SI Reporter Visiting Arch Madness

Rising Star Kevin Sweeney

(St. Louis, MO) – National websites often ignore mid-major basketball teams and tournaments but Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney was one such reporter visiting Arch Madness.

The Chicago native didn’t have too far to drive and there was growing national sentiment that Belmont could be a budding ‘Cinderella’ story. When the Bruins lost during the Missouri Valley Conference tournament’s quarterfinals, Sweeney took a different path to a national story.

Living in the Windy City, he has built a relationship with the Illinois Chicago staff and worked out a plan to embed with the Flames for the rest of the weekend. He went to practices, team meals, film sessions, the locker room and even drove some of the players to their hotel.

Sweeney took in the whole experience, and you can read about it here.

Visiting Arch Madness

What About the National Scene?

Sweeney was recently honored with the ‘Rising Star Award’ from the United States Basketball Writers’ Association (USBWA) for excellence in journalism by someone under the age of 30.

His sources, contacts and writing skills are outstanding, particularly for someone so young and on the national stage.

During his recent piece on whether or not ‘Cinderella is Dead’ he sites, analytical data, trends in the game the obvious ‘portal pandemic’ issues. His conclusions may surprise you.

The advent of NIL has allowed power five conferences to hold on to players longer than in previous years. Since players can make large amounts of money, they don’t have to turn pro to make a living playing hoops.

As pendulums swing, Sweeney says most Division 1 programs play a similar style and that also minimizes the chances of upsets in the NCAA Tournament. The power conferences have moved more toward a big and physical style and less about basketball expertise.

Missouri Valley Conference teams, like all mid-majors are in a period of adjustment. Sweeney says the better teams are better than before and the low to mid-majors aren’t as good as they once were.

He says a new MVC program selling point might be about player development so that given players are ready to jump to the higher level and not jumping too soon. Sweeney says there were college coaches in the stands in St. Louis scouting for talent, more than about a possible future opponent.

Kevin Sweeney was visiting Arch Madness and then to the Big Ten Tournament. He followed that up with the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Tampa, Florida. This weekend it’s back to Chicago for the Midwest Regional.

Head to YouTube to watch our entire conversation or head to Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts for an audio-only version.

You can find this rising star’s written work at si.com and he’s often featured on the Field of 68 podcast.

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