Editor’s note: We’re excited to announce that we’ve hired a new writer, Matt Press, to the Inside the Hall staff. Matt is a senior at Indiana University at the media school. His work began appearing on Inside the Hall last month.
One of my most formative journalistic experiences occurred at Lake Monroe.
I’ll be more specific here. One of my most formative journalistic experiences occurred at the Lake Monroe Sailing Association in the fall of my freshman year at IU. I had recently taken on the club sports beat for the Indiana Daily Student and decided to pursue a story about the school’s sailing club.
What I knew about sailing — and frankly reporting — at the time couldn’t have filled more than two lines within a page of the red spiral notebook I had in hand. I was anxious when I arrived, unsure who to talk to or what to talk about.
I was jealous of my peers on the more “coveted” beats, sitting in cushy press boxes and eating catered meals, asking questions on microphones and writing with such authority. I didn’t know that day at Lake Monroe, or even in the ensuing weeks, but I’d learn the importance of seeking stories where others aren’t.
It’s why I profiled former Indiana long snapper Sean Wracher for the IDS last year. It’s why, when I interned as a team reporter for a minor league baseball club in the summer of 2023, I wrote a feature on a backup catcher.
And it’s why this past summer, when I spent a little over two months with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I wrote about baseball cards and the significance of a local pickup basketball court.
Now for why I’m sure most of you are actually here: basketball. I grew up a little outside Atlanta, Georgia where college hoops took a firm backseat to SEC football. My playing career on the hardwood was short-lived and unspectacular — my friends joke to this day about my 0-for-9 3-point shooting outing in a sixth-grade rec game.
I had never attended an IU basketball game before college. I’ll spare you most of the out-of-state student drivel about how Assembly Hall changed my life, but there’s a nugget of truth to it.
My introduction to Indiana basketball coverage started in the 2022-23 season, when I served as the columnist on the IDS women’s basketball beat. I quickly learned of the magic inside those walls on 17th St. I had relatively no idea what I was doing as a columnist, but I started taking chances in my writing and seeing what stuck.
We traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee early in the year and covered the regular season finale against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in Iowa City. Clark, of course, drilled a buzzer-beater to down Indiana 86-85, and I maintain it’s one of my favorite games I’ve ever covered and one of the most electric atmospheres I’ve experienced.
Last year, I transitioned to cover the men’s team. The entire beat was a joy to work with throughout the season, and our trip to New York for the Empire Classic was filled with unforgettable memories. And like head coach Mike Woodson, I got to take a game back home in Atlanta.
Across seven beats and a semester as sports editor, I truly cannot extend enough thanks to the IDS for helping me reach this point. I’m pumped to be joining the Inside the Hall community and working alongside a tremendously talented team in Will Foley and Kevin Vera.
I’ll be providing coverage of both the men’s and women’s teams, which should be packed with plenty of storylines and excitement. While I don’t consider myself a film or X’s and O’s junkie, I’ve never been shy about hiding what I don’t know.
That’s part of this business.
But what I can do is ask questions, ask more questions and then ask another. I’m hoping to uncover some of those under-the-radar stories and bring meaning to box scores and statistics while continuing to provide coverage for a passionate and unparalleled fanbase.
Feel free to follow along with me on X @MattPress23.
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