USBWA News from John Akers News

Typically, the offseason duties of a USBWA vice-president are ... nothing. I spent three offseasons in the role, and I cannot remember ever being asked to do a single thing.

It was with that knowledge that Kirk Wessler, Dana O'Neil and Frank Burlison were informed early last summer that Joe Mitch and I had learned that the NCAA again had its eyes on the media's courtside seats. We didn't know when, or to what extent, but we knew that with Greg Shaheen no longer in charge of the NCAA Tournament, changes for us were in store.

The NCAA Tournament seats that we were able to salvage weren't nearly enough.

Let's just get that out of the way.

The 70-some seats near courtside that the USBWA was able to save are better than the shutout that we were facing early last spring or the 40 that we were shown by NCAA members early last fall. But they're still not enough.

Here's a recap of what we will be getting:

Looking back on the column that I wrote for The Tipoff last May, I'm not sure if my words were a little bit prescient or just plain naïve.

As editor of the Tipoff, I've been eavesdropping on USBWA conference calls for nearly a decade now.

Dan Wolken of The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal has been named the recipient of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Rising Star Award, announced today. The award, in its first year, allows the USBWA to recognize top young talent covering the sport of college basketball. Nominees must be USBWA members under the age of 30.