College Basketball Writers

Meh. I've seen worse ledes than that. Not award-winning, but it added some color. Then again, I'm not a "effin stud."

 

Thank you.

No one with more knowledge about every single college player than Frank. He's an institution at the P-T. There are plenty of people to diss. Frank is not one of them.

 

I like reading Frank Burlison.

The two best guys out there for me are Jeff Goodman of foxsports and Gary Parrish of CBS.

 

Frank Burlison is a great guy, excellent reporter. If you want someone to cover an outside-the-box scandal or an issue that might irritate longtime sources . . . just not his cup of tea. Some seek out and eat up those type of stories (sometimes to the detriment of day-to-day reporting), and some don't.

Great writing, as it's defined by expository prose, the ability to tell a compelling story and transport the reader . . . has never been a consistent part of his tool chest. He's usually about getting information out there, quickly and concisely. And his conversational style works great for that purpose.

He lives and breathes hoops. You want someone who will go on the summer basketball tournament circuit and produce inches upon inches of analysis on the goings-on? He's your man. His handle on recruiting is second to none. (At least on the West coast; don't want to get anyone up in arms here about their regional guy or lady).

Again, he helped establish and mold today's recruiting coverage with his Best in the West packages. He still enjoys a large following, even now when the world of recruiting news is so saturated.

I don't know that with cuts in space and budget, printed newspapers are still a place for saturation coverage of recruiting, but that's another thread. And admittedly, I've personally never been massively interested in recruiting coverage except as it pertains to local athletes and the various Signing Days.

But the Web can overcome issues of space and provide a place for people to feed their voracious appetite for recruiting news. In this world, Frank's analysis is so widely respected.

 

I don't think there are very many really good college writers out there. I say that because at so many places, a college job is considered by the bosses to be a launching pad for something bigger and better -- usually a pro beat.

There are certainly exceptions to that in places where colleges are a big deal. But in many cases, if there's a long-time college guy, he loves college sports so much that he turns his or her eyes to some of the ills.

 

A few years ago I would have said two of the best college hoops writers were Barry Svrluga and Doyel. Now neither is covering it as their main beat.

Guys like Tipton are very rare these days.

 

Perfect.

 

I never thought Doyel was all that good, and Gary Parrish is a big upgrade over him. I always found Doyel's writing to be pretty sophomoric.