Top > Entertainment > 2005 > December > 2005-12-17

Shawn Siegel Helps Independent College Basketball Site Soar

Collegehoops, the web`s largest independent college basketball site, returns for its fourth season with creator and operator Shawn Siegel, law student, at its helm. Now, in its fourth season of 24/7, in-depth coverage of college basketball, has achieved the status of being the web`s largest independent NCAA basketball site. Starting as a mere vision, CHN has grown into a daily destination for over ten thousand college basketball fans each day.

Going beyond the mere ACC-centric coverage of college basketball offered by ESPN is really the underlying concept that CHN was founded on. This is not to say that the top teams are ignored. Recent interviews with stars like Duke`s JJ Redick and Arizona`s Hassan Adams help give the site credibility and exposure to a wider fan-base. But ultimately Siegel knows the whole purpose of CHN is to provide the average college basketball fan with coverage of teams and players that the mainstream media outlets make no effort to cover.

`I`m probably a better website publisher than I am student,` the self-effacing Siegel jokes. But CHN`s passionate fans don`t really care either way. So long as the site continues to provide unique insight into the game they love, it`s no matter whether Siegel attends the Final Four or spends his time studying for finals instead.

The concept seems to be working. After averaging about 1,000 unique visitors during its first NCAA Tournament, the site grew to about 4,500 in year two, and finally to over 12,000 last March. This coming March, CHN is expecting over 20,000 unique visitors per day. `Right now, traffic on the site is exactly double what it was last December. Not only that, but the site is probably twice as good as it was this time last year. There?s no reason to think we`ve come close to peaking.`