DiMauro: “The ‘new’ Big East: Is that all there is?“

[M.S.G.]

His Twitter handle is BCGenius. He hates UConn and is a writer for a 4th tier New London based paper. His avatar has been a young boy and it terrifies me that the young boy is going to starve to death because there is no way he makes more than $20,000 a year or so. I hope the mother has a real job.

Not for nothing, but every time I've come in contact with him at one of our basketball games he's been incredibly pleasant. That's kind of his shtick though, he waits until you're gone and then sticks it to you...

Not going to defend his comment on Hurley not giving much to the local media, but he and others have kind of dug their own grave with this one - at the same time it's not TOTALLY their fault as Hurley seems to have his guys already that he gives information to (Zagoria) and you can understand why because of the NY/NJ connection. I could go on a MUCH longer rant about Zags than DiMauro.. Zags is an absolute loser in every sense of the word.

My final point is that the NL Day is not a 4th tier paper. They have stayed afloat in a completely dying market when the Bulletin and Courant have jettisoned entire departments one by one. Also, what The Day does for high school sports in Eastern CT is unmatched throughout the rest of the state. The quality and quantity of their high school sports broadcasts trumps everything the rest of the state does for their high schools.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

He's like an off-brand UConn-focused version of Skip Bayless. Hacky takes trying to stir up controversy because he's got nothing else to contribute.

 

[NJHoops]

Not for nothing, but every time I've come in contact with him at one of our basketball games he's been incredibly pleasant. That's kind of his shtick though, he waits until you're gone and then sticks it to you...

Not going to defend his comment on Hurley not giving much to the local media, but he and others have kind of dug their own grave with this one - at the same time it's not TOTALLY their fault as Hurley seems to have his guys already that he gives information to (Zagoria) and you can understand why because of the NY/NJ connection. I could go on a MUCH longer rant about Zags than DiMauro.. Zags is an absolute loser in every sense of the word.

My final point is that the NL Day is not a 4th tier paper. They have stayed afloat in a completely dying market when the Bulletin and Courant have jettisoned entire departments one by one. Also, what The Day does for high school sports in Eastern CT is unmatched throughout the rest of the state. The quality and quantity of their high school sports broadcasts trumps everything the rest of the state does for their high schools.

Zagoria’s source on UConn stuff is not always Hurley. He also got mad at Dan when he was at Rhode Island because he didn’t give him some stuff first.

 

[M.S.G.]

Zagoria’s source on UConn stuff is not always Hurley. He also got mad at Dan when he was at Rhode Island because he didn’t give him some stuff first.

Interesting! I wasn't aware, it just seemed like he had everything this year, I assumed.. When you assume....!

 

[CL82]

Here's the thing, whenever you take an up and coming coach you take a chance. You never know when the Peter Principal is going to kick in and you get Diaco'd. Consistently losing in the 1st round of the NCAA's is not sufficient for a coach at UConn, but getting there at all is a critical first step.

The trajectory Danny has the program on is exactly what we want it to be. He's upgrading the talent and changing expectations. That doesn't mean the team is is a finished product or that Danny is as a coach. I'd like to see his in game adjustments improve and I'm not sure that having our bigs hedge as much as they do is a winning strategy. As opposing coaches see it more they'll adjust and get easy baskets. We saw some of that this year. It's a tool, like traps or a full court press. It is better used to create a different look rather than a go to scheme. But that's just my opinion.

Hurley is exactly as advertised to this point in his career. His upside is unknown, but it looks good so far. He is a million miles away from being on the hot seat.

 

[Kenny11]

I've criticised Hurley for some bad lineups and poor in game adjustments but he clearly has us on the right track. Finishing 3rd the the big east with Bouknight missing a lot of time and akok missing the whole season was a success. The Creighton and Maryland performances were trash though.

 

[rollskies]

I like a lot of the local reporters, but honestly it never fails to baffle me that some of them will take every opportunity to bash Hurley/the program online and IN THE EXACT SAME DAY complain about how they don’t like how Hurley gives scoops to the national guys........ what did you expect to happen??

If I saw people writing obvious trolling articles for clicks I wouldn’t be lining up to tell them which guys on my team got injured.

I get that this is how they make their living, but i’m just saying they could be a bit more diplomatic on twitter instead of throwing a temper tantrum. I don’t see any other media bases acting like this. Some of these CT guys are so dramatic.

 

[Inyatkin]

The way this played out on Twitter is both BC guy and Jacobs were met with criticism (including some posters on here) who took their arguments apart and offered reasoned critiques. There were a few expletives thrown in, but mostly it was straightforward debunking of their argument. But their reaction then becomes "I'm being attacked by UConn fans!"
Not really, you're just wrong. And no one besides you guys cares who finds out when on game day that some player is doubtful with a twisted ankle or whatever.
It's a little exhausting, but also kinda sad

 

[kansashusky]

Of course he's wrong. We've gone from irrelevant to Top 30 in 3 seasons. If anything, we got too good too soon. We started the season hoping to just make the tournament. Now folks are throwing shade because we didn't go far enough. DiMauro and his sympathizers are on dope.

Wouldn't that mean making it into the round of 32?

 

[Gurleyman]

I always go back to 2004, when JC unfairly ripped Dave Solomon about the Ryan Gomes question. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns about JC ripping Solomon. Solomon, the victim of the tirade, wrote about basketball, not centering himself in the story.

Then later that year, UConn came through without Okafor in the BET. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns demanding to know why they weren’t told Okafor was out and had to find out on TV. Solomon wrote a nice piece on Josh Boone stepping up.

The columnists who are about themselves bug me. I don’t want to read about your grievances. I want to read about the team you cover.

But that was 17 years ago, so I should get over it.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Why is seemingly every media personality a Syracuse or BC guy?

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I always go back to 2004, when JC unfairly ripped Dave Solomon about the Ryan Gomes question. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns about JC ripping Solomon. Solomon, the victim of the tirade, wrote about basketball, not centering himself in the story.

Then later that year, UConn came through without Okafor in the BET. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns demanding to know why they weren’t told Okafor was out and had to find out on TV. Solomon wrote a nice piece on Josh Boone stepping up.

The columnists who are about themselves bug me. I don’t want to read about your grievances. I want to read about the team you cover.

But that was 17 years ago, so I should get over it.

Dave Borges always seems to get scoops. Is it because he’s a “National guy” or “not a mushroom cap”

 

[Duncan Idaho]

DiMauro is the kind of guy that drives in the center lane of the highway going 60mph. Seen it many times. He trolls fans of the men's teams. DB.

 

[M.S.G.]

Borges is the best of the bunch, but I've even noticed some grumbling from him this year. Plus he ended up in the doghouse because of that quote that was taken out of context..

 

[Kolumbo]

First, regarding the Big East, to ask "is that all there is?" is just pure ignorance and laziness. This conference went through a major change and no one knew exactly how things would play out short or long term. 4 teams in the dance, and recruiting is up throughout the conference. He references Louie and Rollie and John Thompson as being old Big East, while those programs are still here. I never considered Boeheim as part of that interesting crowd.

Second, Dan Hurley clearly has the program headed in the right direction. Every coach has years where the program steps back so when that happens, and it will happen, it would be unfair to automatically put the blame on Hurley. Duke and Kentucky not only stepped back, they out-right failed this year, and that's while going about business as usual, not changing conferences and rebuilding.

Just lazy.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Of course he's wrong. We've gone from irrelevant to Top 30 in 3 seasons. If anything, we got too good too soon. We started the season hoping to just make the tournament. Now folks are throwing shade because we didn't go far enough. DiMauro and his sympathizers are on dope.

If next year ends like this year, half the fanbase will turn on him. So, no, he wasn't wrong.

That said, I expect he will do well.

 

[andy34]

And if there is a rule about staying in college for at least 2 years, then the disparity will only increase.

Lots wrong with your post but I feel like I should point out that if college players have to play for 2 years (even though there's no reason to believe this rule will change) then the Dukes and UNCs could only bring in half as many top recruits any given year, and those kids would then go to other schools (like UConn).

 

[Husky25]

I always go back to 2004, when JC unfairly ripped Dave Solomon about the Ryan Gomes question. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns about JC ripping Solomon. Solomon, the victim of the tirade, wrote about basketball, not centering himself in the story.

Then later that year, UConn came through without Okafor in the BET. DiMauro and Jacobs wrote columns demanding to know why they weren’t told Okafor was out and had to find out on TV. Solomon wrote a nice piece on Josh Boone stepping up.

The columnists who are about themselves bug me. I don’t want to read about your grievances. I want to read about the team you cover.

But that was 17 years ago, so I should get over it.

Most writers are far more passionate about their assignments than the subjects thereof. It's what allows them to be critical. In fact, I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of writers couldn't care much less about their readers either, other than if their stuff is actually read. The animosity could very well be really. It seemed that way with Desmond Conner.

Dare I say that journalists are self-serving fans of the story, and the more controversy they can drum up, the more their name is out there.

Dimauro is looking to be a poorman's Dan Shaughnessey, who is now a shadow of his former self since John Henry bought The Boston Globe.

 

[billybud]

2021 Class Rankings...247 Consensus...

Nova.....#5..........three 4 Star...one 3 Star

Uconn....#11.......three 4 Star


# Teams with Top 25 Classes:

ACC.....6
BE........4
B10......3
B12......2
SEC.....3
PAC.....4

 

[DieHardConn]

I really can't escape this guy or his bad takes. He used to talk about my high school too.

 

[Husky68]

Hurley is as far from a hot seat as a Stark sitting on the throne in the North. He has made the team much better each of the three years he has been here. He has a recipe that the Athletic Department believes in == recruit well and play hard. Even if he was Jim Calhoun, he will have years where the team isn’t as good as the year before. Next year may be one of them.

Saying that ot making a “tournament run” next year puts him on the hot seat is just dumb.

Year 3 was not a place where its ok to have a following year that isn't as good. Team performed poorly its last 2 games, mostly on the offensive end. Plenty of room to improve offense.
Hard to be better when Okafor and Gordon leave from a championship team, not so hard year 4 of rebuilding plan when only beat one top quality team all previous year.

 

[JohnFSilver]

Most writers are far more passionate about their assignments than the subjects thereof. It's what allows them to be critical. In fact, I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of writers couldn't care much less about their readers either, other than if their stuff is actually read. The animosity could very well be really. It seemed that way with Desmond Conner.

Dare I say that journalists are self-serving fans of the story, and the more controversy they can drum up, the more their name is out there.

Dimauro is looking to be a poorman's Dan Shaughnessey, who is now a shadow of his former self since John Henry bought The Boston Globe.

Disagree here.

I always cared what the readers thought and what readers want/need and should know. If you lose touch with your readers, then you are just writing for yourself and it is terrible journalism.

There is a term in the business, writing for awards, that a lot of writers do. That means writing for other writers.

But, what i learned to do was to know your audience and niche. What does your audience want and expect? That came after many years on the beat and didn't fully come into focus until I left the beat entirely and did things other than UConn sports. Your readers change, expectations change, and what works changes. That doesn't mean your general rules of journalism change, but people really want honest analysis, straight news, and when a team does well don't piss in their cheerios.

What readers don't want is food fights over the process.

Fans want content they can't get anywhere else. When was the last time someone read a Rothstein story and not his twitter feed?

 

[CL82]

If you lose touch with your readers, then you are just writing for yourself and it is terrible journalism.

The money line from John's post.

 

[Rico444]

The way this played out on Twitter is both BC guy and Jacobs were met with criticism (including some posters on here) who took their arguments apart and offered reasoned critiques. There were a few expletives thrown in, but mostly it was straightforward debunking of their argument. But their reaction then becomes "I'm being attacked by UConn fans!"
Not really, you're just wrong. And no one besides you guys cares who finds out when on game day that some player is doubtful with a twisted ankle or whatever.
It's a little exhausting, but also kinda sad

Yeah, I tweeted at Jacobs that if a writer is trading positive press for scoops, isn't that a problem? Or, conversely, if they aren't getting those scoops, and are writing negative stories as a result. He pretty much just said "I'm not going down this rabbit hole" and refused to even engage. I didn't cross any sort of line, use abusive language, or anything like that.

If you're going to bring up a subject on twitter, why are you bailing on the conversation as soon as you get any kind of pushback?

 

[Husky25]

Disagree here.

I always cared what the readers thought and what readers want/need and should know. If you lose touch with your readers, then you are just writing for yourself and it is terrible journalism.

There is a term in the business, writing for awards, that a lot of writers do. That means writing for other writers.

But, what i learned to do was to know your audience and niche. What does your audience want and expect? That came after many years on the beat and didn't fully come into focus until I left the beat entirely and did things other than UConn sports. Your readers change, expectations change, and what works changes. That doesn't mean your general rules of journalism change, but people really want honest analysis, straight news, and when a team does well don't piss in their cheerios.

What readers don't want is food fights over the process.

Fans want content they can't get anywhere else. When was the last time someone read a Rothstein story and not his twitter feed?

Respectfully, John, I hardly ever use absolutes, and in this case, your attitude is the reason why. Sadly it is an attitude that does not appear to be widely held.