Here's the good news for Wisconsin fans and Badgers coach Bo Ryan.

You've got four of your top six scorers back - three full-time starters and a sixth-man who is capable of becoming a starting guard this season after averaging 26 minutes a year ago for a team that won 31 games.

The bad.

Brian Butch is gone. Sure, he only averaged 12.4 points and 6.6 rebounds. Fellow big man Greg Stiemsma (3.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg) is also history. His numbers look easily replaceable, but it was his defense and the fact that the Badgers had a pair of 7-footers with experience in the lineup that will be hard to fill.

By Ryan's count, he's got 11 freshmen and sophomore on the team.

``We've got four key guys," Ryan said. "Now we've got to find five, six, seven, eight, nine and ten."

Point guard Trevon Hughes and Marcus Landry were both double-digit scorers last season. Jason Bohannon, who came off the bench, averaged 8.2 points per game and will almost certainly move into the starting lineup. Ryan thinks that all-everything Joe Krabbenhoft can average double-figures as well.

However, it's up front that he's concerned - at the moment.

Ryan has been pleased with the conditioning of 6-foot-10 freshman Jared Berggren, but it's still the preseason. He's also got 6-foot-8 sophomore Keaton Nankivil, 6-foot-10 sophomore Jon Leuer and 6-foot-11 junior J.P. Gavinski in terms of big guys who could emerge.

MILES HOPING TO RETURN TO STORRS

The complaint filed against UConn freshman Nate Miles was dismissed Monday.

The woman who filed the complaint, a 19-year-old student, didn't show up for the civil hearing. Neither did Miles.

Miles is back home in Toledo, Ohio, and plans to file an appeal with UConn after being kicked out of school for allegedly abusing the woman. Miles still faces charges of violating a restraining order against the woman and has a court appearance scheduled on Nov. 25.

LUBICK NOT WORRIED ABOUT RACE ISSUE

It's been more than four years since Georgetown has had an American-born Caucasion on their team.

That was before Matt Causey transferred out of the program and ultimately landed at Georgia Tech.

John Thompson III and the Hoyas landed highly regarded junior forward Nate Lubick last night. He isn't set to arrive on campus until the fall of 2010.

``At first, after Georgetown offered, it was like, `Georgetown doesn't offer white kids,'" Lubick said. "I thought about it a little bit and after I visited the second time and was with their players, I just said, 'Who cares.'"

``I went on a bunch of visits and none of the teams were anywhere nearly as close as Georgetown," Lubick added. "It's crazy. They all hang out together like a family and couldn't care less about the white-black thing and that's what made me so comfortable. I didn't even pay attention to it."

The Hoyas do have 6-foot-8 Nikita Mescheriakov on the team, who hails from Belarus.

VERLIN LOADING UP IN IDAHO WITH IMPACT TRANSFERS

Idaho coach Don Verlin will have days when he and his staff walk off the court shaking their heads after his starting group gets outplayed by the so-called scout team.

Well, that's because the Vandals have three transfers sitting all that could all make a major impact a year from now.

Idaho finished 8-21 last season and should be improved this year, but next season - when guards Steffan Johnson (Pacific) and Marcus Lawrence (UNLV) are eligible - as well as 6-foot-8 Brazilian Luis Toledo - the Vandals could make some legitimate noise in the WAC.

``I think next year we'll have a chance to compete in the league," Verlin admitted.

Johnson would have been tabbed the Preseason Player of the Year in the Big West, but he was dismissed from Pacific following an off-court incident.

``Obviously, I know Steffan better than just about anyone and I had inside information from my twin brother, Ron (an assistant at Pacific), on what kind of character Steffan and his family have," Verlin said, "He got himself into a little bit of a bad situation, but I never had a doubt. He's a terrific kid."

The hard part for Verlin is getting caught up in thinking a year from now when he can toss out a backcourt of Johnson, Lawrence and Mac Hopson.

For now, though, Hopson and Kashif Watson will likely be the go-to guys on the perimeter. Hopson, a former Washington State guard, will likely play the point this season and slide over to the shooting guard spot next season.

Trevor Morris is a senior who can shoot it and will play alongside Hopson in the backcourt while Watson will likely start at small forward and has been the "best guy so far" in preseason workouts.

Verlin has also added a trio of commitments including the recent pledge of athletic 6-foot-3 guard Shawn Henderson. Verlin said he'll work the high school, junior college and overseas route. In fact, he has one of the top assistant coaches in the country in terms of recruiting foreign players in Mike Score.

``It's going to be a process," Verlin said. "But we're going to do it the right way."

Without having even coached a game, Verlin and his staff have already made strides.

NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP

The word around the coaching ranks is that you always want to follow someone who hasn't fared well. Therefore, the bar has been lowered.

Well, the bar can't be any lower than New Jersey Institute of Technology coach Jim Engles, who inherited a program that was winless in 29 attempts last season.

Engles said he went through something similar while on Joe Jones' staff upon their arrival at Columbia.

``People thought that was like signing a death warrant," Engles jokes. "But we went in and changed the culture of the program. We need to do the same thing here."

Engles has a five-year deal at N.J.I.T and will play selected home games in the Prudential Center down the road. He'll also have new locker rooms, a new players lounge and an upgrade in personnel.

The team's top scorer from a year ago, Nesho Milosevic, transferred and Engles has no clue where he landed. How good could Milosevic have been, anyway, since the team finished 0-29.

The Highlanders will play in the newly formed Great West Conference this season - which has six members from across the country and could add a couple more prior to next season.

``Everyone thinks the league is ridiculous," he said. "But I talked to some coaches of Independent teams and they said talked about how difficult it is when the games don't really mean anything. At least now when we win games, we can hang a banner."

Engles jokes that he'd like to redshirt all his players and take the year off.

``We can't do that, though," he said. "Talent-wise, we're not where we need to be."

Engles can sell the academics (he said it's ranked among the top 125 schools in the country) and location of the school (it's 10 minutes from Manhattan) - and also a chance to build something.

Engles brought in a pair of freshman guards - brothers Sammy and Teddy Schnickel - and will also have American transfer Gary Garris eligible this season. The Highlanders already have a pair of commitments - combo guard P.J. Miller and wing Nick Lopez - for the Class of 2009.

``My friends joke with me that if I win one game, it's a successful year," he said. "But that's not the way I'm approaching it. I want to get our guys to play hard and build the program."

RANDOM NOTES: Providence had landed a pair of kids in the last 48 hours. First the Friars got a commitment from Colorado sophomore Kyle Wright, who played at Brewster and played sparingly his freshman season at Stony Brook. Wright has blown up recently and was the MVP of the recent Hartford Pro-Am. The Friars also received a pledge from 6-foot-10 Detroit Community School senior big man James Still. ... Harvard continues to excel on the recruiting trail with the latest addition coming with Charlotte Hopewell (N.C.) senior point guard Brandyn Curry, the 27th-ranked point guard in the country. ... Bo Ryan has also written a book with Mike Lucas called "Another Hill to Climb" in which he talks about his journey going from junior high coach to a high-major head coach. ... Drexel freshman Chris Fouch will miss the season due to a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee. ... Louisiana Tech assistant Rennie Bailey resigned for undisclosed reasons. ... Adam Zagoria reports that St. Anthony's star guard Dominic Cheek has eliminated Wake Forest, Tennessee and UConn. That leaves Villanova, Kansas, Memphis, Indiana and Pittsburgh with Rutgers and Seton Hall as locals who could get unofficials. ... Cleveland State is the heavy favorite to win the Horizon, receiving 40 of the 49 first-place votes.