Claim Your Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook Now!

Chris Dortch's '2009-2010 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook' is now complete! (full disclosure: Chris and I are friends, and I'm a huge fan of his work, but I don't get paid to promote or sell his Yearbooks).

In my opinion, biased or not, Blue Ribbon is the Bible for college basketball fans, coaches, announcers, media, and scouts alike.

Here's a preview of Blue Ribbon's Preseason Top 25 and All-America Teams. How do your predictions match or differ? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Don't forget to order online or call 877-807-4857.

Preseason Top 25 Presented by EA Sports

1. Kansas
2. Michigan State
3. Texas
4. Villanova
5. North Carolina
6. Purdue
7. Kentucky
8. California
9. Duke
10. Tennessee
11. Butler
12. West Virginia
13. Georgia Tech
14. Minnesota
15. Syracuse
16. Ohio State
17. Oklahoma
18. Connecticut
19. Dayton
20. Maryland
21. Oklahoma State
22. Michigan
23. Washington
24. Georgetown
25. (tie) Siena
25. Illinois

Preseason All-America Teams

Player of the Year

COLE ALDRICH
6-11 JR, Kansas

Newcomer of the Year

DERRICK FAVORS
6-10 FR, Georgia Tech

2008-09 Blue Ribbon All-America Teams

FIRST TEAM
COLE ALDRICH
6-11 JR, Kansas

KYLE SINGLER
6-8 JR, Duke

LUKE HARANGODY
6-8 SR, Notre Dame

SHERRON COLLINS
5-11 SR, Kansas

EVAN TURNER
6-7 JR, Ohio State

SECOND TEAM
PATRICK PATTERSON
6-8 JR, Kentucky

DAMION JAMES
6-7 SR, Texas

GREG MONROE
6-11 SO, Georgetown

WILLIE WARREN
6-4 SO, Oklahoma

SCOTTIE REYNOLDS
6-2 SR, Villanova

THIRD TEAM
TALOR BATTLE
5-11 JR, Penn State

TYLER SMITH
6-7 SR, Tennessee

TREVOR BOOKER
6-7 SR, Clemson

ROBBIE HUMMEL
6-8 JR, Purdue

CRAIG BRACKINS
6-10 JR, Iowa State

FOURTH TEAM
GREIVIS VASQUEZ
6-6 SR, Maryland

JARVIS VARNADO
6-9 SR, Mississippi State

RAYMAR MORGAN
6-8 SR, Michigan State

JAMES ANDERSON
6-6 JR, Oklahoma State

ED DAVIS
6-9 SO, North Carolina

Are Basketball Coaches Crazy?

Or just passionate?

Hey Coach, this is Peter Robert Casey reporting from Twitter dot com, forward slash Peter, underscore R, underscore Casey. Could you please share your thoughts on the game tonight?


Thought of the Day:

"The psychology instructor had just finished a lecture on mental health and was giving an oral test. Speaking about manic depression, she asked, 'How would you diagnose a patient who walks back and forth screaming at the top of his lungs one minute, then sits in a chair weeping uncontrollably the next?' A young man in the rear raised his hand and answered, 'A basketball coach?'" - Old Basketball Joke, Author Unknown

Q+A with Duke Legend and ESPN Analyst, Jay Williams

Jay Williams is an entrepreneur, community leader, and an up-and-coming college basketball analyst for ESPN. Known for his passion, determination and leadership, Williams parlayed a prolific basketball career at Duke University and one year in the NBA into a successful career off the court.

Jay began his broadcasting career in 2007 at ESPN and CBS covering both college and high school sports. He is a regular contributor on Fox Sports Radio, 99.9 the Fan in North Carolina, and satellite sports radio.

He is a Duke University graduate and was the first athlete in the University's history to earn a degree in just three years (Sociology and Business). He was awarded the prestigious Naismith and Wooden awards given to college basketball’s player of the year, and his #22 jersey has been retired.

I recently caught up with Jay...

PRC: What's in store for Jay Williams during the 2009-2010 season? Will we see you on ESPN covering college hoops?

Jay: This is the year of the grind, my friend. I will be working at least three nights per week in the studio with Doug Gottlieb, Jay Bilas, Hubert Davis, Dick Vitale and Digger Phelps. It's always fun working with this cast of guys because we watch hoops all day and play practical jokes on one another. I am also excited because this is my second full year of doing this, and I'm hoping to host my own show one day. Talking in front of the camera is not as easy as it looks, but also is a thrill; just like playing ball. I mean, seriously, I have the best job!!!! I get free tickets to any game I want, and a free pass to the Final Four every year. Two years ago I sat courtside at the Final Four with Justin Timberlake and talked hoops for the first half of the Memphis game! Tell me that's not awesome?!

PRC: You've finally succumbed to Twitter (@RealJayWilliams). What compelled you to join the micro-blogging service? How do you plan on leveraging your account and other forms of social media?

Jay: I think Twitter is the best way to interact with the true fans of the game. I love having conversations not only about basketball, but about politics, baseball, football, tennis, soccer (World Cup, included) and music. There's no better platform to hear others and share my personal opinion. All my friends started killing me as well for not having a page. I met Lance Armstrong a while ago and dude was like, "What's your Twitter name?" I was speechless...I had no reply. It's very new to me, but I am sure I will get use to it. I have so much crazy stuff to share about what's going on in my life! I think its a great platform to raffle away tickets to games that I will do for charity; offer special giveaway packages that I get through some of my sponsors; and a lot more. I also think its a great opportunity to get some serious points across as well! Today my mother had surgery and it was a very emotional day. She just got a kidney transplant last year and it was such a big step considering my grandma passed away of kidney failure. I wanted to tweet everyone out there that life is too short to take the little things for granted. Take time to enjoy the small things that bring a smile to your face.

PRC: In your opinion, what kind of impact will new media have on college athletics?

JAY: I think new media is going to continue having a huge impact on college sports. You can get information so much quicker today than you could only a few years ago. With Twitter, you're able to get the story from the actual person's point of view, rather than just the mainstream media. It's already happening with the Tila Tequila and Shawne Merriman story. She was able to explain her point of view first, before ESPN reported it. College and professional athletes have direct access to their audience, and vice versa. This is a new age of increasing access.

PRC: Tell us about your basketball clinic this weekend down in Durham. Do you still hoop much?

Jay: I do clinics all the time because I feel that it's very important to give back. Someone took the time to not only to teach me the fundamentals of the game, but also to be a role model in my life.

Ok, so I have funny story!

When I was 11 years old, I was the biggest Charles Barkley fan. I mean, I had the guys poster in my room, had the Suns Starter jacket, and even had a signed card of his when he was with Philly. My father surprised me one day with tickets to watch the Suns take on the Nets. It was a great game and after it was over, my father and I stood in the cold for an hour waiting for the players to come out. All I wanted was an autograph from him. He was one of the first players out of the building and signed only one autograph for a kid. I stood there in awe that it was actually him and got so excited. He signed that one autograph and then walked by everyone else and went onto the bus. He was the only person on the bus for about thirty minutes and we stayed just in case he would come down and sign.

I was so disappointed that day, but I promised myself that if I ever made it, I would take the time to sign for everyone. So I get drafted one day and get asked to do a TNT halftime segment with Charles and Kenny. I definitely let him have it a little on air. Being a great role model is what I strive to be. I just hope I can continue to set the right example for young kids out there. I will be doing tons of clinics and camps around the country, so make sure you stay tuned in to my Twitter page to keep up with all the good stuff going on!!

PRC: You left one heck of a legacy at Duke (NCAA Title, NCAA Player of the Year, #2 Draft Pick). What type of legacy do you want to leave off the court?

Jay: I want my off-the-court legacy to convey that I was a hard working person like everyone else. I have my flaws and issues, but I continue to try and better myself as a person on a daily basis. After my accident, I was told that the chances of walking again were slim; but I fought harder and harder each day to prove people wrong. I made it all the way back to a basketball court and proved to myself that I could do anything I put my mind to. At the end of the day, I want to be remembered for giving back. If I can help someone else achieve their dream, then I will feel fulfilled.

Q+A with Founder and CEO of FanFeedr, Ty Ahmad-Taylor

I recently caught up with Ty Ahmad-Taylor, founder and CEO of FanFeedr--a real-time personalized sports feed for your favorite teams and players.

Ty possesses over fifteen years' experience in interactive media and journalism and provides the overall creative vision and strategic leadership for the FanFeedr website and associated services.

Before founding FanFeedr, Ty served as SVP, Strategy and Product Development at Viacom, where he was the product lead and manager for:

- MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoOnline.com
- MTVmusic.com
- MTV Video Facebook application
- MTV Content API (when it was useful.)

Previously, he was Senior Director of Cross-Platform Applications at Comcast, where he provided strategic planning for the broadband portal Comcast.net, built the first Web 2.0 application for cable companies at http://www.tvplanner.net, and was responsible for interactive entertainment applications that leveraged the PC and the cable set-top box.

Earlier in his career, Ty was Creative Director, Excite@Home (nee @Home Networks), where he led the company's creative efforts for broadband, interactive television and client software.

Ty holds a bachelor's degree from Haverford College and a master's degree from Columbia.

Q: Take us back to the "idea" stage of FanFeedr. Were you looking to create something online, or did this idea cross your mind when you saw a void in sports news feeds?

A: I was looking to solve a problem that I had myself, and I went out and did market validation studies to understand the pain for sports consumers and inefficiencies in their current behavior.

Q: How does FanFeedr work from the user's perspective? Can fans get their news on-the-go via their mobile devices with your product?

A: Here is how someone can use the site, based on our first-time user experience:

To get started…

1. Log in using your Facebook login (we won’t publish anything to Facebook without asking you first).
2. Search for your favorite teams or players using the search bar at the top of this page.
3. “Become a fan” of those teams using the button on the upper left of each search page.

As you become a fan of teams and players, new content will automatically fill your FanFeed. You can get back to your FanFeed from every page by clicking the FanFeed button just above the search bar."

Q: Discuss some of the interactive aspects that your product offers.

A: Folks can make comments on stories, videos, players, and teams, and they can also post these comments to Facebook, and shortly, to Twitter. Additionally, users can respond to the comments, so that is someone says: "Giants rock," you can and should expect a response from Cowboys' fans. Lastly, users can update their status in a sports-related vein and have that publish to either Facebook, Twitter, or both.

We are adding features that will allow users to publish their Fantasy Sports activities and game results to their Facebook and Twitter feed, and we are also allowing users to predict the outcomes of games so that they can get badges for their achievements. such as top Giants' fan and so on.

Q: I noticed in the site index there's a section called "You" that's coming later. What will that be about?

A: The You section will allow people to upload photos and videos, which is a request that a lot of users who attend games want. As always, you can then post this material to Facebook and Twitter automatically, if you wish, to get feedback from friends and followers.

Q: Which basketball players/coaches, in your opinion, are maximizing the power of social media? How are they standing out?

A: I think that Rashad McCants, who doesn't even have a contract, mind you, is a leading light in the basketball community, as he leads contests, has passionate followers, and is also an avid media consumer, which serves him well in terms of being up on trends. He is also personable and nice, and that mix makes for a compelling read on Twitter.

In a similar vein, Kevin Love of the TWolves does a smart job on Twitter and through other social media, and is always entertaining. I won't mention the heavyweights like Shaq and Steve Nash, as everyone already knows about them.

On the coaching side of things, there St. Johns' folks are doing a smart thing in hiring you (no, I am not trying to butter you up), but I don't know of any coaches who are really 1. providing insight into their strategies 2. entertaining with the written word.

That seems like an opportunity for anyone who can get their act together. Likely candidates would be George Karl, and Eric Spoelstra on the pro front. The former because he is a character, the latter because he is younger than most NBA coaches.

I would love to fake tweet as Bobby Knight and/or Phil Jackson, but the FanFeedr legal defense fund needs to be protected for rainy days. Actually, I would like to start a fake Twitter war between the two, but that is my next startup idea.

Discounted NJ Nets Tickets

This just in from my main man, Ken Dorsett, at the NJ Nets:

We are pleased to extend special Nets Basketball Discount ticket offers!

Nets vs. Orlando Magic
Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 8:00pm
Vince Carter returns on Opening Night to the IZOD Center!

Special Ticket Prices:
$57.50 each (Regular price is $115, lower level)
$50 each (Regular price is $100, lower level)
$33 each (Regular price is $66 upper level)
$20 each (Regular price is $40, upper level)

OR

Nets vs. Denver Nuggets
Wednesday, November 4th at 7:30pm
Carmelo Anthony hits the IZOD Center!

Special Ticket Prices:
$20 each (Regular price is $60, lower level)
$10 each (Regular price is $66 & $40, upper level)

Simply click this link to order tickets on-line. Tickets will be e-mailed to you within minutes after purchase

To access this offer, please use special offer code: nets

Bob Knight, Roy Williams, and Pastrami Sandwiches

Carnegie's Deli in New York City has long been lauded for its overstuffed pastrami sandwiches. Howard Garfinkel, co-founder of Five-Star Basketball Camp, is peerless when it comes to assembling cadres of coaches that can fill the Carrier Dome to capacity with their collective hoops knowledge.

When the two intersect, you get "The Clinic to End All Clinics, II."

Who wouldn't pay $150 to absorb the principles of Bob Knight, Roy Williams, Don Casey, Leonard Hamilton, and Mike Fratello? Did I mention lunch is catered by Carnegie's Deli?

More important than ensuring your check clears, show up on time. Garf is forever fixated on punctuality and keeping to a schedule. 9am means 9am. Sharp. Ginsu sharp.

Here's what you need to know:

Date:
Saturday, October 3, 2009

Time:
9am - 5:20pm

Location:

Manhattan College, Draddy Gymnasium
4513 Manhattan College Parkway
Riverdale, NY 10471

Schedule:
9:00 am – 10:00 am - Roy Williams: “Building a Team…”The Williams Way”
10:10 am – 11:10 am - Leonard Hamilton: “The Defense Never Rests”
11:20 am – 12:20 pm - Bob Knight: “Teaching Coaches How to Teach”

12:30 to 1:30 pm - LUNCH

1:30 pm to 3:00 pm - Mike Fratello: “The X’s & O’s You Forgot To Ask”
3:10 pm to 4:10 pm - Bob Knight: “Teaching Coaches How to Teach Part II”
4:20 pm to 5:20 pm - Don Casey: “Own the Zone”

Registration:
$150/coach. Complete form below, and mail check or money order (payable to Howard Garfinkel) to:

Howard Garfinkel
65 West 55th Street, Apt. 10E
New York, NY 10019

I will see you there!

4' 8" Kid Putting on a Dunk Clinic

So you drank the Kool-Aid, too?

I'm a huge fan of Brian Clark and his wildly popular site, copyblogger.com. If you run a hoops blog, write articles, or market basketball products and services online, it would serve you well to subscribe to copyblogger's authoritative feed and learn how to write in a "strategic, persuasive, and compelling manner."

Why?

- To drive traffic to your basketball camp's web site
- To gain subscribers to your college recruiting newsletter
- To attract links to your hoops blog

- To sell more coaching videos and ugly looking sneakers that promise a higher vertical leap

I often read copyblogger to learn more about the art of writing headlines. A recent post by Dave Navarro shared "5 Surefire Sources for Headline Inspiration." He closed the copy by posing a question, a smart tactic that prompts readers to interact and share their knowledge and feedback. Hence the term, social media.

Anyway, while perusing YouTube for a particular basketball video, I came across a highly unlikely claim that was embedded in the Related Videos section: "5 ft 2, 12 Year Old Dunks on 10 Foot Rim."

Views: 2,570,448

Okay, so dude was about 23 years old, 5'8", and the hoop was roughly 9 feet above the Earth's surface. The footage was even grainy, intentionally or not.

What does all of this mean?

1) Lying isn't a good idea (excuse my choice of headlines for the sake of this argument). The pageviews on these two videos may be high, but the trailing comments are overwhelmingly negative. Remember people can vote online with their mouse and keyboard.

2) People love extremes. Kenny George's (7'8" former UNC-Asheville player) dunk video attracted 2.5M sets of eyeballs, too. Some of the most popular basketball videos on YouTube have extreme headlines: Most Amazing Basketball Shot Ever; The Craziest Dunk Ever; and Amazing 11-year Old Athlete.

3) But most of all, headlines matter. I'll leave you with Brian Clark's words because I couldn't have said it better myself: "Your headline is the first, and perhaps only, impression you make on a prospective reader. Without a headline or post title that turns a browser into a reader, the rest of your words may as well not even exist." True story!

Whether you're writing for the passion of the game, or selling basketball "stuff" to make money, be sure that you spend quality time crafting headlines. And while we're on this topic, what headlines caught your attention this weekend and converted you into a reader?

Please leave an example below.

Keno is Keen on Social Media

Providence College men's basketball coach, Keno Davis, has a Twitter feed and a Facebook profile.

In about three weeks, he'll also have an interactive website - www.CoachKenoDavis.com - that will give PC fans a chance to ask and answer questions, and take a deep look inside the Big East program (NOTE: the URL currently redirects to Davis' book on building a successful sports camp). While most college basketball coaches harbor mixed feelings about social media, Keno Davis publicly embraces the opportunity to quickly and easily connect with fans.

Before running his 'Cutters Offense' lecture at the New Heights Coaches Academy today, Coach Davis expressed his genuine interest and involvement in the development of a personally branded website that will integrate a variety of tools for social interaction, and link his profiles from other social media platforms. All this while he hung around patiently for not one, but two takes for a blog interview.

How's that for being progressive?

Shazam! A Special Shout Out From Leroy Smith

The "Basketball" Wonder Wheel on Google

Disclaimer: This post is relevant for people currently, or contemplating, blogging about basketball (or any topic for that matter).

What the Wonder Wheel is not:

- An "As Seen on TV" infomercial product
- A stalling pattern performed by the Harlem Globetrotters
- A themed Cleveland Cavs pregame ritual
- A compound of the famed St. John's University "Wonder Five" and the wheel offense
- Anything related to the game of basketball.

Actually, that last hash mark is a tad short-sighted. I take that one back, and you'll see why below.

The Wonder Wheel is actually a Google search function experiment. Available to the masses in May 2009, this incognito wheel-and-hub visualization provides you with a tree of related keywords based on a search term.

Confused?

Let's try the old visual learning approach. Go to Google.com and search for the word "basketball."

Not surprisingly, NBA.com, a Wikipedia entry for the term basketball, and the game's namesake URL, rank as the top three search results. As you probably already know, you can broaden your Google net for the term "basketball" by clicking on any of the various links listed horizontally at the top of page, including Images, Videos, News, Shopping, Groups, Blogs, Photos, etc.

That's old hat, though, right? I can hear you now: "Where is this Wonder Wheel that you speak of?"

Plowing forward.

Directly below the Google logo, and above the first search result (in this case, NBA.com), you should see a link titled, "Show options." Click that link.

Magically, a third column appears. Under the subtitle, Standard View, you'll find the Wonder Wheel link. Note: I cut out the third and right-most column, sponsored links, for purposes of enhancing the image's quality.

Now, click on Wonder Wheel, and behold, a beautiful visualization. Your search term, basketball, is in the middle, with related search terms branching out from the hub.

There's nothing wondrous about a wheel with spokes that point to apparently "random" words relating to a specific search term. But, these words are hardly random, and that's where the Wonder Wheel adds value.

The search terms surrounding the word "basketball" are the most popular search terms related to that keyword. If you want to drill down deeper, click on any one of the surrounding search terms. For example, click on "basketball drills," and another wheel appears with even more laser focused search topics related to that keyword.

And if you now look at the 3rd column, you'll see the organic search results for "basketball drills" without having to leave the page. You'll also see the total number of results for this keyword. For "basketball drills" there are approximately 1.63M results, a much smaller figure than the 134M that show up for "basketball."

So how does this visualization help you? Here's 5 ways:

1. You can research keywords for blog post ideas.
   
2. You can quickly and easily research relevant keywords that you may be missing in your Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign.
   
3. You can narrow down keywords for an SEO campaign.
   
4. You can discover keyword-based domain names to target new business, and have a better understanding of your niche.
   
5. If you're a visual thinker, the Wonder Wheel makes using Google much simpler and more time-effective.

Happy searching!

A Visual Journey of Getting Back to the League -- Featuring Devin Green

(Source: NBA.com)

Making it to the League is hard enough the first time around. Once you've tasted life in L, the journey back can be daunting, humbling, and even entertaining.

Meet Ty Kish.

The friend and former high school classmate of Devin Green - recent Hampton University standout and NBA stints-man trying to secure a roster spot this upcoming season - is documenting the young athlete's life and attempt at a hopeful reappearance in the world's most revered pro league.

Ty hit me with an email asking if I could share a sequence of his work. When I saw the energy and passion put into this on-going documentary, of course I had to oblige.

Hope you enjoy it, too:

Preview

Part 1

Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

A Can't Miss for Coaches: New Heights Coaches Academy

The best $100 you'll spend this fall...