College Basketball Writers

Jeff Goodman and Gary Parrish know their stuff. My list starts with those two ...

 

Depends what you want.

There are many beat jockeys out there who are very good. But I personally find that interest in the team they're covering is often a prerequisite for a reader.

For national guys:

If you are into recruiting and all of its intrigue and minutiae, Frank Burlison helped invent and pave the way for a lot of that. And it's still his main focus.

If you want breaking news, Jeff Goodman is very good. And Andy Katz is very good as well, and has the hammer of ESPN's name behind him to boot. I hope Yahoo.com will start to match these two the way their football coverage has done at times.

One I always enjoy reading is Chris Dufrense of the LA Times. In my view, there is no other who brings the same amount of insight (on everything from trends in the game to quality of teams), humor and readability on both college football and basketball as he does.

 

I agree. Tipton is money.

Not sure how anyone can find him boring. His writing certainly isn't.

 

Just for the record, as national columnist, he's rarely doing college basketball, although he still does some.

 

I read college hoops more than anything and strongly second Dufresne and DeCourcy. 1 and 2 in no order, and not even close.

Jeff Goodman has everything first? Uh, ever heard of Andy Katz? Not much of a writer but he at worst ties for first on every scoop. ESPN.com has a lot of good college basketball stuff.

I'm in the middle on Tipton. Better than most. Like Brett Dawson in Louisville (also on UK).

Burlison and "Hoops" Weiss are like Tracy Ringolsby — guys who may have brought it 20 years ago but no longer have any game whatsoever. Read 'em and tell me I'm wrong. They have reps — well-deserved, I'm sure — but their days came and went many moons ago. Their sources got out of coaching when Wooden did.

Speaking of Burlison, saw the Long Beach paper recently. It very well may be the worst daily sports section I've ever seen. 4 wire-packed pages. With ads.

 

Not Burlison's fault. You can blame Singleton. BUT, "with ads" -- that's a good thing.

 

Frank Burlison is a class act and a great writer. My dad worked with him and loves the guy. He is EXCELLENT.

 

John Gasaway and, more generally, Basketball Prospectus.
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/news/?author=146

 

You're right, Fredrick. Burlison is awesome. Silly me. I just went to their site and found the last story he wrote. Man, I wish I could write ledes like this.

*******

Bears star finishes with 187 yards on ground to help hold off Gahr

By Frank Burlison, Staff Writer
CERRITOS - Anyone who showed up at Gahr High's Rants Stadium expecting to watch a couple of high-powered running and passing offenses Friday night weren't disappointed.
Ultimately, though, both defenses played pretty well, too.
It was Warren's defense, at key moments, as well as the running of Jesse Callier that carried the night for the visitors over Gahr in a San Gabriel Valley League showdown, 35-31.

 

Frank Burlison.

 

How interested are you in NJCAA Division III?

 

A pretty weak shot by you. You're judging a guy on a basic high school football gamer that he probably had 10 minutes to write.
Which is totally off subject for this thread, which is college basketball.
And this is a guy who gets as many calls from coaches seeking information as calls he makes to coaches to get information.
You picked the wrong guy to diss, loser.