2024 Full Court Press
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS
Please arrive by 8 a.m. PT to give yourself time to get your credential and enter the stadium in time for the start of the event.
Here is is a map with information on how to get to the credential center to get your Full Court Press daily credential. Please let the staff know you are there to pick up a daily credential.
Here is a link to parking information. Parking is free on Friday.
The Friday event daily credential has access to courtside and the working media areas, basically the same access as any other media credential for that day. Please contact us if you have issues.
ABOUT FULL COURT PRESS
"Full Court Press," the 23rd annual U.S. Basketball Writers Association sports writing seminar and scholarship competition, will take place on Friday, April 5 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., with a series of exclusive experiences for undergraduate and graduate college students with an interest in sports journalism.
The program will begin with a panel discussion at Breakout Room 1 in State Farm Stadium from 8:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. PT.
The panel will feature Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated, Dana O'Neil of The Athletic and Chuck Culpepper of the Washington Post. USBWA president Brendan Quinn of The Athletic will moderate.
Exclusive player and head coach availability for each participating team will be at the following times:
- NC State: 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. PT
- Purdue: 11:30 to 11:45 a.m. PT
- Alabama: 12:30 to 12:45 p.m. PT
- Connecticut: 1:30 to 1:45 p.m. PT
Students can enter a competition for scholarships up to $1,500 in honor of the late Larry Donald, the only two-time USBWA president and the founding editor of Basketball Times.
The free event provides students with an opportunity to cover the NCAA Final Four the day before the national semifinals. Students will receive media credentials for the day for access to players and coaches. There will be exclusive press conference access to the four coaches and one player from each Final Four team.
Other events covered by the students will include the USBWA Oscar Robertson Player of the Year presentation (11:35 a.m. PT) and the Reese’s All-Star Game (3:30 p.m. PT).
The panel discussion will involve leading reporters in the industry. Panelists will discuss topics such as the influence of social media, the state of the job market, navigational skills in a 24/7 digital era and survival tactics to deal with increasingly challenging deadlines.
The free seminar is organized by the Sports Capital Journalism Program at IU Indianapolis.
Applications are not closed for this year's event.
If you have any questions about registration or the event itself, please feel free to contact us.
Full Court Press Sports Writing Seminar and Scholarship Program: How To File Your Story
Each student may submit one story for consideration for scholarships of $1,500, $750 and $500.
All entries must be submitted no later than 12 p.m. (ET) on Monday, April 8. The USBWA will select the scholarship winners. The winners will be notified and the decisions will be announced on the USBWA website on or before May 1.
Stories should be submitted via email to ted@collegepressbox.com.
“Full Court Press Scholarship” should appear in the subject line of the email.
In the top left corner of the first page of your story, please include the following information:
- First and last name
- School
- Postal mailing address
- Cell phone number
- Word count for your story
- The event you chose to cover
Please note: Entries that do not follow these instructions will not be eligible for consideration.
Each student may enter a story about the press conferences. The story must be related to one of the press conferences.
Stories should be no less than 700 and no more than 750 words. Stories should be written as hard news or news features.
Please operate on the assumption that your story would appear in a Saturday print edition or late Friday on a website, before the semifinal games are played.
Your participation in this event indicates your permission for the USBWA to use your work on its website and in promotional materials. Good luck!
The Larry Donald Memorial Sports Writing Scholarships
Larry Donald was the editor and the man most identifiable with Basketball Times. He passed away unexpectedly in the late fall of 2000. It is in his memory that the scholarships are dedicated.
Originally from Deshler, Ohio, Larry loved three things: watching basketball, playing golf and writing about both. Larry was president of the USBWA for two terms (1986-87 and 1987-88); a member of the Association’s Hall of Fame; a winner of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Curt Gowdy Print Media Award, the highest award the Hall confers on the media short of enshrinement; the winner of over 20 USBWA writing awards; and a veteran of more than 25 Final Fours.
Larry was called “the father of us all,” by long-time friend and colleague Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. Indeed, with his own distinguished work and that of some of America’s finest writers – including Ryan, Charlie Pierce and John Feinstein – Larry was able to create a publication that catered to a loyal, dedicated following.
When Larry passed away, the visitors, friends and associates who extended sympathies read like a modern-day “Who’s who of basketball.” It is with Larry’s good humor, his passion for writing and his wonderful gift for storytelling that we continue the vision he laid out in more than 30-plus years of dedication and love of the game.