What preseason magazines do you buy?

[crote]

I love pre-season magazines, if only because they're a tangible reminder that, yes, basketball is here again. I always end up buying one or two, but it's never an educated decision. The most advanced my thought process ever gets is "Well Athlon has DeMarcus on the cover and Lindy's has Hansbrough, looks like I'm getting an Athlon this year."

Foolproof as that reasoning is, I'm wondering if any of you have ever directed a slightly more attentive eye to the issue. I know with NCAA football Phil Steele's magazine is highly regarded by Football People, albeit not as well distributed as some of the others. Is there an equivalent for college hoops? Do you make it a point to buy one particular publisher's magazine every year, and if so, why?

[CameronBornAndBred]

I buy the ones with Duke on the cover. Last year it was all tarholes, I left everyone of them on the shelf.

[bradjenk]

Blue Ribbon is the way to go. 400 pages that will be reference for the whole season. About $27 including shipping but well worth it. Can order online:
www.blueribbonyearbookonline.com

[Bob Green]

I've bought the ACC Basketball Handbook for years, but they didn't publish that one this year. During my recent trip to North Carolina, I purchased the Blue Devil tip-off magazine, which I enjoyed immensely.

[weezie]

In my salad days, it was always Streets & Smith but now I just prefer to run under the radar and glean info online.
I guess I'm just lazier.

[Ohiobobcat204]

i bought Athlon and Sporting News. Both were pretty decent

[jv001]

that I did not purchase one of the magazines. I get more worthwhile information here and at Blue Devil Nation than I do in those magazines. Go Duke!

[Kedsy]

The only thing I buy is Blue Ribbon. It's not really a magazine, but it's so much better than everything else there's really no point to the other stuff.

[jimsumner]

Blue Ribbon is authoritative. I even hesitate to call it a magazine. More of an annual encyclopedia.

You can buy it at Books-A-Million but that is the only retail outlet. The one in North Raleigh has it. The online S&H charges are onerous.

[-jk]

Blue Ribbon is authoritative. I even hesitate to call it a magazine. More of an annual encyclopedia.

You can buy it at Books-A-Million but that is the only retail outlet. The one in North Raleigh has it. The online S&H charges are onerous.

The Blue Ribbon Handbook is one of only two mags I get (and well worth the onerous S&H). My second is Julio's Blue Devil Tip Off (http://www.maplestreetpress.com/book.cfm?book_id=59), of course.

-jk

[Edouble]

I get Athlon because they have a full page on every major conference team with a synopsis of frontcourt, backcourt and the lineup. I respect that-- one page per team, and that's that.

I notice that some of the other mags start with a full spread-- a couple of pics and a page or so for the "big guys" and then slowly dwindle down to a paragraph/blurb for the bottom teams. That's no good! Every team is equally dangerous before that first tip, so everyone should get equal attention. Besides if I wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, needing to know the 6th man for UAB-- BOOM! It's right there on the bedside table.

[Troublemaker]

Just a heads up. If you're an ESPN.com Insider, you have access to all the Blue Ribbon content online. That's actually the reason I signed up to be an insider in the first place. Blue Ribbon is good stuff.

[mj2345]

is the bible of college basketball mags.

I highly recommend. I use it as a handbook throughout the season.

[CLT Devil]

I've bought the ACC Basketball Handbook for years, but they didn't publish that one this year. During my recent trip to North Carolina, I purchased the Blue Devil tip-off magazine, which I enjoyed immensely.

My friend is the publisher/editor/(person in charge) and said that he won't be doing the magazine anymore. Due to the economy, and I guess lack of advertising he decided not to do any more. Too bad, was a great mag and usually seemed to have the Dukies on the cover.

Other than that, I pay for espn.com insider and will occasionally pick up Street and Smith's if we are on the cover.

[jimsumner]

Chrysler was a major advertiser for the ACC Handbook. 'nuff said.

[DeepBlue70]

Still grieving the demise of Barry Jacob's A Fan's Guide- for ACC ball there has never been anything quite like it.

[Olympic Fan]

The idea that any other magazine is close to Blue Ribbon is ludicrous.

I know it's expensive and increasingly hard to get (I agree with Jim that the postage and handling charges on line are absurd), but no other magazine comes close to providing the same information.

Let me put it this way -- if you want such in-depth feature stories as Greg Doyel's take on how Roy has trampled K in the dust, then by all means, by Athlon. If you want good, solid, unbiased bare-bones info at a reasonable price, then I'd recomment the Sporting News Yearbook.

But if you want the most informative mag out there, then you have to scramble to get Blue Ribbon. It's very simple -- THEY DISCUSS EVERY SINGLE PLAYER ON EVERY SINGLE TEAM ... ALL 300-PLUS TEAMS.

Just as an example, I checked UNC Greensboro, Duke's opening opponent. A pretty insignificant team -- picked fifth in the six-team North Division of the Southern Conference. They get about a 1,200-word story with a separate paragraph on 12 different players.

Coastal Carolina? Duke's second opponent gets a story of similar length, discussing the impact Cliff Ellis is having on the program and surverying 14 different players -- not just listing them, but discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

Much, MUCH longer previews of their top 25 teams (Duke is No. 9). You get more info on Jon Scheyer than Sporting News devotes to most teams.

It's worth working to get ... or maybe the smarter option would be to sign up for ESPN Insider and get it as a bonus. Either way, if you're serious about hoops, Blue Ribbon is a must.

[jimsumner]

Anybody else old enough to remember the Dell Magazine previews? Part of my childhood.

One final word on Blue Ribbon. The Duke preview is written by Al Featherston, who has closely covered Duke basketball longer than many DBR posters have been alive.

Most of the other previews are equally authoritative.

Let me put it this way. Who would you rather have tell you about Duke, Greg Doyel or Al Featherston?

[WiJoe]

Still grieving the demise of Barry Jacob's A Fan's Guide- for ACC ball there has never been anything quite like it.

I AGREE!

:eek:

[cspan37421]

I was at BAM yesterday and saw both Blue Ribbon and Maple Street Press' Tip Off. I can see how a color commentator would prefer to prep with Blue Ribbon, but for me I prefer a higher ratio of blue devil content to total content, and a lower amount of content about teams outside the top 100.

My all time fave was Barry Jacobs' Fans Guide. I miss it very much. I have a few hardbound Duke Basketball Yearbooks, which are excellent for Duke-only stuff, particularly stats and records. But Barry Jacobs came up with more interesting obscure stats.

Couple questions: Does Duke still publish the hardcover yearbook? I looked at one point and could not find a link. Maybe it's just in PDF now? Second, did someone above suggest this was the last year for Maple Street Press' Blue Devil Tipoff?

I live in SEC country and it is hard to find anything that has much Duke content. Even an ACC preview is hard to come by, and Ga Tech is just 2 hrs away.

[Bob Green]

Second, did someone above suggest this was the last year for Maple Street Press' Blue Devil Tipoff?

I didn't see that suggested anywhere. This is the second year for the MSP Blue Devil Tip Off magazine and I'm sure there are many more years to come. It is an excellent preview of Duke basketball containing articles written by knowledgeable posters from DBR as well as other authors.

[cspan37421]

Bob - it was this reply by CLTDevil that confused me:

Originally Posted by Bob Green View Post
I've bought the ACC Basketball Handbook for years, but they didn't publish that one this year. During my recent trip to North Carolina, I purchased the Blue Devil tip-off magazine, which I enjoyed immensely.
My friend is the publisher/editor/(person in charge) and said that he won't be doing the magazine anymore. Due to the economy, and I guess lack of advertising he decided not to do any more. Too bad, was a great mag and usually seemed to have the Dukies on the cover.

I couldn't tell if CLTDevil was referring to the ACC Basketball Handbook or the Maple St. Press one. Thus the Q. Thanks.

[Battierfan01]

I have always heard that Blue Ribbon was the bible of College Basketball. It is a little on the pricey side but well worth it for the information and coverge it has. And who better to cover our Blue Devils then Al Featherson.:)

[riverside6]

This season I received copies of Blue Ribbon and Basketball Prospectus preview publications and both are really good. Blue Ribbon's detail and accuracy is quite remarkable.

Basketball Prospectus is different in that it looks at the game statistically in a different manner, and I love it. Also, Bilas wrote the foreward.

[grossbus]

i buy/read none of them. i come to DBR for my preseason hype.

[jimsumner]

FWIW, I saw copies of Blue Ribbon today at the Raleigh Borders. In magazines, not books.