What one NCAA basketball beat reporter should I follow this season?

I know a bad notebook/reporting when I see it, so if I find what you are saying to be true, I'd stop following along.

 

She hates Tipton, and probably has good reason to. She's entitled to her opinion.

If you have to cover hoops year round for readers as hoops crazed as they are in that state, nobody does it better. The readers love him or love to hate him.

 

J. Brady McCullough is an up-and-coming (maybe he's already here) star in this business.

 

Best college football writer out there.

 

Kevin Brockway -- Gainesville Sun. Tipton too.

 

I always wonder if I missed the boat on Dufresne. He has that one sentence per paragraph style that just drives me nuts, and his analysis is always so shallow. I try to read him regularly just to see if I can figure out why people love him so much. His stories always just seem like weak attempts at pithy one-liners. For instance: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-1107-dufresne-bcs-20111107,0,5139435,full.column

I read a lot of writers out there in the ether. I'm not sure how Dufresne is better than Pat Forde or Dan Wetzel or Ivan Maisel or Matt Hayes or Lars Anderson or Austin Murphy or Dennis Dodd or Bruce Feldman or Pete Thamel or Teddy Greenspan or Chuck Carlton or Chip Brown or Spencer Hall or ... should I go on? I check the LA Times website almost daily. I really don't think I've ever been impressed by Dufresne, but I really want to get it. So please, if someone could clarify why he's a must-read, preferably with at least one example...

 

Thanks for all the replies. I have bookmarked all the guys mentioned so far, and I will see what happens.

Appreciate it.

 

I was going to say that even though UConn won't be as good this year, Gavin Keefe of The Day of New London is a real workhorse.

But they just went behind a paywall.

 

Like I said, I've heard all of those praises. But I don't see it. Nothing he writes sticks with me ever. I have never once read anything by Dufresne that was new or interesting. Read that column, his latest, and tell me your impressed. Or just find me an interesting and original thing he's written. I don't mean to sound like a dick, but I've never read anything worthwhile by him, and I've been looking for some time on a fairly consistent basis.

Then again, I also think Plaschke is mostly a hack these days and Simers' bullying wears thin. However, both can be brilliant on occasion. I can't say that about Dufresne. I've never felt strongly in any way about anything he's written on any subject.

 

IIRC, he's added college hoops to the mix as well. But agreed on football.