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PREP SEASON FEATURES HOT HOOPS EVENTS

October 30, 2002

With the summer camps behind us and the overwhelming majority of top seniors already committed, PrepStars.com will focus during the winter on how those commitments and signees actually perform on the court, as well as which schools are in the hunt for the best players left on the board.

As we did last year with our comprehensive national coverage, PrepStars.com will hit the road once again to bring our readers first-hand game reports and interviews galore with all the top prospects.

In the past year alone, Prep Stars has traveled to grassroots events in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. And there's no rest for the weary!

We also have upgraded our program profiles. Be sure to check out how your team has fared on the recruiting trail ... and what they plan to do over the next few months.

PREPSTARS.COM KICKS OFF VIDEO EXPERIMENT

February 19, 2002

PrepStars.com and Zoom Culture are proud to unveil our latest offering -- a free sampling of three video clips that are superior to any prep video footage previously seen on the Web.

In our first installment, decide for yourself if Shavlik Randolph has the muscle and athleticism to star at the big-time college level, or if he'll fall under the immense shadow of hulking center Eric Williams. Then take a quick peek at Brian Johnson, one of the very best sophomores in the nation.

Because we're in the beginning phases of our experiment, viewer feedback will be extremely helpful as we continue to refine the video presentation in the future, so please submit your thoughts (and any playback difficulties) to readermail@prepstars.com.

VIEWING POINTERS

The ideal method for viewing the video is with high-speed Internet access, using Quicktime Player. If you don't have Quicktime, click here for a free download. As soon as the display window pops up, hit the play (arrow) button to watch the clips as they download. And make sure to have the volume turned up to hear our analysis on each clip.

Viewers with dial-up connections have two options: Either click on the Quicktime (excellent quality, longer download) version of the clips and allow several minutes to download or click on the streaming video version of the same clips below using RealPlayer (faster download, inconsistent quality). If you don't have RealPlayer, click here for a free download.

Click on the below links to view with Quicktime:

Shavlik Randolph

Eric Willliams

Brian Johnson

Click on these links to view with RealPlayer:

Shavlik Randolph

Eric Williams

Brian Johnson

SPOTLIGHT ON CARDINALS

Chapel Hill, NC (Dec. 5, 2001) -- The 48-page winter print edition of the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook is hot-off-the-press and hitting newsstands and subscriber's mailboxes throughout the land. The current issue includes exclusive Player Evaluations, status reports on our Parade Of Programs, a closer look at Louisville recruiting and much more. For collectors, back copies of select issues are available for purchase. Call 800.447.7667 for more information on archived editions. For "same day" service for the current issue, get us in print. now!

NOTHING BUT NET: PREPSTARS.COM MAKES ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION-BASED MODEL WORK

Raleigh, NC (Nov. 1, 2001) – Why pay for digital content when you can get it somewhere else for free? That’s the main argument against subscription-based Web sites, which typically require an online credit card transaction in return for access to password-protected information. "But for organizations serving a niche demographic," says Heather Hesketh, CEO of Raleigh Web services firm hesketh.com, "the subscription-based e-commerce model can be indispensable to the subscriber and highly profitable for the organization."

Sports Letter, Inc., a nationally-known publishing company based in Chapel Hill, serves such a niche. The sporting-news publisher delivers exclusive information about college basketball recruiting activities, noteworthy high school players, and the nation’s hottest college basketball programs in its quarterly publication, Prep Stars Recruiter’s Handbook. The companion Web site, PrepStars.com, was recently re-developed by hesketh.com and is the newest resource for college coaches, sports fans, media outlets, and high school coaches.

Besides serving a niche market, how is Sports Letter, Inc. making the online subscription-based business model work for them? Primarily, by leveraging the brand recognition they’ve spent over 10 years developing. "The companies that are most successful on the Web are the ones who are able to leverage a brick-and-mortar business model and an established brand on the Internet," says Debra Chamra, CFO at hesketh.com. For PrepStars.com subscribers, the value proposition is that the site is updated regularly and provides more content more often than the Recruiter’s Handbook, which serves as a retrospective of the top stories covered on the Web site that quarter. Many subscribers to the Recruiter’s Handbook have already become online subscribers, but for new visitors to the site, PrepStars.com contains both free and for-pay content, providing full-length articles interspersed with "teasers" (the first few paragraphs of a for-pay article). Subscribing is easy, can be done online, and gives immediate access to all the great Prep Stars content.

"HOT PROSPECTS" FEATURED

Chapel Hill, NC (Sept. 24, 2001) -- The 48-page fall print edition of the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook is hot-off-the-press and hitting newsstands and subscriber's mailboxes throughout the land. The current issue includes exclusive Player Evaluations, status reports on our Parade Of Programs, a closer look at Villanova recruiting and much more. For collectors, back copies of select issues are available for purchase. Call 800.447.7667 for more information on archived editions. For "same day" service for the current issue, get us in print. now!