I’ll get the news out of the way at the start just so everyone who wants to see it can.
All of my writing will be moved over to Basket Under Review. My newest article, breaking down the historic 2011 UConn run, is already up.
Over at Basket Under Review, I’ll be covering the entirety of college basketball. Obviously there’ll be some level of Big Ten coverage, but I won’t just be covering the 18 teams that I have for the past 5 years (well, 2 years for Oregon, Washington, UCLA, and USC).
For those who have been paid subscribers, I have already turned off the paid aspect, and you should not be billed anymore. There is nothing that you should have to do for that at all, but if you see you are still getting billed moving forward, please email me at jjack2210@gmail.com.
I’ll still have my Feed The Post Youtube (please consider subscribing if you haven’t), which will have fun videos covering college basketball.
For those who are unfamiliar with Basket Under Review, it’s, in my biased opinion, among the best coverage of college basketball you can find. There are two aspects to a subscription - the discord and the website.
The website contains all the articles from writers like myself, with an emphasis on truly breaking down all the intricacies of college basketball. There are also links to the various podcasts produced. Whether you want written, audio, or film, Basket Under Review has everything covered.
If you’re unfamiliar with what Discord is, it’s essentially a very large groupchat, and ours at Basket Under Review allows you to talk college basketball with everyone else. There are also Discord specific “podcast” adjacent things that have featured special guests like Ken Pomeroy, Matt Norlander, Greg Kampe, and PJ Thompson among many others where you can ask them questions. There are also tons of different channels to take about specific teams or conferences, like the Big Ten. Most of the writers for Basket Under Review are pretty active as well, and I’m planning on being on there more this season.
You’ll also get access to Trilly Donovan’s scoops about recruitment, the transfer portal, and other newsworthy items.
That’s my sales pitch for Basket Under Review, and I truly can’t recommend it enough if you love college basketball.
I just wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone who has supported me over the last 5 years or so as I transitioned from covering just Purdue to all of the Big Ten, and now all of college basketball. Over 1000 people have subscribed to this newsletter that just covers Big Ten basketball, a number I didn’t expect to reach.
I knew I wanted to cover basketball in some capacity, and I’ve been able to form my identity over the last 5 years as someone who can break down film and try to explain more of the nuances of the game, something I’ll continue to do at BUR. I never have viewed myself as the smartest in the room, and I want to continue being able to learn everything I can about what I consider to be the greatest game in the world.
It’s been a ton of fun for me to be able to write about and cover the Big Ten in a way that I really wanted to. I’ve never really cared about clickbait headlines or more of the drama surrounding the sports (although that has become increasingly more difficult as eligibility rules continue to fly out the window). I just want to watch hoops and talk about it. Feed The Post has been something I’ve created to be able to do just that, and I’m very proud of what I’ve done.
Day 1 Feed The Post fans know I need to shoutout Aidan Kunst as we started the Feed The Post podcast back in 2023 covering Purdue and the Big Ten, which kick-started all of this. He has been, and is going to continue, doing big things in the college basketball world.
Starting basketball content came at an interesting time in my life, as I started this when I turned 21 and was a junior at Purdue. Now I’m 26, engaged, and three years removed from college. There’s been a lot of personal growth I feel like, and also a lot of growth for me as a creator. Growing up, I was a pretty shy kid, and although I’m still a natural introvert, I never would’ve thought that I could’ve created videos that over 100k people have seen between Youtube and Substack. Forcing myself to be uncomfortable and just go for it has opened up a lot of great opportunities for myself, such as covering the 2024 and 2026 Final Fours in person.
I’ve grown up a lot and really have started to figure out what matters to me. I still have lofty aspirations of covering basketball full time one day. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but moving to Basket Under Review I think will be best for me to balance both my work and growth as a creative while also enjoying the rest of my life. I enjoy writing and covering the sport, but I don’t always love the marketing that comes with Substack, and it’s only become harder as Twitter has become more difficult to gain traction with links on.
Trilly Donovan, the creator of Basket Under Review, has given me a lot of liberty as to how I cover college basketball, which means that I’ll be able to write about a lot of the schematics of everyone from the best team in the country to a fun mid-major that doesn’t get much attention. I’m looking forward to being able to dive into all 365(?) college basketball teams.
Moving to Basket Under Review will also allow me to allocate more time to my Youtube channel, something I’m both really proud of and truly believe in. I love making and editing videos, being able to provide a (hopefully) unique angle to the sport.
As for Feed The Post Substack, I’m not sure if I’ll do anything with it or not. I still love the NBA and WNBA, so maybe there’ll be articles about those leagues? Maybe it’ll sit dormant? I don’t really know.
Truly, I cannot thank all of you enough who have supported me over the last half decade as I wouldn’t have had all of these fun opportunities without you. I hope to see you over in the Basket Under Review Discord where we can talk hoops.
And don’t worry, there’ll always be a soft spot in my heart for the Big Ten.
Excited for you Joe (and Sydney too, congrats!), and sounds like this will be a good change that is mutually beneficial. I'll definitely consider moving my other subs to BUR. Either way, just make sure we don't lose you on BITS!