I'm not sure why Lewis Jackson's injury has managed to fly under the radar for the last 24 hours.

Purdue losing Jackson to a broken foot is a huge blow to the Boilermakers.

Jackson was Purdue's starting point guard last season and was set to reclaim his spot from veteran Keaton Grant once he became eligible after sitting out the team's exhibition games and season opener due to suspension.

The speedy 5-foot-9 Jackson had a year under his belt and was the key that would make life easier for teammates Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore.

I understand that Purdue has had success without Jackson, when two years ago the Boilermakers went to the NCAA tournament with Grant as the starter. However, Jackson is a true point guard, and the Big Ten is loaded this season with a half-dozen legitimate top 25 teams.

Grant is a terrific guard who is best-suited coming off the bench to replace either Jackson or Moore.

Now, sources indicate, Jackson will miss 8-10 weeks after having surgery yesterday for a broken foot suffered in practice last week. That puts his return at February in a best-case scenario.

It could result in Jackson missing the entire season.

This is a Purdue team that has a chance to get to the Final Four an hour down the road in Indianapolis.

But Matt Painter's team could ill-afford injuries – since they aren't overly deep to begin with.

But already two of his top seven players are out. Freshman Sandi Marcius, who had the inside track to being the first big man off the bench, is out with a foot injury as well but should be back sometime next month.

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The SEC will be just fine.

There's a reason why Alabama and Georgia both made coaching changes this past offseason – and why Auburn's Jeff Lebo has been on the so-called hot seat for what seems like as long as he's been the Tigers' head coach.

None of the three programs have enough SEC-caliber talent.

Auburn, which lost to Missouri State, has a couple pieces with DeWayne Reed and Tay Waller, but the Tigers are trying to find a way to replace Korvotney Barber and Quantez Robinson.

Anthony Grant and Mark Fox, the coaches at Alabama and Georgia, both inherited teams with virtually one high-level SEC player.

The Crimson Tide has in-state big man JaMychal Green while Georgia's Fox will build everything he does this year around skilled forward Trey Thompkins.

So, it's not all that shocking Alabama lost to Cornell last week and Georgia went down against Wofford on Tuesday night.

The surprise was that Mississippi State lost in Starkville to Rider, but the Bulldogs are virtually the same team that was up and down a year ago until late in the season when they won the SEC tournament.

This league's top seven teams may be as good as any conference in the nation with (in no particular oder) Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi State.

Those are all potential NCAA tournament teams that could crack the top 25 at some point this season.

And don't discount LSU, either. The Tigers proved they may be better than people think with last night's win against a Western Kentucky team that is favored to return to the NCAA tournament.

Trent Johnson said that veteran Tasmin Mitchell, who was on the Tigers' Final Four team a few years ago, has done a terrific job in the team's first three games – all wins. Mitchell had 12 points and eight rebounds against Western Kentucky.

"People are doubling him, and he's not forcing anything," Johnson said. "He's making his teammates better and letting the game come to him."

"It's a shame," he added. "People don't talk about him, but he's one of the best players in the country. With everything he's been through, he's been to a Final Four and won two SEC championships."

Point guard Bo Spencer had 28 points and just one turnover against the Hilltoppers, and undersized power forward Storm Warren went for 20 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Aaron Dotson battled through a knee injury and did a nice job containing Western Kentucky standout A.J. Slaughter, holding him to 11 points on 3-of-17 shooting.

"We played well, but we have a long ways to go," Johnson said. "We still have a lot of guys trying to find their roles."

TONIGHT'S SLATE

I'll try and use this space each day to highlight a few things of note that I'll be watching each night:

1. How will Cincinnati freshman Lance Stephenson bounce back from a tough college debut when the Bearcats face Toledo?

2. The best matchup of the night is Nevada at UNLV. The Wolf Pack have rookie head coach David Carter and underrated forward Luke Babbitt, while the Running Rebels now have two transfers eligible – Derrick Jasper (Kentucky) and Chace Stanback (UCLA).

3. Can the Ivy League favorites, Cornell, follow up a win at Alabama with a victory at UMass?

RANDOM NOTES: Rhode Island is the last team standing. Of the 347 Division I programs, Jim Baron's Rams are the lone club not to have played a game. The Jimmy Baron-less Rams play tonight at Brown. ... Illinois freshman guard Brandon Paul went for 20 points in a win against Northern Illinois, which was without star guard Xavier Silas due to injury. ... How many coaches can see they beat Madonna? IPFW's Dane Fife, the youngest Division I coach in the nation at 30 years old, is able to after a victory last night over the Division II school located in Michigan. ... Isiah Thomas recorded his first victory at Florida International. ... Mississippi State's Kodi Augustus was hit with a two-game suspension for his comments directed at coach Rick Stansbury after the team's loss to Rider.

To check out Jeff Goodman's Twitter, click here.

ST. LOUIS – The Louisville Cardinals hardly looked distracted.

Everyone wanted to know whether Rick Pitino's players would be focused with the so-called cloud hanging over their coach's head following the turbulent offseason in which it was revealed he had a sexual affair years ago.

After coming out of the gates slow, the Cardinals turned it on and throttled Arkansas, 96-66, on Tuesday night.

"They don't pay attention to all that stuff," Pitino said after the season-opening victory.

"For me, I've got to totally block it out," he added. "It's been eight months, and I've got to let the legal system play out and just coach basketball."

"It’s not about me. It's the government against one person. It's not about me. It's about the players."

The players were just fine, but then again, they did it against a short-handed Arkansas team that was without five players due to suspension and one due to injury.

"They were mismatched tonight," Pitino said of an Arkansas squad coached by his former player, John Pelphrey. "We had too many players. We were able to wear them out."

For a while, though, it looked like it was going to be a game, as Louisville struggled to defend late in the first half and the Razorbacks went on a run to cut the deficit to three with five minutes left in the first half.

That's when Pitino’s team turned up the pressure – and made shots.

While this team may is a work-in-progress on the defensive end with the loss of Terrence Williams and Earl Clark, one thing Pitino doesn't lack this year is shooters.

"It's the most shooters we've had on a team since I got to Louisville," Pitino said after watching his team make 15 of 38 from beyond the arc.

Seemingly, everyone on this team can make shots from deep, which is vital for a coach who loves to watch his team launch shots from long distance.

Preston Knowles and Jerry Smith are proven shooters, and the Cardinals have Reginald Delk, who was 4-of-5 against Arkansas, sophomore Jared Swopshire and freshman Mike Marra. Senior point guard Edgar Sosa made a pair of threes in the rout.

To check out Jeff Goodman's Twitter, click here.

EN ROUTE TO ST. LOUIS - It was the offseason from hell.

There were scandals, Final Fours wiped off the books, arrests, fights and all sorts of other incidents that kept college basketball in the headlines from May until last week – when the season officially kicked off.

Thankfully, college hoops is finally here and we can put all of it behind us.

I just want to move forward already.

That’s why I'm heading out to St. Louis – to see some big-time college basketball. Four quality programs that all have a legitimate shot to be dancing come March – including one that has a shot to cut down the nets in Indianapolis.

Louisville and Arkansas open the doubleheader, followed by a nightcap that pits Preseason No. 1 Kansas and Memphis.

Unfortunately, I'm going to see the Ghosts of the Offseason from Hell.

Is this some kind of joke?

Did the event organizers actually try to put together a field with the programs that endured the most turbulent offseasons?

If so, they did one heck of a job.

The Cardinals are led by their eventual Hall of Fame coach, Rick Pitino, whose sexual encounter received far more play than any other offseason story.

Just to make certain that the program would reside on top when it comes to the most forgettable offseason, Louisville players Jerry Smith and Terrence Jennings were arrested for an altercation last month.

Jennings was Tasered twice.

But Pitino has some competition – and no, we’re not talking about on the court, either.

Pitino will go up against one of his former pupils, Razorbacks coach John Pelphrey – who will bring with him six scholarship players, a golfer and former backup quarterback.

Pelphrey has five players serving suspensions – starting guard Courtney Fortson, reserve guards Stefan Welsh and Marcus Britt as well as freshman Glenn Bryant and walk-on Nick Mason.

The reasons weren’t specified, but it’s fairly clear that most of them were hit with penalties due to their role in a rape accusation from a female student in which charges were never filed.

The players were deemed innocent, but there was plenty of damage done.

Fortson posted a message on Twitter that read: "Im getting it at workouts like a dude who doesnt understand the word no from a drunk girl lol."

Pelphrey said, even after his players were cleared, that he expected them to "adhere to a higher standard."

I can always wait until the nightcap to see some true student-athletes, right?

That's when the Kansas basketball team, the same one that went toe-to-toe with the football Jayhawks in the middle of the campus, will take to the court.

It’s the same team that also will be without starting guard Brady Morningstar, who was pulled over for driving while intoxicated just weeks after the skirmish.

The Jayhawks will face a Memphis program has endured a major face-lift. The Tigers didn't just lose its coach, John Calipari. It also lost its 2008 Final Four, which was stripped after the NCAA deemed Derrick Rose ineligible for taking a questionable entrance exam to get into college.

One assistant coach suggested I make a hotel reservation at a particular downtown hotel - one in which three of the four teams will be calling home for the for a day or so.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I don't want any trouble.

To check out Jeff Goodman's Twitter, click here.