5. Just when Ben Howland didn't think he could afford to lose anymore players, the injury bug finds its way back to Westwood again. This time, it's UCLA forward James Keefe who Howland's losing for four to six weeks after the 6-foot-8 senior injured his left shoulder on Tuesday. While results from the MRI came back negative, there does remain some instability in the joint, meaning that Howland most likely won't have Keefe ready for the Bruins' season opener Nov. 16 at home against Cal State Fullerton. "We are very relieved that the injury isn't going to be a long-term one," Howland said. "Everything looks to be intact and we are very happy for him and for the team." After watching a myriad of key players -- starters like Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute -- miss time due to injuries over the past three years, Howland has gotten pretty used to the act by now. This past June, in fact, he received more painful news when the Bruins' other potential starting forward, sophomore Drew Gordon, partially tore the patellar tendon in his right knee at the 2009 USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team Trials. So with Keefe out for training camp and no timetable set for Gordon's return, Howland will have to count on young, yet talented guards like Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson and a talented incoming freshman class led by 6-foot-8 forward Tyler Honeycutt (Sylmar, Calif.) to take over UCLA's offense from the get-go this season.

4. Speaking of injuries, Howland isn't the only one experiencing the injury bug as the temperature drops, the leaves change color and the 2009-10 college basketball season creeps closer and closer. Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, who saw his team self-destruct in Big East play last season, got his fair share of bad news earlier this month when he learned that Scott Martin's season is over before it ever started. The junior forward, who transferred from Purdue after the 2007-08 campaign, will now sit out a second straight season after tearing his ACL during a preseason workout last week. While Brey couldn't be more disappointed for Martin, who worked all throughout last year to improve his strength and conditioning for the upcoming season, the Irish will turn to juniors Carleton Scott and Tim Abromaitis to take over for a team that will be aiming to return to the NCAA tournament. "They're veterans now and should be in a position to give us more," Brey said. And while the Irish have the talent to get back to the Big Dance with the arrival of Mississippi State transfer Ben Hansbrough and the return of veteran point guard Tory Jackson and Player of the Year candidate Luke Harangody, Notre Dame can't afford too many more injuries this season if those Big Dance dreams are to come true.

3. What a sad story the last week has been for Tennessee forward Emmanuel Negedu. Despite only averaging 1.7 points and 1.9 rebounds last year, the talented 6-foot-7 sophomore was supposed to be a key contributor for Bruce Pearl's team this season. But after collapsing at a Sept. 28 workout and suffering cardiac arrest, it appears that the Nigerian's basketball career is officially over after having surgery to implant a cardiac defibrillator in his chest. "This is a very bright young man whose identity was basketball," Pearl told FOXSports.com senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman. "Now he'll use his energy and talents in other areas." While Tennessee will miss Negedu's presence down low, Pearl will lean on the experience of seniors Tyler Smith, J.P. Prince, Bobby Maze and Wayne Chism to carry the Vols' offense. Junior center Brian Williams, Southern Illinois transfer Josh Bone and sophomore wing Renaldo Woolridge should also factor into the equation for Tennessee, which will be seeking its fifth straight NCAA tournament appearance this spring under Pearl's tutelage.

2. Jeff Jordan is no "Air Jordan," but he may be just as indecisive as his father was during his storied, three-part basketball career. Four months after leaving Illinois' basketball program, Michael Jordan's oldest son is returning to the Fighting Illini for his junior season. The 6-foot-1 guard from Highland Park, Ill., originally walked onto the team two years ago, but he played well enough as a freshman to earn himself a scholarship last season. Jordan, however, got little opportunity in 2008-09 to contribute for Bruce Weber's team, only seeing the floor for 8.4 minutes a game, before leaving the program to focus on his studies. "I loved playing for the Fighting Illini and appreciate the support I was given by my teammates, coaches and the great fans here," he said at the time. "But I have come to the point where I'm ready to focus on life after basketball." Then, last month, Jordan shared some new feelings with the world when he posted on his Twitter account that he wanted to work out with his former teammates "like old times." Of course, it's certainly not the first time that we've heard about an athlete or a Jordan say they want back into the game. From "His Airness" to Brett Favre to Floyd Mayweather, Jr., athletes across all sports these days are making a habit of retiring and returning as they wrestle with the notion of knowing when to continue their careers and when to finally call it quits. And while this back-and-forth happens less frequently at the college level, Jordan is now furthering the trend by deciding to don Illini Orange and Blue once again.

1. While the college basketball spotlight has been shining on Lawrence, Kan., the past couple of weeks in light of the Jayhawks' recent off-the-court troubles, that bright light has quickly migrated east to upstate New York, where Binghamton may be searching for a new coach before not too long. In what has become an absolute fiasco, a basketball program that reached the NCAA tournament a few months ago is turning into a rebuilding project in a matter of two weeks. That, though, wasn't the case before senior point guard Emanuel "Tiki" Mayben's arrest last month for selling cocaine. Binghamton, in fact, was the preseason favorite to win the America East and get back to the Big Dance for a second straight year. But those dreams can go out the window now. Two days after Mayben's dismissal, five more players were kicked off the team, paving the way for athletic director Joel Thirer's resignation soon after and leaving head coach Kevin Broadus with just seven scholarship players for this season. Yet at this point, Broadus' employment status at Binghamton is far from stable. After all, The New York Times has questioned Broadus' recruiting practices in the past, and on Tuesday, the 2009 America East Coach of the Year was found to be violating NCAA rules when he spoke to a pair of recruits on the first day of the fall evaluation period. But in an interview Friday with FOXSports.com senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman, Broadus denied any wrongdoing. "I walked in and watched a workout and that was it," he said. "I talked to the coach about setting up a visit." Then, hours after Goodman's report hit the internet, the school announced that it would be self-reporting the violation to the NCAA. At least Broadus knows when to give up the act and tell the truth. But with Binghamton's basketball program already under investigation by the State University of New York system and Broadus losing control of the team, it may be time for the school to wipe the slate clean and start all over again -- and that means saying goodbye to Broadus some time soon.