Questions that need to be asked

[MCIGuy]

Why hasn't the return of Bowman, the return of Owens and the commitment of Summers been reported by either the WPost or the WTimes yet? Mike Hall's return to GW has been reported. The commitment of Jeremiah Rivers was reported. And everything concerning the Terps' ball program is immediately reported. So why is it that DC's two main newspapers are silent on this latest bit of news concerning GU? With the Times perhaps its because Barker Davis is out of town covering the US Open.

[Big Dog]

The Post already had the story about Bowman and Owens.



www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401402.html

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

Respect with the Washington media outside of the Times, IMHO still has to be earned because they are so UMD oriented at this point that the Hoyas building a very strong program is still flying under the radar. We will make them all know soon.

[SFHoya99]

stpetersburghoya said:

Respect with the Washington media outside of the Times, IMHO still has to be earned because they are so UMD oriented at this point that the Hoyas building a very strong program is still flying under the radar. We will make them all know soon.

That's UMCP.

[DFW HOYA]

stpetersburghoya said:

Respect with the Washington media outside of the Times, IMHO still has to be earned because they are so UMD oriented at this point that the Hoyas building a very strong program is still flying under the radar. We will make them all know soon.

I don't buy the argument that the Post (or any paper) bases its coverage on respect or even collegiate favoritism. The Post sports editor is a GW grad and I don't see a mountain of stories on the Colonials, either.

Washington sports falls into two categories: 1. The Redskins. 2. Everyone else. But within college sports, I think the Post tends to gauge stories by attendance. If the Wizards are drawing 8,000 a game, there is less interest than if they are drawing 18,000. If you go down the list of local schools' attendance, you see a correlation between basketball attendance and coverage:

Maryland: 16,632
Georgetown: 7,837
G.Mason: 3,937
GW: 3,756
American: 1,358
Howard; 1,293

If the situations were reversed and Georgetown was drawing 16K and Maryland 7K, the coverage would be different. If GW got its games into MCI (and I'm surprised they haven't tried) and outdrew the Hoyas, the Post coverage would reflect this.

But there is a demographic element to it, too. The Post is losing circulation in PG and Montgomery County at a faster rate than in Northern Virginia. These are also Terp-friendly counties, so extra Terp coverage makes good business sense. Conversely, Georgetown's presence in Montognmery and PG is not as evident, and so Georgetown may have more of an "inside the Beltway" image when it comes to readership. Conversely, where has Georgetown coverage grown? The Washington Times, whose circulation is heavily dependent inside the Beltway.

[the_way]

I really don't think its attendance, circulations, or anything else other than winning. People, publications, etc. roll with the winner. Its that simple. In the last 5-10 years who has had the most success in the college basketball landscape in the area: the terps. They have won ACC crown, ACC Tournament title 2 years ago,and a National title just 3 years ago. They have gone to sweet sixteens as well. It also doesn't hurt that the Terps play in the conference loved the most by the national and local media and national and local fans: the ACC. What has GU done to really warrant coverage or actually write about from the Post, Times, etc. in that time span. When GU was still a power and JT2 at the helm there was plenty of coverage from the Post. You don't win, you don't get the coverage. We had a pretty good year this year, but until we start winning on a consistent basis, make NCAA's, win Big East Tournaments, etc, we are not going to warrant a large amount of coverage in this area.

[StPetersburgHoya (Inactive)]

theway said:

I really don't think its attendance, circulations, or anything else other than winning. People, publications, etc. roll with the winner. Its that simple. In the last 5-10 years who has had the most success in the college basketball landscape in the area: the terps. They have won ACC crown, ACC Tournament title 2 years ago,and a National title just 3 years ago. They have gone to sweet sixteens as well. It also doesn't hurt that the Terps play in the conference loved the most by the national and local media and national and local fans: the ACC. What has GU done to really warrant coverage or actually write about from the Post, Times, etc. in that time span. When GU was still a power and JT2 at the helm there was plenty of coverage from the Post. You don't win, you don't get the coverage. We had a pretty good year this year, but until we start winning on a consistent basis, make NCAA's, win Big East Tournaments, etc, we are not going to warrant a large amount of coverage in this area.

Also it is hard to get in the sports pages regularly in the college basketball season when you are competing against Redskins Football at the beginning of the season and then the Wizards and the Caps - the local media sort of has to pick one team for college basketball and ride it simply because there isn't enough print space, air time, etc. to cover multiple college teams in depth - if we start playing well (i.e. receiving more buzz and acalaydes than UMD) then we will be back as DCs college basketball team - until then don't expect it. These are things that the program has to work to earn - building a program is an uphill climb in these aspects and no one says it is going to be easy.