extended off-season siesta since March):

http://flyersfieldhouse.blogspot.com/

And Peanut Butter and a Blanket (also soon to awake from a deep hibernation since the end of May):

http://peanutbutterflyers.blogspot.com/

In the interest of full disclosure, I have agreed to do an upcoming podcast with the guys at the Blackburn Review. You have been forewarned.

— And speaking of being asleep at the switch, it doesn’t get any worse for a Flyer Fan than if you spend any time around this place:

http://dayton.scout.com/

That’s just sad, man.

— The A-10 MB is not recommended for the thin-of-skin or the faint-of-heart:

http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-10-conference/

If WH isn’t going to be doing his Atlantic 10 predictions any more for this site then there is little reason for me to read it and even less justification for posting on it. I’ll leave it to “Muddy Waters” to defend UD’s honor vs. the snarky X posters.

— BG has been recruiting the Chicago area successfully these past few years and where better to keep up on things in the Windy City than on a site called ChicagoHoops.com:

http://www.chicagohoops.com/

To borrow one of ChicagoHoops’ Editor Brian Stinette’s favorite clichés, it’s “top notch!”

— Two national sources: Cincy resident Mike DeCourcy and company at TSN/FoxSports:

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa_basketball/

And Gary Parrish and pals at CBS Sportsline:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball

— FoxSports.com has also added Jeff Goodman as a basketball recruiting blogger:

http://community.foxsports.com/goodmanonfox/blog/

— Couldn’t leave out my alma mater now could I?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/

— I always like to check in and see what “The Hometown Coach” Mark Adams is up to these days:

http://www.adamshoops.com/

— OhioHighSchoolHoops.com has really started to step up their game:

http://www.ohshoops.com/

OHSH can sometimes get just a little too “granular” for my taste, like when they recently did a breakdown of schools moving up or down in class size in Ohio. Zzzzzzz.

— HighMajorHoops.com is kinda streaky in their coverage, but they are usually pretty active in-season:

http://highmajorscoop.com/

— The WeFlyHighBallers blog is also kinda hit or miss, but features great breakdowns on each HS recruiting class in Michigan, many of whom are being followed by UD Assistant Cornell Mann:

http://www.freewebs.com/michiganballers/apps/blog/

The home page on this site utilizes a software program called “Quake” that makes it shake, looking like it just got hit by one. My laptop doesn’t like “Quake” at all and always asks me to delete it.

— Stephen Bell at M-Live is another steady source of in-season Michigan HS info:

http://blog.mlive.com/highschoolbasketball/

— College Hoops Net has made a name for themselves with their Top 144 countdown:

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/the-big-list-chn039s-200809-preview-index-121667http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/the-big-list-chn039s-200809-preview-index-121667

Wonder where UD will end up in their Top 144 this year?

— Clark Francis at HoopScoop.com features a free visitors section that he infrequently remembers to update when he’s not off evaluating third graders:

http://www.hoopscooponline.com/visitors/free-visitors.html

— Bob Gibbons is the acknowledged dean of HS recruiting bloggers and he sometimes has some free stuff as well, like his recent Top 150 list:

http://www.bobgibbons.net/index.php

— Chris Wright has two videos featured on YouGotDunkedOn.com:

http://www.yougotdunkedon.com/search/label/Chris%20Wright

— The main focus of SLAM is the NBA, but they do also cover college and HS hoops:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/category/college-hs/

— The National Hoops Report recently showed up on my radar:

http://nationalhoopsreport.blogspot.com/

— As did Real College Basketball, after they featured a nice interview with 2010 UD recruit Juwan Staten:

http://realcollegebasketball.com/

— Also new to my “Favorites” list is Full Court Preps: