Beat them to it: Abington High grad first to break one of basketball’s biggest stories

How does a recently graduated high school senior break the news on one of the biggest stories in basketball?

Well, for Abington High graduate James Madden, it’s never too early to start building your sources.

On June 10 at 1:38 p.m., ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that UConn men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley was returning to the Huskies, turning down a $70 million offer to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, unbeknownst to most of the country. Madden had broken the news 21 minutes before on his X account.

Source: Dan Hurley is expected to remain as the UConn head coach. Official announcement expected soon.

— James Madden (@Jmadden1632) June 10, 2024

“The first thing I thought was, ‘Please don’t be wrong,’” Madden said with a laugh.

The post now has more than 9,800 views.

From an early age, Madden had a passion for college basketball. He started an Instagram page, College Basketball News, which closely follows collegiate basketball recruiting, transfers, game scores and more. The page has nearly 21,000 followers.

As his online presence and connections in the college basketball community grew, he developed relationships with many people involved at the Division 1 level.

So much so that eventually, he built sources familiar with Hurley’s situation and trusted them enough to put the news out on his own.

Abington’s James Madden celebrates before a game versus Norwell on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

“They are very trustworthy,” Madden said. “The worst (feeling) is getting duped. You know how the fake reports and fake sources can be. (The source) was very trustworthy and I felt confident putting it out there.”

With UConn winning back-to-back titles, mixed with one of the NBA’s most storied franchises, Madden was fully aware of how big the situation was.

“Dan Hurley and UConn have become a pretty big deal the last two years,” Madden said. “It’s kind of become the center of everything. Not even college basketball, just everything…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/beat-them-abington-high-grad-091006089.html

Author : The Enterprise

Publish date : 2024-07-29 09:10:06

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