My Favorite College Basketball Photos Of 2024

Yesterday I talked about how my high school basketball photography kid of took a hit in 2024. I think that I made more college basketball photos than I have in a few years this past year. There were some clear highlights for me. I was able to see Caitlyn Clark come to Purdue and play. I was lucky enough to be on the court as Purdue clinched the Big Ten Title. I made sure that I was out at the airport as Purdue arrived after clinching their first Final Four since 1980. It was a fun year on the college court for me.

My favorite photo of the year might be this shot of the Big Ten trophy. The year before I was not on the floor making photos. For years I was in the stands on assignment when Purdue won the trophy, and then I found myself shutout in 2023. I made my mind up to do whatever it took to get back on the court, and I was very happy to finally get to make this photo.

It is weird being in Mackey knowing that most of the fans are there for the other team. Caitlyn Clark was that player though that brought people in from all over. I had some fun during the day making photos of her and the fans that she brought into the stadium. This is one of my favorites from that night.

Zach Edey turned Mackey into a madhouse with a three pointer against Indiana. I was fairly wide for the play, and that resulted in one of my favorite photos of the year.

#2 Alabama came to Mackey this past fall, and Purdue took care of business. It was a fun night with a great crowd. The dunk by TKR was one of the highlights of the night. Here is my remote photo and the photo I made handheld.

Mackey looking really good packed before the women’s game between Purdue and Iowa.

During the year I had a goal of showing all of the ways that Zach Edey would get manhandled with no fouls called. Here he takes a Rocky type hit to the face with no foul called. This one photo shows a lot of what he went through to become the two time national player of the year.

Myles Colvin here throwing it down in the second half of a game. I moved to a spot that was empty in the second half and this photo made me glad that I did.

I love these little behind the scenes moments. In my mind this is what my job is. To bring people into the moments that they cannot see.

This Purdue team was a good one. They played hard, and with emotion. Here is one of my favorite moments of emotion from the year.

These photos are a lot of fun to make. The camera on the ground capturing the athlete coming at me. With the full stands in the background the photos looks even better. This year if the Purdue women’s team has another blackout game we will be able to see the new road scripts which should be fun.

It was really fun getting to see Zach Edey play. He really changed things for Purdue when he was here. I tried to have some fun with the lights and a softening filter here to get the light to grow around him.

This was from the exhibition game for the women’s team this past fall. I was having some fun trying out my new 300mm lens, and seeing just how far I could push things with it. The longer lens really gets you into the action.

This year Notre Dame finally came back to Mackey Arena. For years these were amazing games between the two schools. I hope that the rivalry can continue, and that the teams can both get back to a championship level.

Myles Colvin going up for a bucket during the exhibition game.

This is the kind of action that is fun to get in tight for. You have hair and sweat flying around showing the motion of the two players.

This was a fun moment capturing the two sisters during the national anthem. They had a year to play on the same team here at Purdue so I had some fun trying to get them in photos together whenever I could.

My spring basketball season ended with this job with Vermont as they came to Mackey to play in the WNIT. They beat the Boilers to move on to the next round. It was a fun game to photograph with plenty of emotion.

Lance Jones was so much fun to watch play. From the first time I saw him during a practice he was full of emotion and energy. That makes for great photos. Here he tries to get an opponent to miss a free throw so the crowd would get free chicken. It worked and he could not have been more excited.

The pink out game is one of my favorites during they year. The jerseys pop against the background, and the photos always seem to look better.

We will end this post with a fun photo after Purdue clinched a Final Four berth. There was a huge crowd at the airport, and the players really enjoyed celebrating with the fans. This was a party that was a long time coming. It was awesome to be a part of it, and I hope that I can do it again sometime.

As I was putting this list together I really don’t know how I will top it this year. There were so many once in a lifetime events that this year almost can’t live up to last year. It is always fun doing what I can to top the list though. I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for me.