Slow and Steady

Things aren't going as well as planned. Steve, my partner from advanced sports reporting, lost some of his contacts from his phone. He's having a little bit of trouble getting a hold of players and coaches that we felt would fit into both of our projects. John is looking into getting some players and coaches from one of the top teams in the state, which would be really helpful, we just need to lock it down. I have some contacts at Oak Park River Forest (OPRF) and I'm hoping to get an interview with them soon.

As far as the script, which is due tonight, I'm not sure what exactly needs to be on it. I'd like for my b-role to be footage from the upcoming state tournament, but I don't know if it will happen by the time my piece is due. I've been looking up statistics, and destinations for the top players in the state. Illinois seems to be getting back on track after a down year, but DePaul looks like it is a couple of good recruiting classes away from catching up with the rest of the big east.

It makes me wonder if DePaul made the right decision in changing from conference USA to the big east. Marquette and Louisville are top 25 teams. South Florida and Cinci have made strides on the football field (Cinci won the conference last year, and USF was as high as #2 in th AP poll two years ago). Oh yeah, and they've won A game in conference this year. DePaul is a depressing 0-13 in conference this year. Which brings me back to what I'm doing my project about.

Recruiting can solve problems short term and long term. Good players get the ball rolling, and can get a program recognizable which brings in more good players. Don't get me wrong, DePaul deserves credit for having one of the higher team GPA's (according to coach Wainwright) and this is a young team. But zero win is a downright disgrace, and the 45 point loss to Louisville on Sunday was the crashing point.

DePaul have as many players from the country of Croatia as they do from the city of Chicago. You don't have to go far to find good players, but you have to have to make DePaul a destination for good players again. And to do that you might have to win a game or two.The process might be slow, but a winning program with a city like Chicago behind you is worth the wait.

Thanks to these sites for information provided in this post:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=305
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=1706756
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/conference?confId=10
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankingsindex?seasonYear=2007&weekNumber=8&seasonType=2

Feeling the Heat...

It's our third week in class, and every week I seem to sweat a little more. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, and most importantly, it's as hot as a sauna in here, no kidding. We have a fan going, and it cools the place down by a couple of degrees for the few seconds that it blows in each direction. The other reason is that the class is moving at a very fast pace. Scripts for our first piece are already due next week.

Finding a topic (Top basketball recruits in Illinois choosing to play their college careers in a different state) was the easy part. I was lucky to get a partner (John) who is as interested in the topic as I am. I also have received some help from our 'partner' class (advanced sports reporting). Steve, who is working on a similar story, is helping with interviews with players, and Eli recommended this website: http://illinoishsbasketball.com/. I feel a little overwhelmed with the pace of the class, but I'm hoping that once John, Steve, and I get the ball rolling, the pressure will fall off a bit, and maybe they'll turn down the heat a bit.