Buried somewhere in the Northwest Washington, D.C. home I grew up in are a slew of ink-stained notebooks. Every spring, as college basketball’s regular season wound down and the postseason approached, I filled them with notes, statistics and trends concerning everyone and anyone who might find themselves in the Men’s NCAA Tournament that year.
No, that extensive research never landed me a first place finish in the annual family bracket pool, but, in hindsight, it was the first sign that I was meant to write about college basketball.
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I’m Stephen Thompson and this week, I joined Knox News as it’s new Tennessee men’s basketball beat writer. I’ve spent the past four years of my life covering college football and basketball, most recently for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Now, just like Johnny Majors did almost 50 years ago, I moved from Pittsburgh to Knoxville to start a new chapter.
March Madness has provided me with some of my earliest and most vivid sports memories, but make no mistake: my obsession with this sport runs year-round and it has for as long as I can rememeber.
Of the many sports I played growing up, basketball made the most sense and it’s the only one which has stuck with me well beyond my competitive playing days. I love the game in all it’s forms, from three-on-three games on dirty playground courts to the NBA, but college basketball is the version I find most beautiful.
College basketball is unpredictable, diverse and, at times, outright goofy. It also has pageantry and history that lend gravity to every game. I always know who’s playing on Big Monday, what game Teddy Valentine is refereeing and which mid-major team is worth splurging on an ESPN+ subscription because I find everything about the game fascinating.
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I cut my teeth as a student reporter, following every move of the Pitt Panthers from my freshman fall through graduation. And while I was in school, those teams didn’t win an awful lot. But my healthy obsession with the sport in all its forms, plus a genuine awe of the opportunity I was given at 18 years old to cover a high major college basketball program, opened the door to engaging stories and a career I love.
It is still surreal to wake up every morning as a Knoxville resident. My mom told me me years ago, as I went through a similar process in Pittsburgh, moving and starting a new job are the two of the most stressful events a person will go through and I’m tackling both at the same time. But I don’t feel stressed.
In fact, I’m relieved to finally get started and itching to see what the future has in store because I can think of no better place in America for a college hoops junkie to be right now than the SEC and the University of Tennessee.
Coming off a third straight Elite Eight appearances, the Vols showed no signs of complacency and reloaded the roster with top-tier transfer talent. And they will be followed by a fan base that doesn’t wait around for the end of the football season or the beginning of March to tune in.
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The expectations for the Vols are appropriately sky high and I will deliver high quality coverage to meet the moment.
Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball. Email him at st**************@******ws.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Meet Knox News’ new Tennessee men’s basketball writer, Stephen Thompson
