best NCAABB previews & premium subscriptions?

[CRBoiler]

I'm going to order one... I remember a thread in the past - was the consensus that Blue Ribbon is best?

Also, of all the "premium" sports/BB news subscriptions out there (G&B, ESPN, KenPom, etc.) which ones do people find most valuable? I might spring for one or two of them this year - can't wait for hoops to start.

Thanks

 

[boilerzz]

KenPom is great and only $20 per year. I'm a statistics junkie so I like it.

ESPN Insider is great, particularly if you play fantasy sports. To subscribe to them, find a discount magazine website and order the magazine. Insider membership comes free with it. Shoot, I barely read the magazines.

I really like GBI's premium content as well. Brian does a great job with recruiting and we get a lot of firsthand practice reports. They're not always spot on but much more often than not. And you get the added benefit of KHC, where you can choose to only deal with idiot Purdue fans instead of idiot fans from both Purdue and our competitors.

The last couple of years GBI ran a promotion where you got a $99 gift certificate to buy Purdue merchandise for an annual subscription for $100. I don't know if they'll do it again but it is a no brainer for me if they do.

 

[Schnelk]

I've never seen the Blue Ribbon mag on a shelf anywhere. But I'd like to get one to see for myself.

 

[CRBoiler]

I've never seen the Blue Ribbon mag on a shelf anywhere. But I'd like to get one to see for myself.

If you go to the site, there is a sample page. Interestingly, it is for Tennessee the year Cuonzo took over.

 

[BoilerDaddy]

KenPom is great and only $20 per year. I'm a statistics junkie so I like it.

ESPN Insider is great, particularly if you play fantasy sports. To subscribe to them, find a discount magazine website and order the magazine. Insider membership comes free with it. Shoot, I barely read the magazines.

I really like GBI's premium content as well. Brian does a great job with recruiting and we get a lot of firsthand practice reports. They're not always spot on but much more often than not. And you get the added benefit of KHC, where you can choose to only deal with idiot Purdue fans instead of idiot fans from both Purdue and our competitors.

The last couple of years GBI ran a promotion where you got a $99 gift certificate to buy Purdue merchandise for an annual subscription for $100. I don't know if they'll do it again but it is a no brainer for me if they do.

I think these are good suggestions. Depending on what you are looking for, you may also be interested in shotanalytics.com, but only if you want visual representations of player data.

 

[PurdueCF12]

If you are a numbers freak, KenPom.com OR bbstate.com are the best. BBState.com is more just sheer numbers, while KenPom is more analytical, SABR kind of stats.

 

[CRBoiler]

Thanks for the recommendations. KenPom seems like a no brainier; I will be doing that. And I will look at the others.

I just bought the Blue Ribbon preview (digital version). At 400+ pages of detail! it will come in handy leading up to each game. They preseason rank us 19, which seems fair, but they also put IU and Michigan above us which is questionable as already discussed.