Mike Hunt's grade for 2012 - 2013 season

[real chili 83]

Mike Hunt gets a "B" in my book. 

Some articles he mailed in, some would have subtle (and boring) digs at MU, others were well done.

In my opinion, he nailed the final exam....the recent "Why Leave" article on Buzz and LW.

[Niv Berkowitz]

Nailing the final exam is all well in good....given its weighted more than the mid-term and other "quizzes".

In my book, he gets a "C". I see no difference in what he did than any other "average" beat-writer whose job (and only job on articles about Marquette) is to cover the team and give fans insight. He barely ever gave any insight. And, it took him until the final article to drop the "after being around the program for seven months" crap about perpetuated-myth-mongering of "the Williams' clash". Really, Mike? You couldn't have dropped that earlier in the year? You knew this info a week ago...you know....when you dropped the whole "Buzz would walk" crap?

So, yeah, I don't see how he did anything other than average. And the fact that he looks like a complete slob with no self respect doesn't help him.

[UticaBusBarn]

Chili, your grade of a "B" is about right. Hunt, at times, gave a good effort and produced well crafted news articles. At other times he gave the impression that he was deep into the cooking sherry.

His straight news reporting was not as good as his "op-ed"/commentary work.

I thought he was professional, in the old school of journalism sense. But, Hunt was no where near as good as Paint Touches, which reflects the new (good) journalism. Nonetheless, Hunt did "ace" the final on Coach Williams.

Just think how good Hunt would be if he regularly ate "hot" with s & b's at RC. God, a Pulitzer award would be his for the taking!

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I give him an F.

I LOVED his last article, but that's what makes this frustrating.

Mike is PAID to cover MU basketball. I don't know what other professional responsibilities he has, but he doesn't do much for MU hoops.

Paint Touches is working for free (I assume) and they have FAR better content and analysis.

Mike is talented and can write well (when he wants), but his lack of content is a big miss. I don't know whether to blame him or his editor for not making him work a little harder.

Feels like he is just mailing it in at this point.

[reinko]

I give him an F.

I LOVED his last article, but that's what makes this frustrating.

Mike is PAID to cover MU basketball. I don't know what other professional responsibilities he has, but he doesn't do much for MU hoops.

Paint Touches is working for free (I assume) and they have FAR better content and analysis.

Mike is talented and can write well (when he wants), but his lack of content is a big miss. I don't know whether to blame him or his editor for not making him work a little harder.

Feels like he is just mailing it in at this point.

Dude, his blog post complaining about the DC Metro was Pulitzer quality.

[Ari Gold]

I give him an F.

I LOVED his last article, but that's what makes this frustrating.

Mike is PAID to cover MU basketball. I don't know what other professional responsibilities he has, but he doesn't do much for MU hoops.

Paint Touches is working for free (I assume) and they have FAR better content and analysis.

Mike is talented and can write well (when he wants), but his lack of content is a big miss. I don't know whether to blame him or his editor for not making him work a little harder.

Feels like he is just mailing it in at this point.

Hunt makes Dave Begel look like a journalist.

[Jay Bee]

XXX for Mike Hunt

[We R Final Four]

I give him an F.

I LOVED his last article, but that's what makes this frustrating.

Mike is PAID to cover MU basketball. I don't know what other professional responsibilities he has, but he doesn't do much for MU hoops.

Paint Touches is working for free (I assume) and they have FAR better content and analysis.

Mike is talented and can write well (when he wants), but his lack of content is a big miss. I don't know whether to blame him or his editor for not making him work a little harder.

Feels like he is just mailing it in at this point.

+1.  Very weak journalism and the subtle back handed slights are very hard for me to understand.

[connie]

I have to try to put aside years of antipathy to Mr. Hunt, and try to be fair.  I give him a B.

I remember reading several pieces he did this year and thinking "Mike Hunt wrote this?  It's pretty good!"  Yes there were some superficial fluff pieces.  His last piece on Buzz was very topical, informative and well written.  On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised.

[Niv Berkowitz]

I give him an F.

I LOVED his last article, but that's what makes this frustrating.

Mike is PAID to cover MU basketball. I don't know what other professional responsibilities he has, but he doesn't do much for MU hoops.

Paint Touches is working for free (I assume) and they have FAR better content and analysis.

Mike is talented and can write well (when he wants), but his lack of content is a big miss. I don't know whether to blame him or his editor for not making him work a little harder.

Feels like he is just mailing it in at this point.

Amo - you bring up a good point. Maybe he saved that last article FOR last is because it basically shot a hole through all the other b.s. he was peddling through the season but didn't say anything because that left him with nothing. So, basically, Mike Hunt is to reporting what "The Killing" is to TV shows? A ton of build-up for an ending that didn't make sense with all the time that's already been committed?

I'm retroactively dropping my grade to a C-.

[Dr. Blackheart]

B-

His activity was light years ahead of Rip Van Endlund.  Occasionally he had some very good orignal content, like when LW was feeding him the new conference info.  More so, he actually attended media days, Maui, the BET whereas Rosiak never could never get the green light for the $59 Air Tran flight.

Other times, it was standard fare or just rambling negative.  He basically mailed it in.  And, I do believe he checks these forums for material which is fine as long as he provides answers.

Lastly, I don't think he has quite got that "new media" thing down.  His blog postings were more than random, his chat was awkward, and Hunt with a twitter account woud be a very scary encounter.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I have to try to put aside years of antipathy to Mr. Hunt, and try to be fair.  I give him a B.

I remember reading several pieces he did this year and thinking "Mike Hunt wrote this?  It's pretty good!"  Yes there were some superficial fluff pieces.  His last piece on Buzz was very topical, informative and well written.  On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised.

That's where I started, but here's where I went to after that:

The man is PAID to cover MU basketball. He's not doing this for fun. It's not a very tough gig if it's your actual job.

1. Go sit in practice (if the coaches will let you) and make a couple of observations (boom, blog post).
2. Watch Big East game of upcoming opponent. Make observations. Boom, blog post.
3. Write game recap story after each MU game (2x per week)
4. Write player feature (Blue, Taylor Jr., Mayo, Junior, Otule)
5. Write article about player development (Gardner is a great example, Blue's improvement, etc.)
6. Write article about coaching staff (Jerry, Isaac Chew, etc.)
7. Write article about statistical anomalies or interesting facts. (boom, blog post)
8. Provide updates to upcoming recruits (boom, blog post)

It's not rocket science. These aren't all feature articles.

[connie]

All good points.  Maybe I'm grading on a curve of his prior work.

[bilsu]

The only thing good about him is that he had several blogs. The articles he wrote were basically short and not in depth. There were several times this year when someone linked articles of other newspapers covering their teams up coming game with MU. Those articles reminded me of the Sentinel coverage when I was a kid. Articles that were designed with increasing local interest in the team and the up coming game. I give him a C-. The coverage is half a... at best.

[SWARM!]

Mike Hunt usually gets a D.

[JD]

F.

He gets paid, and it doesn't show.

[RawdogDX]

B-?  you mean BC?

[wadesworld]

Mike Hunt usually gets a D.

Winner.

[ShannonSmith]

A-

I think back to Lori nickel and thank god for mike hunt.

[We R Final Four]

He reported that Buzz was BEast COY. Should we just ignore that and give him a pass? Mike Hunt smells bad.

[real chili 83]

Edlund's grade last year was Incomplete.  Man, that was just bad. 

[Niv Berkowitz]

Mike Hunt is sloppy and has too much hair. A other downgrade.

[Golden Avalanche]

For someone who doesn't live in Milwaukee, I'd give him a D+. Provided so little in his "blog" that I stopped visiting in late January. But, maybe, there's been solid enough coverage in the newspaper which I don't know about.