Q&A: Getting to know Hoops HQ and Seth Davis

As I mentioned last week, all of us here at InsideHook are proud and excited to be working with famed college basketball writer and analyst Seth Davis on a brand new venture called Hoops HQ. The website, which is set to launch on October 28, will be the premier destination for college basketball fans, offering expert insights, analysis and unparalleled access to players and coaches and all the biggest names in the game. I managed to grab a few minutes of Seth’s time and asked him some questions — about his background, about what we can expect from Hoops HQ, and even about his own playing career.

Mike Conklin: Alright, Seth. For our readers who may not be super familiar with you, can you give us a little background info? The Seth Davis elevator pitch, basically?

Seth Davis: How many floors are we riding? In a nutshell: I grew up in Maryland as a huge D.C. sports fan. I attended Duke during the Christian Laettner years. I always wanted to be a sportswriter and sportscaster, and that experience set me sailing on the college basketball beat. Spent two years covering high school sports for the New Haven Register, 22 years writing for Sports Illustrated, and six years for The Athletic. During that time I've also worked in TV extensively, most notably as a studio analyst with CBS Sports and Turner Sports during our coverage of college basketball and the NCAA tournament. Somehow I've also found the time to write nine books, including several on basketball and four New York Times best sellers. I am extremely fortunate to do what I do, and build the relationships that I have over my three decades plus on this beat. I haven't worked a day in my life, and I'm not breaking that streak with this new project.

How did the idea for Hoops HQ come about?

I'm a health and wellness enthusiast (translation: I am getting old), and last March InsideHook asked me to write a piece about my wellness regimen during the tournament — how I stay sharp, and sane. At the time I was writing a Substack newsletter while figuring out my next move (or if there was even going to be one). That article started meaningful conversations with InsideHook about the possibility of launching a media product built around college basketball. This initiative is another iteration of what is being widely referred to as the "creator economy." A lot of folks like me who have done a few things in the industry are finding success in building their audiences on a smaller but deeper scale. It is proving in many cases to be a very workable business model. Hoops HQ is tipping off at the perfect time.

Everyone reading this interview is an InsideHook subscriber and will receive a free, 2-week trial to Hoops HQ. What can they expect in terms of content? Care to share details of what you’re working on for launch? Recurring features throughout the season? Who else, in addition to you, readers can look forward to hearing from?

I'm gonna play this one close to the vest, which is how I usually operate. But if there's one word that will drive our culture at Hoops HQ, it's ACCESS. This includes the women's game, which we will cover aggressively. As I mentioned above, I am lucky to have a high profile in this space as well as many, many great relationships with influencers and newsmakers. That includes not only coaches, players, campus leaders and the like, but also many people throughout the journalism business. I'm going to tap into those relationships to produce first-rate content for our readers. I am also going to design Hoops HQ as a portal for discovering young talent who will hopefully use their work with us as a springboard into full-time positions, either with us or other media outlets. I have long enjoyed mentoring young journalists, and will use this company as a means of furthering that purpose.

For the casual NCAA hoops fan — someone who tunes in for March Madness and not much else — tell us what’s so exciting about the game right now, and why it’s worth following all season.

First of all, the product itself has never been better. Because of the new economic model, the top high school players (like Cooper Flagg) are coming to college basketball instead of going elsewhere where they can make money. Ditto for older players who aren't quite NBA-ready but would have otherwise found high-paying homes overseas. They can actually make more money in college than if they were a mid- to late-second-round draft pick. This is also the last year of the so-called Covid seniors, who are players that got an extra year of eligibility during the pandemic. That has produced a level of highly recognizable talent as well as older teams filled with guys who not only play well, but play well together.

Also, now that transferring is so rampant, college basketball now has a legitimate free agency period following the end of the season. Those four weeks are delightfully chaotic. I know coaches don't like the instability, but for those of us in the media dodge, it's a chance to engage our audiences during a time with lots of movement and high interest. Throw in recruiting, the NBA draft, and the explosion of the women's game, and you can be sure that Hoops HQ will be very busy keeping our readers very much on the inside — all year long. There is no offseason anymore.

As a slightly more-than-casual fan myself, I know that there have been significant changes to the sport in recent years. Whether you’re talking NIL, the transfer portal or the conference realignment, things seem very different than they did even five years ago. What would you say have been the most impactful changes — both positive and negative — in the past few years?

I think on balance it's mostly positive. It's long past the time that these players got their just rewards when it comes to revenue. For far too long, the NCAA tried to hold back the tide, but now the tsunami has crashed on the beach. Unfortunately, that means we have to endure a lot of uncertainty while everyone figures out what the model will look like. But with finalization of the House settlement hopefully coming soon, some of that will fall into place. But yeah, the portal and realignment have really shaken things up, but at the end of the day, the games are what matter the most. And the games are still awesome.

If you had to lock in a tournament champion today, October 21, who’s your pick?

Well, I don't have to lock in a tournament champ today, but I did have to submit a top 25 ballot to the Associated Press, and I am one of the many voters who slotted Kansas at No. 1. Whether they end the season in that position is quite the crapshoot as we know. The NCAA tournament is capricious and unpredictable. It's why we love it so much!

Tell me about your playing career. How early on did you realize you were better off behind your computer than on the court?

I'd say right around the time of my bar mitzvah. I was not good enough to make my high school varsity team (I still hold a grudge against that coach, because he was wrong), but I was a pretty good pickup player through college and beyond. My playing career ended when I was about 28 years old and playing in a rec league game at Chelsea Piers in New York City. I took a severe elbow, which resulted in putting the right side of my nose on the left side of my face. Since then, it's been all yoga and golf for this guy.

What’s the greatest college basketball team of all time?

A lot of people would say the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, who are the last undefeated NCAA champions. Others might say it's the Bill Walton-led team at UCLA that still holds the record for largest average victory margin over the course of a season. But as someone who spent more than four years researching and writing a biography of John Wooden, I would go with his 1967-68 squad. That team only lost one game, and it was to Houston in the famous Game of the Century in the Astrodome. Houston won the game by two points, but Lew Alcindor had sustained a vicious eye injury the week before. Not only was he half-blind during the game, he also hadn't practiced and was woefully out of shape. It's the only game in his entire career when he was under .500 from the field. If people think that's just an excuse, consider that the teams met again in the Final Four, and with a healthy Alcindor the Bruins won, 101-69. They beat North Carolina the next night by 33 to win the title. Case closed.

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