Background:
Columbia Maryland native Ethan Hennessy first developed a love for college basketball while attending Loyola University Maryland games at Reitz Arena in the 2010’s with his parents and watching the annual NCAA tournament on TV. Hennessy moved to Indiana for his undergraduate studies at Valparaiso University. While there he created and ran Happening Hoops, a media brand with a focus on covering college basketball from a fan’s perspective. At its peak Happening Hoops was comprised of a Radio Show on 95.1 FM in Valparaiso Indiana, a Twitter account with close to 3,000 followers, a website with over 75,000 views and Youtube channel. At Valparaiso Ethan attended nearly every men’s basketball home game passionately cheering on the Crusaders with his friends from the front row of the student section. When he wasn’t cheering on Valpo he was traveling around the Midwest covering games at various high and mid majors. As a credentialed media member he has covered games at 34 different division one schools, from 18 conferences in 10 different states plus the District of Columbia. Ethan has always had a love for the underdog. This drew him to covering the beat for one of the nation’s worst teams, Chicago State, from 2018-2020, and covering the Patriot League in depth for the 2023-24 season. Happening Hoops is most well known for publishing predictions for college basketball’s third tier postseason tournaments CBI (College Basketball Invitational) and CIT (CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament) from 2018-2023. His predictions became the “go-to” source for forecasting the fields of these postseason tournament as tens of thousands of people flocked to the website annually in early March to get a sneak peak of what the fields could look like. Since moving back to Maryland after school Hennessy has been providing stat keeping and running the replay review system during home games for Loyola University Maryland games. He still covers a reduced amount of games in the winter primarily providing coverage of mid-majors in the northeast.
What The Experts Are Saying:
“If you’re a fan of mid-major, low-major or any basketball leagues/programs that don’t get national media coverage, Happening Hoops is the place for you! Ethan gives great content, insight and has a strong passion for the game. Any true college basketball fan will consider Happening Hoops a go-to source to add to their favorite basketball platforms.”
– Brett Putz Assistant Coach at Saint Louis University
“Happening Hoops gives an amazingly comprehensive look at what college basketball actually looks like. The coverage is diverse, educational and non bias for college basketball fans.”
– Kenneth Blakeney Head Coach at Howard University
“The CBI/Basketball Classic Bracketology he puts together is unique, difficult, and accurate every time. Everywhere he covers a game he is respected. Happening Hoops will continue to be a go-to source come college basketball season.”
– Nick Lorensen MidMajorMadness.com and Graduate Assistant at La Salle University
“Ethan has branded himself to what makes college basketball so special which is knowing the parity across the nation. He has a great feel for the next “Cinderella Story” because he values and cares deeply for mid major basketball. Ethan is connected and works really hard. He will continue to rise in the ranks of media coverage for college basketball.”
– Dustin Kerns Head Coach at Appalachian State
“Happening Hoops is number one in my book for Patriot League coverage. Hennessy does a great job of providing unbiased coverage of an underappreciated league.”
– Charlie Peterson Army West Point Center
“I think he brings a different perspective to it. I enjoy reading his stuff. I think he is good for the game.”
– Greg Kampe Head Coach of Oakland University and current longest tenured division one head coach
Notable Journalistic Accomplishments
- Happening Hoops has been featured in multiple news outlets such as the Las Cruces Sun Times (New Mexico), Peoria Journal Star (Illinois), SB Nation, Pittsburgh Sports Now, and The Eagle (American University’s student newspaper).
- HappeningHoops.com has received over 75,000 views, and the Happening Hoops YouTube Channel has over 34,000 views.
- Hennessy has covered dozens of games as a credentialed media member including postseason tournaments and AP top 25 ranked games.
- As the nation’s preeminent bracketologist of the CBI and CIT/Basketball Classic Tournaments from 2018-2023 Hennessy correctly predicted the entire College Basketball Invitational field twice (2021 and 2022) and had an overall success rate of 90% (162/181) in six years predicting the fields of these tournaments
- Hennessy has made appearances on Fox Sports Radio 990 AM in Honolulu Hawaii, Coast to Coast Hoops Podcast, Union Street Hoops (podcast), and March to the Arch (podcast).
- Hennessy was selected as a media voter for the 2022 Atlantic 10 All-Championship Team.
Happening Hoops 