Final Blog Post

Today I gave my final presentation. I basically gave a tour of my website and showed the work that Ben and I put into it. I wrapped up the presentation with explaining how the different skills went into it and what I learned about myself. I thought that the presentation went pretty well. I made sure that the class understood that I was pretty busy for the past few months with the work on this project. There are not any next steps for the project per say. The sight is finished and I did all the work I set out to do. With that being said I still write for my own blog occasionally so if I am writing something I would definitely consider putting it on the website because the website that we created for this project looks much better than my blog. So the website could definitely be continued in the future. Although it was a pain to put together I still thought that making the weekly broadcast videos was my favorite part of the work I did. Broadcasting is very fun and I prefer it over writing because I am better at expressing my opinions when I am speaking as opposed to writing. Although writing is not my favorite thing per say, I still really enjoyed writing about the top twenty-five recruiting classes. My least favorite part of the work this term was the blog posts by far. I felt that the blog posts were hindering to my project in a way because instead of writing for my project I had to write three blog posts a week. I think one blog post a week giving an update to the class is more reasonable. There is no reason to post three times a week. I was able to work through the pain of the blog posts and finish all my work on time. The advice that I would give to next year's seniors would be firstly to choose a topic that you are truly interested in. I can't speak for the people who chose topics that they were not interested in, but I had a great time doing my project so I feel that they should all find something they are very interested in. My other piece of advice would be to stay on top of things. I know it is easy to let the work slip when you are working individually, but if you stay on top of your work then it will make things easy for you in the end. I think this mentality can be used in life in general as well. The ultimate truth that I learned about my working process is that I can put my head down and get things done. I don't think anyone heard me speak very much in English class this term because once I got in the classroom I got down to business. I knew that I had my work cut out for me so I wasted no time in class. To be honest I was surprised at how I was able to stay so focussed on my project during class. I am happy to know that I can get down to work when I need to. What I learned about myself is that I still want to be a sports broadcaster and study broadcast journalism in college. When I was in middle school I realized that I would not play professional sports so from that point on I have always wanted work in the field of sports broadcasting. I knew this project was going to test whether or not sports broadcasting is something I would want to pursue. I had a great time doing the newscasts so that just reassured my passion. This was an absolutely great way to spend the term because I was able to do something I loved and work with one of my best friends. I am very thankful for this entire process.

Crunch time: Week 5 Blog 3

It is coming down to the wire and I am not swamped with work, but there is still some work to do. I just finished up my top twenty-five list yesterday which was a huge success. I am currently working on an article about the interview I did with Martin. I also finished my book, The Last Amateurs, but I still have to write an article on it and post in the recruiting section. Tonight I will post my final video episode. I already filmed most of it so I just have to do a few more garageband recordings and then put the video together. I need to complete all of these things by Wednesday as well as fine tune and tweak the website. The website looks pretty nice, but when I am finished the work it will look even better. I am looking forward to finishing this project and I am not very nervous about time.  

Progress this week: Week 5: Blog 2

This week has been pretty productive because I know that I need to get down to work if I want to complete the project. I am down to my final two articles on my top twenty-five teams. The top two teams are Duke and Kentucky. I have also made a nice amount of progress on my book and I have been writing down quotes that I want to put in my article about the book. This week I have also interviewed Martin Mann. I wanted to interview Martin because he can speak about the recruiting process from the view of an athlete. He is currently being recruited by division one basketball schools so I thought that his input would be very helpful. I think it is important to see how the process works from both the coaches' perspective and the player's perspective. Seeing it from both sides will help give a clear understanding of the process as a whole. This week of work has been solid, but still have some work ahead of me before the presentation.

Off to the races and frustration with blog: Week 5 Blog 1

This week I really do have my work cut out for me. Last night I put the finishing touches to my latest video update. I hope to make one more this week to have four videos on various topics an then the introduction video. I also need to do a ton of writing. Whether it be my top twenty-five or my feature articles on my interview or book. Over the course of this project so far I have realized what a hassle these blog posts are. I think three posts a week is a little excessive because I could be working on my articles for my project instead of writing about my progress. I think that one blog post a week giving an update on the status of your project is necessary. I do not think it is necessary to write three posts a week. I have completed all the blog posts so far, but I always wonder how much further I could be with my project if I did not have to do these blogs. I am going to try to push through and complete my project while doing all these blogs. It is going to be tough because my project contains a ton of work, but I can't make any excuses for myself because if I do then I am doomed for sure.

Upcoming Week Week 4: Blog 3

This week has to be a week full of hard work if I am going to be able to reach all my goals for the final project. This week I hope to finish reading my book and write an article highlighting the major points of the book and how it relates to recruiting. I also hope to be very close to finishing my top twenty five list. I have eight more articles to write if I want to complete that. I need to get an interview done with an athlete this week and write an article about it. I was thinking about interviewing Martin Mann because he is a basketball player that is going through the recruiting process and I think his information could be valuable. Lastly of course I need to post my last video. This would put me up to four videos and I think that is  substantial amount based on the significant amount of time it takes me to create them. I hope I can get most of these things done, but I'll see where I am at by the end of the week.

Work this week: Week 4 Blog 2

This week was a decent week of work. I focussed a lot on my articles of the top twenty-five teams and now I am at the number ten team the Virginia Cavaliers. These articles are fun to write and they are becoming more interesting because now I am getting into the really strong recruiting classes. The way I go about these articles is I watch film of the recruits for a certain team. I take notes on the players and then determine how I will rank the classes. Along with these articles I have continued reading The Last Amateurs which continues to be an interesting book. I will put up an article focussing on some of the main points and quotes of the book. By Sunday night I will put up the third episode of my video series The Finnsider. I am still determining this week's topic, but I will make it something interesting. Overall this week of work was pretty solid and hopefully I can be even more productive next week.

Solid start to the week: Week 4 Blog 1

So far this week I have already made decent progress on my project. I have now written thirteen articles on my top twenty five teams and I have been chipping away at my book The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein. The book focusses on the Patriot League which is a certain conference in NCAA Division 1 basketball. Most of you have probably not heard of the Patriot League, but it is a competitive conference. The teams in the Patriot League are different to power conferences in terms of their resources. They are not as much about the bling as bigger basketball schools are. From the perspective of coaches and players Feinstein shows us the life and thoughts of these players who play in this conference. The book often refers to the hard work of the players in that conference. So far it is a very interesting book. On my articles I am getting down to the very good recruiting classes. As I am watching the film of these players I can't help, but be amazed at their athleticism and skill. Most of the teams that I have yet to write about are the teams from all the power conferences. However Harvard has a very impressive recruiting class and they will be close to my top ten. It has been a ton of work making my rankings and writing my articles, but it is very fun.

End of the week blog: Week 3 Blog 3

This week I made some solid progress on my project. I was able to interview Coach Johnson and write an article about it. I just finished my eleventh article on my rankings so I have fourteen your articles to go for that list. Tonight I am going to create another 2-4 minute video and I will try to make one of those videos each week. The website is really starting to fill out between my articles and Ben's articles. We have a decent amount of content on the site and we are obviously going to put up much more. We hope to get another interview done and write an article about it. I will also keep working on my top twenty five list and Ben will keep working on his point guard list. I think I am on pace to finish the project and have a nice final product. Hopefully Ben and I can keep up our production and make the site great. Here is a link if you want to see what we have on the site right now.

http://collegehoopsrecruiting.weebly.com

Interview and look ahead: Week 3 Blog 2

This week Ben and I were able to have an interview with Coach Johnson. We figured that he would be a valuable source because he recruits players and he is a college basketball fanatic. Before the interview Ben and I both prepared questions that we would ask him. Some of the questions include: How do you initially here of a player? What do look for in a player when you are scouting him? How do you try to "sell" your program to a recruit. Coach Johnson gave us some very insightful answers. In his answers he used many examples from his life time which was very helpful. I recorded the interview on my phone. After the interview was over I listened to the interview on my phone and transcribed the answers to a word document. We decided that I would write the article about Coach Johnson. In the article I put in many quotes as well as some of my own thoughts and analysis. Overall I think the interview was a great experience and Ben and I both learned new things about recruiting. Looking ahead, Ben is going to interview Jesse Bopp who is the assistant basketball coach at Chattanooga University. I am going to write more about the top twenty five recruiting classes and I will create a video tomorrow. We have done a lot of work, but there is still a lot more to go.

Process of making videos plus computer struggles: Week 3 Blog 1

For my final product I want to have the separate website be filled with both articles and short video updates (2-4 minutes). Last night I tried to make my first video. I knew it was not going be easy, but I did not think it would be as hard as it was. I used iMovie to put the whole video together. Before I started recording I had to write myself a plan of what I was going to say during the broadcast. Once I had the plan written out I started filming my introduction with my iPhone. This proved to be a bit of a challenge because I always wanted to look into the camera and not slip up what I was saying. I did multiple takes until I got a plausible recording. Broadcasters have to be both clear in their delivery and quick on their feet. After I finished filming the introduction I did a recording of my analysis on garage band. I decided that I would have film of the player going on when my voice was in the background. Recording my voice was much easier than filming because I did not have to focus on looking at the camera. Once I finished recording I went back to filming on my phone. I executed the conclusion much more sharply than my introduction. I think I am already getting more comfortable and confident in broadcasting to the camera. Once I had all the components I tried to put it all together on iMovie. This was a painstaking process, but I pushed through it. Unfortunately the old laptop that I was using was not uploading it to YouTube so I have to covert the file and email it to myself and then open it on my new computer. Once I downloaded it on my new computer I uploaded it to YouTube and all is well. I hope I become more efficient with this process because it took me a while last night.

Looking back at this week and looking forward to next: Week 2 Blog 3

This week I made a solid amount of progress on my project. I was able to finish the designing of the website as well as write six articles for my top twenty five teams. Ben has been working hard and writing out articles on the top point guards. I have also created my interview questions for the college coaches. We have been in contact with the Chattanooga coach and we plan to interview him and Coach Johnson this week. This week we hope to get some of our interviews done and write articles about those interviews. I will also continue to work on my top twenty-five articles. Hopefully I can get a video or two up on the site this week. I also need to begin reading my book. I am really looking forward to seeing the website fill up with articles and videos. Despite the heads holiday I will still have to work on my project just to stay on schedule with my due dates. The interviews should be very fun and give us some experience asking questions to coaches.  

Dead Computer: Week 2 Blog 2

Saturday was not my greatest day by any means. For my project I hope to create brief videos and put them on my website. For the videos I wanted to have clips of certain players so I tried to figure out how to download YouTube clips to my computer. I downloaded this application that was nothing, but bad news. Once I downloaded the app to download the YouTube video my computer got a virus. Every time I tried to get on the internet it would take me to a bunch of different windows which was annoying. I am typing this blog post from an old laptop in my house. Hopefully my laptop will be fixed relatively soon so I can make the videos, but I will have to work from this laptop for now. I should still be able to get a fair amount done while my laptop is being fixed.

Working: Week 2 Blog 1

Today I had my mid-term presentation which I felt went pretty well. I was very pleased that my classmates were attentive and seemed genuinely interested in my project. This week is the first real week of working. So far this week I have written four articles about different recruiting classes for my top twenty-five list. The articles are fairly short, but they provide a brief introduction and then a look at each of the recruits. I think the articles are a nice length because they are long enough to have substance and value, but not long to the point where people become very board. They are quick reads that provide readers with the necessary information. Along with the articles I have also prepared questions that I will ask a college coach that we interview. So far we are looking at interviewing the Chattanooga assistant coach, Farleigh Dickinson head coach, Coach Johnson, and at least one athlete. The questions that I have designed are more towards a college coach because I ask about campus visits, signings and things like that. Ben is designing questions to ask Coach Johnson. I am hoping to conduct an interview within the next week and write an article about it as soon as possible. By next week the website should be going very strong. Just in case you want to check out the website and read a little here is the link to the site.

http://collegehoopsrecruiting.weebly.com/

Working on presentation and starting project: Week 1 Blog 3

This week I started up on the basics of my project. I used a calendar to plan out how I would use my class time and homework time for the rest of the term. With the amount of writing, videos, readings and interviews my term is going to be busy. So far I have designed a basic website for the project. The site will begin to fill up as more and more articles and videos are posted. The website contains pages for the different programs, the recruiting process, players and videos. The home page will feature our most recent work and have links attached to them. As of now we are still trying to figure out our interview subjects. Once we have them we can star creating questions and  carrying out the interviews. After we have the interviews we can write more articles about the recruiting process. I have posted one article so far and it was about the Villanova Wildcats who are 25th on the top 25 recruiting class list. I hope to get more of these articles done this upcoming week. This weekend I have been working on my midterm presentation. I am doing it in the form of a power point with visual aid and a video. I hope that I can clearly present what my project is about and what I hope to get out of it. This is shaping up to be a fun final project.      

Beginning the Project : Week 1 Blog 2

Today in class we began the project. Although our project are still waiting to be approved I started to plan out my work for the week. I spent my class time trying to design and create an effective website. I am using Weebly which is a website creating site, but I am pretty unfamiliar with it and still earning how to use it. The website is going to be the final product of our work so it is essential that I take necessary time to design it. Some things that I put on the calendar to get done this week include finish designing the website, set up interviews and maybe post an article or two. As we begin writing we will figure out what the manageable amount of articles/videos per week would be. We hope to start interviewing coaches and athletes as soon as possible. I think that this project will keep us very busy for the remainder of the term. If we try to accomplish everything we want to it will take a lot of time, but it will be worth it in the end.    

Introduction: Week 1 Blog 1

For my senior project I hope to explore the process of recruiting college basketball players. Basketball has been a big part of my life since a young age whether it be playing or watching. I have discovered that I want to become a sports broadcaster and ideally focus on basketball at the college or professional level. I think this project could be very beneficial to me because it would give me an understanding of what the recruiting process is like and I would enjoy my time doing it. This is an area of college basketball that I am not very familiar with so this project will be a great learning experience. To achieve my goal of being a sports broadcaster I have to be an expert on basketball and pretty much know every little thing. I hope to partner up with my friend Ben Gainsboro who is an even more passionate fan of the sport than me. Ben aspires to become a sports journalist focusing on basketball so this project could be very useful for him as well. I know that we will work well together because we are good friends and we actually wrote together for a blog in the past. I hope that this project will be approved because I am really looking forward to diving into this project and making the most out of this term.