It has been brought to my attention that former UConn recruiting target Kelsey Bone dropped the Huskies from her list partly because of the unwanted attention she received from the UConn media. If that is true - and comments she made on a radio show certainly seem to indicate that is the case - it is an unfortunate turn of events.

I have very strong opinions on this matter, some of which I will detail in this forum in what may turn out to be the longest blog entry I have ever put together.

As the headline to this blog entry states, there is a fine line between reporters practicing due diligence and becoming an unwelcomed parasite making an already difficult process even more challenging than it needs to me. I addressed this very topic a few years ago with a few New Haven high school football stars, one of whom said that he was often called multiple times daily by reporters from internet recruiting services. He went onto say he regretting giving out his cell phone to those people who obviously felt it was more important to live up to their daily story count quotas than it was to respect his time and privacy. It is my hope that in my journalism career I will never once put my desire to break a recruiting story over a lack of common courtesy at the expense of a highly-touted teenaged basketball prodigy.

For the sake of full disclosure, I will address my handling of Kelsey Bone's recruitment. My first - and only - dealings with Kelsey and her mother came when I attended the USA Basketball Under-18 national team trials in Colorado Springs this summer. On the second day I was there, I spoke with both Kelsey and her mom to get an update of where they stood in the process. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting both of them and asked both of them the best way to remain in contact with them during the process. Without hesitations, Kelsey volunteered her mom's cell phone number and said it would be OK if I called her. As I wrapped up an interview with Kim Williams, Kelsey's mom, I mentioned that Kelsey gave me her cell phone and if it would be OK for me to call for periodic updates. She said that would not be a problem. Between the time I conducted the interviews and the news that Kelsey was dropping UConn from her list of schools, I called Kim Williams' cell phone three times. Unfortunately, I never received a call back which does happen occasionally in the process. Looking back, I believe the way I handled the process was respectful to Kelsey and her mom while allowing me to honor the commitment I made to my paper and its readers as the UConn women's beat writer.

The best part of this unfortunate turn of events is that Kelsey probably has a clearer picture of what it is she does not want to deal with in her basketball playing future. It's better to find this out now than after she committed to UConn and wondered what she got herself in to. I can't speak to what or who was the cause of her making statements regarding the persistence of UConn writers but if her trials and tribulations led her to realize she wasn't prepared to deal with everything that comes with being a part of the UConn program, more power to her.

I will reveal a pair of stories which indicate just how different things are in the world of UConn women's basketball.

In 2002, Sue Bird was informed by a member of the Seattle Storm public relations staff that "a lot of reporters" wanted to speak with her on the first day of training camp in her rookie season. Bird walked over and saw perhaps three or four inquiring minds ready to conduct an interview with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 WNBA draft. When the interview was over, Bird had a bemused look on her face. The PR person asked her what was up. Bird's response was something along the lines of "when you said 'a lot of reporters' I was expecting 10 or 12 reporters. I went to UConn, trust me '3 or 4' is not a lot of reporters."

More recently, I was one of three UConn beat writers who headed straight from the Indianapolis airport to watch UConn recruiting target Kelly Faris play a game for her Heritage Christian team last year. We were in town because UConn was playing at Purdue. We took the opportunity to watch Kelly play and speak to her and her coach following the game. The next day I saw ESPN broadcaster Beth Mowins before the game and I mentioned that we stopped off at the game. I jokingly asked her "is there another women's basketball press corps which would go to a high school basketball game to see a player who may not even go to UConn?" Without missing a beat, Beth's response was "is there another women's basketball team that even has a press corps?"

The moral of this rather long-winded entry is that for every Kelsey Bone and Elena Delle Donne who decide that the all UConn, all the time hoopla that comes with becoming part of Husky Nation is not for them, there is a Maya Moore, Kelly Faris and Samarie Walker who fall in love with the passion with which UConn is followed in this state. UConn's success can be a blessing and a curse. Perhaps the only thing in sports I can compare it to is playing for the New York Yankees. There have been more than a few talented Major League prodigies who couldn't cut it playing under the constant glare of the spotlight in New York and needed to head elsewhere to live up to their potential. The same is true at UConn, it is not for everybody. Fortunately Kelsey Bone and her mom came to that realization before it was too late. I wish the both of them nothing but happiness wherever Kelsey may end up going to college.