Beat them to it: Abington High grad first to break one of basketball’s biggest stories

How does a recently graduated high school senior break the news on one of the biggest stories in basketball?

Well, for Abington High graduate James Madden, it’s never too early to start building your sources.

On June 10 at 1:38 p.m., ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that UConn men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley was returning to the Huskies, turning down a $70 million offer to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, unbeknownst to most of the country. Madden had broken the news 21 minutes before on his X account.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘Please don’t be wrong,’” Madden said with a laugh.

The post now has more than 9,800 views.

From an early age, Madden had a passion for college basketball. He started an Instagram page, College Basketball News, which closely follows collegiate basketball recruiting, transfers, game scores and more. The page has nearly 21,000 followers.

As his online presence and connections in the college basketball community grew, he developed relationships with many people involved at the Division 1 level.

So much so that eventually, he built sources familiar with Hurley’s situation and trusted them enough to put the news out on his own.

“They are very trustworthy,” Madden said. “The worst (feeling) is getting duped. You know how the fake reports and fake sources can be. (The source) was very trustworthy and I felt confident putting it out there.”

With UConn winning back-to-back titles, mixed with one of the NBA’s most storied franchises, Madden was fully aware of how big the situation was.

“Dan Hurley and UConn have become a pretty big deal the last two years,” Madden said. “It’s kind of become the center of everything. Not even college basketball, just everything basketball related because it’s the L.A. Lakers, too.”

At Abington High, Madden developed a specific interest in sports broadcasting. He did play-by-play for most of the school’s basketball games, among other sports, through the school’s partnership with the town of Abington’s Community Access and Media television station.

Abington Athletic Director Peter Serino, who is also the high school’s varsity boys basketball coach, said Madden was always extremely enthusiastic and prepared, constantly attending team walkthroughs and practices and asking questions.

“I think it’s rare for a high school kid with his enthusiasm and excitement level to give up being in the student section to shift over and do the commentary for cable,” Serino said. “A lot of times he was a one-man show. Just for him to do that speaks to his passion and commitment for sports journalism and broadcasting.”

Serino added that he did the game broadcasts “exceptionally well,” with many shocked to find out that Madden was a high schooler after hearing him call a game.

While college basketball is his main passion, Madden said that he enjoys sports as a whole, especially as a diehard Boston fan, which has led him to pursue a career in sports journalism.

“I’ve always thought the best job in the world would be something involving sports,” Madden said. “If you’re getting paid to cover sports and just watch sports, that’s the dream for me.”

And what is more fitting than pursuing that dream at one of college basketball’s blueblood giants?

Madden will attend the University of Kansas to study sports journalism this fall. His goal is to cover the basketball teams as a broadcaster during his first few years.

“That’s like the cathedral of college basketball,” Madden said.

He now enters college with a pretty awesome icebreaker: He beat Woj to one of basketball’s biggest stories this year.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Abington High graduate breaks news on Dan Hurley staying at UCONN