Throughout its history, the Daily has primarily focused on coverage of professional or Tufts basketball. In celebration of Daily Week, I aim to reflect on how the Daily gave me the opportunity to write about a passion of mine, college basketball, and in turn, how my column has contributed to the sports section of the Daily.
The 2023 NCAA Tournament was as exciting as the historic event had ever been, and I was enthralled by the players and teams taking part in the magic. Because of this, I looked into the possibility of writing for the Daily about anything college basketball. Looking at past articles, I couldn’t seem to find anything relating to Division I college hoops, so I thought maybe I could cover the topic in a column. Although it was already a few months into the semester, I was able to complete the application and was given the chance to write my first article, “March Madness: A tournament to remember.” The piece covered all of the exhilarating moments of March Madness with some thoughts on the offseason and the 2023–24 season. Unfortunately, since the season was over, there wasn’t much else to write about for the rest of the year.
Coming into the next semester, I started up my column again. With no basketball being played at the time, I found myself looking for ways to continue writing about college hoops in the offseason. Luckily, there had been loads of big news in the summer to explore. New transfer rules and the emergence of name, image and likeness deals had resulted in a surge of players entering the transfer portal. Not only were teams stocking up on new talent, but they were also making significant personnel moves. But above all, there were the realignment plans of almost all the Power 6 conferences, which will change the landscape of the sport significantly in the latter half of 2024. This gave me a plethora of topics to discuss in “Moments 'til Madness: An eventful offseason.”
Following my first article of the school year, I pivoted in a new direction. I began writing mainly about my predictions for the upcoming season, which offered a whole new set of subject matter for me to share. This included my picks for the best teams, conferences, players and anything else in college basketball that I felt would be relevant for the 2023–24 season.
Once it was finally November and games had begun, there was almost too much to write about. Whether it was the results from the opening week or the riveting games in the Thanksgiving tournaments, the first month of college hoops was living up to expectations. As the season progressed into December and on, it was time to start making some conclusions on teams, players and coaches. Is there a true top dog in college basketball? Who’s going to make the All-American teams? What coaches might be out of a job by the offseason? All of these were topics for the column.
Now it’s February and the tournament is just around the corner, and I can’t wait. “Moments ’til Madness” has been enjoyable to write and I’m thankful that the Daily has given me the ability to express all of my thoughts on the college hoops world.
