5. I won't lie to you. I didn't stay up for the entire 24 hours to watch all of the World Wide Leader's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, but I did watch the majority of it. (Who needs to watch Monmouth vs. St. Peter's at 3 a.m. PT anyway?) The day-long run certainly presented some intriguing matchups, and it just went to show the parity that has developed in college basketball these days. There was Cal State Fullerton upsetting UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, Saint Mary's destroying San Diego State and Northern Colorado barely beating Hawaii. There was also Siena holding off Northeastern and Tulsa slipping past a pesky Arkansas-Little Rock team. And both Siena and Tulsa have two players that quite possibly could be playing in the NBA next year. The Saints, which should contend for another MAAC title this spring, have a go-to scorer in senior wing Edwin Ubiles, whose 26 points on Tuesday helped Siena slip past a hard-nosed Northeastern team for its 22nd straight home win. Meanwhile, Tulsa has its own star in Jerome Jordan, the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year. The 7-foot senior is the Hurricane's X-factor on defense, but he's also developed an offensive game that includes a feathery 15-17 foot jumper.

4. Ben Howland may have his toughest job since he arrived at UCLA seven years ago. But that's what happens when you lose four first-round draft picks in the last four years. Then add in a plethora of injuries during the offseason — including a stress reaction for top freshman Tyler Honeycutt — and the Bruins could be missing out on a trip to the NCAA tournament this season. That could be the case if UCLA continues to play like it did in its season-opening loss at home to Cal State Fullerton. Howland's team, for one, shot just 31 percent from the field, with a 3-point effort (5-for-29) that will need to improve drastically if the Bruins want to have any hope of competing with Cal and Washington in the Pac-10. Yet somehow, UCLA still had a chance to beat the Titans and would have had Jerime Anderson's floater stayed down as the buzzer sounded. It didn't, and the Bruins went on to lose in double overtime. While it's an embarrassing moment for the program, it's also a loss that should motivate Howland's kids and give them some perspective on how far they need to go to become a team that can once again be considered among the nation's elite.

3. Here's a fun fact that any college hoops fan should know: Of all the BCS schools in the six power conferences, Northwestern is the only one who has to yet to make the Big Dance. That may be hard to believe, but the Wildcats have only played past the regular season four times since the NCAA first held a postseason tournament in 1939. Those four appearances have all come in the NIT, and don't count on Northwestern ending its NCAA tournament drought this March either. Not with Kevin Coble out for the season. The 6-foot-8 senior forward, who led the team in scoring and rebounding the last three years, fractured his left foot in practice last week and decided on Monday to have season-ending surgery after seeing a specialist. But with Coble gone, the Wildcats will have a tough time trying to compete against the likes of Michigan State, Purdue and Ohio State in a loaded Big Ten this year.

2. If there's one person that's happy Tyler Hansbrough is no longer playing college basketball, it might be Kyle Singler. After all, now that Hansbrough is in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, there's little doubt that Singler should be in the thick of the race for ACC Player of the Year this spring. That's because the 6-foot-8 junior will finally be in a system that will allow him to showcase both his inside and outside skills. With Mike Krzyzewski loaded up front for a change, Singler will get to play on the perimeter much more than last season — when the Blue Devils were thin up front. This season, it's the other way around for Duke, which welcomed back Nolan Smith Tuesday night from a two-game suspension with a 101-59 win over Charlotte that saw the junior guard put up 24 points. "He brings the familiarity that you've known for a month," Krzyzewski said of the 6-foot-2 Smith. "We don’t have to set anything up for him. He’s an outstanding player."

1. John Wall came into the season with maybe as much hype as any freshman over the last five years. And in the first two weeks of the 2009-10 campaign, he's already lived up to it. In his collegiate debut, the freshman point guard scored 19 points, but none was bigger than his game-winning shot that sank an impressive upset bid by Miami (Ohio) on Monday night. "It felt good to make a shot like that and I just have to have confidence to make those and I did," Wall said. With the youth that John Calipari possesses in the backcourt, the former Memphis coach will need Wall to play beyond his years and hit big shots in critical moments if the Wildcats are to be a Final Four team like so many projected coming into this season. The goal for Calipari, however, is for Wall to also get some help from his sidekicks. That wasn't a problem Thursday night in Lexington as Kentucky's starting five scored all of its 102 points against Sam Houston State in a 10-point victory. But it's at the other end of the court that concerns Calipari the most after watching his team give up 92 points to the Bearkats. "This may be, at this point, the worst defensive team that I have had since 1988," he said after the win. "At the end of the day, if we are going to be what everyone thinks that we can be, we have to be one of the best defensive teams in the country."

5. So much for big-name schools having an easy time winning their exhibition games this season. In the last few days, we've seen two high-profile programs and another up-and-coming one struggle against significantly inferior teams. On Tuesday night, Syracuse, which advanced to the Sweet 16 last season, hit national headlines minutes after falling to Division II school Le Moyne, 82-79, at the Carrier Dome. "They really got to grow up," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said of his players afterward. Senior guard Andy Rautins went a step further in assessing his team's effort: "It's just embarrassing the way we played. It's embarrassing to ourselves and our fans. It wasn't luck that they won. They came out and beat us fair and square." The following night, the same almost happened to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. But fortunately for the 11-time national champs, Mustafa Abdul-Hamid knocked down a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 16.1 seconds remaining to help the Bruins escape with a 62-61 win. UCLA, which trailed for almost the entire game due to 20 turnovers, has been plagued by injuries for much of the offseason, and Ben Howland's team certainly struggled with guards Jerime Anderson and Michael Roll sidelined for the game. But while the Bruins managed to squeak out a victory in the end, Isiah Thomas and Florida International weren't as lucky on Wednesday night. The former New York Knicks coach, instead, was forced to watch his team suffer a 71-61 loss to Northwood, an NAIA school coached by former Villanova great Rollie Massimino, on its home floor. The Panthers, for one, shot just 34.6 percent from the field and a dreadful 21-of-32 from the free-throw line. So if Thomas' team can't manage to beat a NAIA team at home, it'll be interesting to see just what the scoring margin ends up being Monday night when FIU opens its season against defending champion North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
 
4. Well, this might be the last we hear of Billy Gillispie's name, at least for a little while. The former Kentucky coach finally put an end to his DUI case from August by pleading guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol on Monday. Gillispie, who only lasted two seasons in Lexington after taking the Wildcats to the NIT last year, agreed to a plea bargain that included fines and court costs of more than $1,000, a 30-day suspension of his driver license and the completion of an Alcohol Drivers Education Program. "I want to apologize to the people of Kentucky, my family and friends, and I want to thank all of those who have reached out to me over the past several months with words of encourage and support," he said in a statement. After being accused of driving under the influence on three separate occasions, you'd think Gillispie would have learned his lesson by now. But this is the first time that he's actually come clean and pleaded guilty to the crime. In Gillispie's two other alleged drunk-driving incidents, the charges were eventually dismissed. That didn't matter, though, in the end to Anderson County Judge Linda Armstrong, who handed Gillispie the maximum fine for a first-time offender in the state of Kentucky. "Mr. Gillispie has been treated the same as any other person who appears before the Anderson District Court charged as he was — no better and no worse," Anderson County Attorney Bobbi Jo Lewis said nevertheless.
 
3. Mike Krzyzewski has heard plenty about Duke's backcourt situation during the offseason. After all, it's been well published that the Blue Devils will be unusually thin at the point guard spot this season. Last year, senior Jon Scheyer was asked to help assume the responsibility with Greg Paulus and Nolan Smith. Now, the 6-foot-5 Scheyer will be the guy everyone in Durham will be counting on to lead the way. Paulus has gone back to playing football after graduating from the program. Smith, on the other hand, won't be available for the Blue Devils' first two games of the season. That's because the 6-foot-2 ball handler who averaged 8.4 points and 2.2 rebounds as a sophomore was suspended earlier this week for participating in a game over the summer that featured overseas players and professionals. Though Duke shouldn't have too much trouble dispatching UNC-Greensboro in its season opener and then Coastal Carolina three days later, Smith's absence will certainly be an adjustment for his teammates. In fact, Coach K understands how important Smith will be to his team's success that he had the Oak Hill product sit out the first half of Duke's 84-48 exhibition victory over Findlay on Tuesday in order to help his team get accustomed to playing without him. "Nolan is a great player, and we have great chemistry," Scheyer said after posting 19 points in the win. "We can't have a big fall off. Obviously, with a player like Nolan, when you lose him it is going to be tough to replace him. We will work on that."
 
2. Everything seems to be working out for Mick Cronin — for now. The Cincinnati coach watched his team struggle to an 8-10 finish in the Big East last season, but the Bearcats have a legitimate shot at reaching the NCAA tournament this March. That's thanks to the late signing of freshman phenom Lance Stephenson, who was passed up by several other high-profile programs due to his attitude and maybe more importantly, amateurism issues during his high school career. Cronin, however, got some reassuring news Friday when the NCAA Eligibility Center cleared the 6-foot-5 wing to play. Now, unlike Kentucky, which will be forced to sit top recruit John Wall for the Wildcats' first two games, Cincy will have one of its offensive playmakers for the start of the season. Stephenson and Wall were being investigated for the same reason, which involved unofficial recruiting trips and how they were financed more specifically, and both guys will be critical to their teams' success down the stretch. Stephenson, who was allowed to practice with the team while awaiting word on his eligibility, tallied 22 points in 25 minutes in a public intrasquad scrimmage late last month. But in his Bearcats debut — an 86-58 exhibition win Thursday over Saginaw Valley State — he wasn't nearly as good, scoring only nine points on 4-of-14 shooting in 18 minutes off the bench. While Cronin has praised Stephenson for his competitive fire and work ethic so far, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native could be a First Team All-Big East selection if he lives up to the hype and improves his defense. 
 
1. What is going on at Minnesota? The Gophers may be sitting at No. 25 in the preseason AP poll, yet that ranking might not last too long. A year after Tubby Smith inherited Dan Monson's players and made the Gophers relevant again in the Big Ten, Minnesota is expected to contend for a conference championship and return to the NCAA tournament for a second straight year. But that task will be a little bit harder without the presence of senior guard Devron Bostick and freshman Royce White, who were both suspended indefinitely this week for breaking team rules. "It could be two games. It could be fix, six. It could be more," Minnesota coach Tubby Smith said. "It could be 20. It depends on what I want, what I decide." White, a key component in a stellar recruiting class brought in by Smith over the offseason, will appear in court for a Nov. 17 arraignment involving two misdemeanor charges — theft and fifth degree assault — while transfer forward Trevor Mbakwe will also be out indefinitely due to a pending court case for felony aggravated battery. With the trial not set to start until Dec. 14, the Gophers will be without Mbabwe's services for at least the first two months of the season, although Smith did say he would welcome the junior back to the team if the case is resolved in his favor — and it certainly would help Minnesota's prospects come conference play time. "We still have a really solid group," Smith said amid the recent turmoil. Now, we'll just have to see if that "group" Smith has grows any smaller over the course of the season.

It's that time of the year.

Yep, that's right.

It's time to start talking about college basketball again.

With the 2009-10 campaign right around the corner, we've been gearing up for the new season with our preview guide for the last several months.

And in a few more days, we'll have the joy of watching college basketball return to television screens across America as Isiah Thomas makes his debut for Florida International with his team entering the confines of the Dean Dome to take on defending champ and sixth-ranked North Carolina.

Meanwhile, the three other regional hosts in the 2K Sports Classic - No. 13 Cal, No. 16 Ohio State and a Syracuse team that just got embarrassed last night by local rival Le Moyne (Division II) - will also play their season openers on Monday.

So with the days, minutes and hours counting down until tip-off, we've released our first edition of the power rankings, which will be featured every Wednesday on FOXSports.com during the season.

Want to see where your favorite school stands among the nation's elite? Check back here every week to see who's ranked No. 1 in our latest top 25 poll.

LOS ANGELES - We're a little more than a week away from watching our first college basketball game of the 2009-10 season, and that means it's time to get down to business.

While our senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman is pumping out more preview copy over the next week before heading down to Tobacco Road to watch Isiah Thomas make his college debut against the Tar Heels, I thought I'd spare him the 3,000-mile trip out to L.A. from Boston and play substitute reporter at Pac-10 Media Day.

The truth is, the Pac-10 this season doesn't appear to be what it was two years ago, when it was in the conversation for the country's top conference with the Big East.

But the league still sent six teams to the NCAA tournament last spring - the same as the year before.

Much of that is thanks to USC's title run in the Pac-10 Tournament last season, but year in and year out, the conference has shown that it can compete with the other BCS big boys come March.

This season, it'll be Cal's job to carry the torch.

In what was not a surprise to me, the Golden Bears were picked by the media to finish first.

But when it came time to eat lunch and talk to the coaches after the morning press conferences, it wasn't Cal coach Mike Montgomery's table which was filled with reporters.

It was UCLA coach Ben Howland's.

That's because, believe it or not, it's the first time in 10 years that a team other than UCLA or Arizona has been picked to win the conference.

Knowing that, it won't be that easy for Montgomery's team to overtake defending champion Washington, which returns an explosive backcourt made up of three point guards - Isaiah Thomas, Venoy Overton and Abdul Gaddy - and a frontcourt anchored by long and athletic senior forward Quincy Pondexter.

Cal, of course, brings back a talented veteran core, led by senior point guard Jerome Randle, and has talent in the frontcourt with seniors Patrick Christopher, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin.

UCLA, despite being banged up the past few weeks and having lost its senior trio of Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya, has two talented guards in sophomores Jerime Anderson and Malcolm Lee, along with a highly rated recruiting class led by Tyler Honeycutt and Mike Moser.

And Arizona, though young and inexperienced for the most part (and first-year coach Sean Miller said so himself at the podium today), does bring back the conference's best point guard in senior Nic Wise.

But in a league that's still short on seniors and welcomes three new coaches, anything can happen down the stretch of conference play.

Montgomery echoed that sentiment as we ate lunch and discussed the high expectations that have been placed upon his team this year.

Howland, better yet, said it even before lunch: "Anyone can beat anyone on any given day in the Pac-10."

So with that in mind, it should be an exciting conference race out west this spring.

Who will win it?

My bet's on Washington and Lorenzo Romar - with Cal and then UCLA not too far behind.

Anyway, here are some more notes from the day's events at the LAX Hilton:

ARIZONA

No matter how much he may want to disregard it, Arizona coach Sean Miller can't go very far without hearing about the Wildcats' NCAA tournament streak.

25 years.

The longest streak in the nation.

That's what's at jeopardy this season as Miller takes over in Tucson after a successful five-year stint at Xavier that saw the Musketeers reach the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 in consecutive years.

"It's reality," he said regarding the streak at hand. "It's the greatest thing our program has. It's something that drives kids to Arizona."

And yet, at the same time, Miller admits that the Wildcats have never been so vulnerable in their quest to keep that precious streak alive.

"Could that streak break under my watch?" Miller asked. "Absolutely.

"But I want to continue so many of the things that have taken place here."

That's not going to be easy, with this Arizona team a lot further behind the learning curve than the last two teams that Miller has coached at Xavier.

Fortunately for Miller, he has senior point guard Nic Wise ready to take over a program that exceeded expectations last year under interim head coach Russ Pennell and reached the Sweet 16 - the furthest any Pac-10 team advanced in the NCAA tournament last March.

Wise, who will be playing for his fourth head coach in four years, averaged 15.7 points, 4.6 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game last season while shooting 41.5 from beyond the arc.

Now, the 5-foot-10 senior out of Houston will be the guy who Miller will count on to lead the team on both ends of the floor.

"He has the arguably one of the hardest leadership jobs in college basketball," Miller said. "He's being asked to lead nine freshmen and sophomores and learn a brand new system at the same time."

The scenario doesn't sound glamorous for Wise, who will have to be patient with the inexperience that surrounds the team this year.

Miller, of course, understands that as well.

And Wise, whether he'll be able to handle the job that's been presented to him or not, has the opportunity to earn his way into the NBA this season thanks to a draft this June that doesn't look any better than the last one.

"He came back to college for all the right reasons," Miller said of Wise's decision to return to Arizona for his senior season. "I think he'll be one of the best point guards in college basketball. He wanted to finish his career the right way."

In a day and age where so few highly touted student-athletes are staying in college to play all four years at the Division I level, Wise is a refreshing reminder of how much four years can make a difference in a player's development.

So while Wise's journey in the desert certainly hasn't been like most NBA prospects coming out of Arizona, Miller can hope that his players adjust and learn fast enough over the course of the season to keep an esteemed streak alive come Selection Sunday.

OREGON

Last year was a tough one to swallow for Ducks coach Ernie Kent.

Oregon finished the season 8-23 overall and a lousy 2-16 in conference play.

"Last year when we started our season, I had never done so much teaching at the beginning of the season," Kent said.

"But they never gave up."

Sophomore center Michael Dunigan (6-foot-10, 242 pounds) and senior forward Joevan Catron (6-foot-6, 237 pounds) will provide the muscle down low for Kent's team this season, which will feature diminutive sharpshooter Tajuan Porter at the point once again.

"This is definitely Tajuan Porter's basketball team," Kent said. "He set a relentless pace this summer with the team's workouts."

It was Porter's tireless work ethic that obviously rubbed off on Dunigan, who made an effort this offseason to shed weight and build more muscle after spending almost his entire freshman season out of shape.

And so far, Kent has liked what he's seen from the big man.

"Michael Dunnigan has come into his own," he said. "He's a different basketball player this year.

"Last year, his body just broke down. He could barely get through a practice midway through the season. Now we have a guy that can stay on the floor, and therefore, he'll be a more productive player."

Up top, while Porter holds down the point, 6-foot-5 junior LeKendric Longmire will step into the two-guard spot after averaging 8.4 points and 4.6 rebounds last year.

It's a backcourt combination that has Kent proclaiming it's his most athletic team in the 12 years he's spent in Eugene, Ore.

Now, we'll have to see if that statement holds true.

Kent, in any case, will need all the athleticism his players can provide with former Arizona assistant Mike Dunlap joining the staff and employing a full-court press that Kent plans to use as much as possible this season.

"We will press and we will press a lot," Kent said.

Hence, I press on to the next team...

OREGON STATE

In his first year at the helm, Craig Robinson did wonders to turn around Oregon State after a dreadful 2007-08 campaign in which the Beavers failed to win a Pac-10 game.

So after finishing 18-18 overall last season, Robinson's team won't creep up on anybody.

"We're trying to work on changing a culture here," he said. "Last year, we snuck up on a lot of people. This year, we won't be able to do that."

But now, the former Brown coach will have to manage their expectations.

"We have been working really hard to work up to the expectations we have this year," said Robinson, who is the brother-in-law of President Barack Obama. "We have to change that mindset."

Robinson has already put Oregon State back on the recruiting map, locking up a top 100 recruit in freshman Roberto Nelson, who is still waiting to get cleared by the NCAA.

Nelson, a 6-foot-4 guard from Santa Barbara, Calif., has a knack for scoring the ball and has the athleticism to break down his defender, something the Beavers have been missing in past years.

"We're really excited about getting him going," Robinson said about Nelson. "There's no doubt he's going to be competing for playing time with the rest of the freshmen."

Oregon State, in the meantime, brings back 6-foot-5 senior Seth Tarver (8.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and 6-foot-3 junior Lathen Wallace (7.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg) to Corvallis and has the potential to win half its Pac-10 games, which would be another step forward from last year's 7-11 conference mark.

STANFORD

Johnny Dawkins' first year at Stanford could have gone a lot worse.

The Cardinal struggled in the Pac-10, finishing with just a 6-12 mark, but Dawkins' team still won 20 games.

That was good enough for a trip to the postseason, where Stanford advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational.

From the way things are looking this season though, the Cardinal will struggle much more than they did a year ago.

Dawkins, the former Duke assistant under Mike Krzyzewski, will be spending his second year in Palo Alto, Calif., without the services of Anthony Goods (16.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg) and Lawrence Hill (13.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg) - his top two scorers from last season.

So with Goods and Hill gone, it'll be up to 6-foot-7 senior Landry Fields to take over the Cardinal's offense after averaging 12.6 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds in 2008-09.

"He's a very good competitor," Dawkins said of Fields. "He competes every game and every play. He wants to get after it."

But after Fields, there's not much in the way of scorers, particularly down low, for Stanford.

Junior big man Josh Owens, for one, started 28 games last season but only averaged 20.7 minutes, finishing with averages of 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds. He'll need to stay healthy and out of foul trouble over the course of the season in order to help Dawkins' rather thin and inexperienced team.

That's in part due to the indefinite suspension of sophomore guard Jeremy Green, who played in all 34 games last season and averaged 6.4 points and 2.1 rebounds.

Green's absence will undoubtedly hurt the Cardinal's backcourt, which will have to use a point-guard-by-committee system with no true floor leader on the roster.

Yet the even bigger loss for Stanford could be top recruit Andy Brown, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on the second day of practice.

"We will have to tweak our offense to help accommodate our players' abilities," Dawkins said.

If that's the only accommodation Dawkins has to make this season, Stanford could actually weather an imminent storm.

UCLA

While making my rounds during lunch, I stopped in to listen to Ben Howland's conversation with the rest of the media.

As I sat down at the round table and poked my head in, the UCLA coach wasn't talking about his team's outlook this season or who will win the Pac-10 come March.

He was talking about his faith.

Yes, I'm talking about religion.

Howland, a devout Christian, says he prays every night before he goes to sleep.

But right now, those prayers have lately been more about his team, which has gone through the ringer this offseason with seven different players getting injured the past month.

"We're a very young team, so we need the practice time," Howland said. "I'm going to be praying that we stay healthy the whole season."

Howland, however, believes the Bruins should be back to full strength at practice by Monday.

The biggest question mark still remains point guard Jerime Anderson, who has yet to practice with the team.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore from Anaheim is a major key to UCLA's success this season and will need to remain healthy with the Bruins now somewhat thin at point guard.

Those depth issues haven't been Howland's fault, though.

"We've had four point guards get drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft over the past four years," he said.

That's just been the kind of success the former Pittsburgh coach has had during his first six years in Westwood.

This season, Howland brings in another top 20 recruiting class.

Nevertheless, it will be up to Anderson to raise his game and take charge from the start.

If he does, he could be the next UCLA point guard in line to make his way to the big leagues some day.

USC

Kevin O'Neill is happy to be back in college basketball.

The former Tennessee and Northwestern coach was originally hired two years ago to become Lute Olson's top assistant before taking over as the team's interim head coach after Olson announced his leave of absence for the entire 2007-08 season.

Not long after, O'Neill was named Olson's successor.

But after extending Arizona's NCAA tournament streak and earning respect across the country for his patch-work job with the team, Olson announced that the university would not be retaining O'Neill upon his return.

Olson, however, would never coach another game for the Wildcats, who relied upon another interim head coach, Russ Pennell, to run the program last season.

O'Neill, in the meantime, headed back to the NBA, where he spent two seasons in the past as an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. There, he joined the Memphis Grizzlies' bench as an assistant coach and special assistant to General Manager Chris Wallace for the 2008-09 season.

Now, after recruiting violations involving O.J. Mayo forced Tim Floyd to resign from USC in June, O'Neill is once again in charge of another Pac-10 program.

The deficiencies within the program, however, are noticeable.

The Trojans lost out on several key commitments, including 6-foot-6 local standout Solomon Hill, a top 30 recruit from Fairfax High School who averaged 16.2 points, 11.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists as a senior.

But O'Neill didn't give up the fight to keep as many players on the team.

"For me, the No. 1 job was to keep the guys that were here," O'Neill said.

Dwight Lewis is one guy who stuck around, and O'Neill will be counting on the 6-foot-5 senior to take over offensively for the Trojans.

"(He) is a No. 1 option for us," O'Neill said. "We're going to be counting on him.

"As he goes, we'll go."

Lewis finished last season as USC's top scorer with 14.4 points per game and shot a solid 37.9-percent clip from beyond the arc.

"We do know the challenges ahead, and we're up to them," O'Neill said.

One of the those challenges will be replacing Daniel Hackett, who served as the team's emotional leader and handled the point last season for Floyd.

Now, it's redshirt junior Donte Smith's turn take over the USC offense and run the show for a program that's reached the NCAA tournament the past three seasons.

Getting the Trojans back to the Big Dance for a fourth straight year won't be easy for O'Neill, who has put his abrupt and unjustified dismissal from Arizona way behind him.

"I'm very happy to be at USC," he said. "To me, things worked out really well. I don't have anything bad to say at all."

WASHINGTON STATE

Ken Bone has long been a Pacific Northwest guy.

A former assistant under head coach Lorenzo Romar at Washington, he's spent 21 years of his life in the Evergreen State.

The last four, however, have been spent down south at Portland State, where he turned the Vikings into a surprise team in the Big Sky.

Now, he's coming back to the state of Washington after the Huskies' in-state rival came calling last spring.

It'll be up to Bone to carry the tradition that Dick and Tony Bennett started, and it won't be easy with Washington State's youth and inexperience.

On the offensive end, all signs point to Clay Thompson leading Wazzu in scoring. The All-Freshman team selection averaged 12.5 points in his first collegiate season, and this summer, the 6-foot-6 sharpshooter worked on his game, playing with teammate DeAngelo Casto on Team USA at the U19 World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.

Casto, an athletic forward from Spokane, Wash., who Bone calls "a poor man's Jon Brockman," should form a solid inside-outside duo as the coaching staff tries to instill more of a transition game than the Bennetts used during their six years combined in Pullman.

"It would be nice to play even faster than we will play this year," Bone said. "Until we find the players to fit that style, we will be somewhere in between."

5. This spring it'll be 10 years since the last time St. John's won the Big East. And don't count on it happening this season either. Norm Roberts has struggled to get his players to perform at a high level for 40 minutes a game since he took over five years ago, and his job could very well depend on how the Red Storm respond this season after a disappointing 16-18 campaign, including a 6-12 mark in conference play. Yet in what many are calling a "down year" for the Big East, St. John's may not finish better than 10th in a league could surprisingly still send seven or eight teams to the Big Dance. It's probably a stretch, but nine could even happen. That's how much parity exists in the Big East this season. But for Roberts, living without your best player remains a dangerous situation. That's the kind of impact senior redshirt Anthony Mason Jr. has on the Red Storm. The team's leading scorer and an All-Big East honorable mention two years ago, Mason played in only three games last year due to a torn peroneal tendon in his right foot that required surgery. And now, after originally injuring his hamstring during the team's four-game trip to Canada over Labor Day weekend, he's managed to re-aggravate the muscle at practice last weekend and will now be out four to six more weeks for rehab. Well, there's always the NIT...

4. Some coaches get all the luck. Ben Howland doesn't appear to be one of them. And if he hasn't already considered it, Howland might need to start recruiting a few more players for the upcoming season. At this point, there's a chance that he could be starting a couple of walk-ons when the Bruins open the season Nov. 16 at Pauley Pavilion against Cal State Fullerton. In the first week of practice, Howland has already watched half of his team - with possibly three or four of them being starters - go down. Sophomore big men J'Mison Morgan is the most recent Bruin to join the list, with a swollen knee sidelining him for an indefinite period of time. But the bigger concern for Howland has to be the injuries involving sophomore guards Jerime Anderson (strained groin) and Malcolm Lee (concussion), who should form an athletic and talented backcourt tandem for UCLA. Freshman Matt Moser (lower back) will also play into the rotation for the Bruins, who will be rebuilding in what appears to be an extremely young and unpredictable Pac-10 this year.

3. Up north, Pac-10 rival Washington is having its own set of health problems with the start of practice last weekend. Believe it or not, but it's been a big enough issue that Lorenzo Romar has been forced to cut practices short with seven of the team's 12 players currently diagnosed with the flu. One of those seven players includes senior forward Quincy Pondexter, who will anchor the Huskies' frontline alongside sophomore Darnell Gant, another UW player that's been too ill to practice. "Every time we see the team, someone else has it," Romar said this week. After winning the Pac-10 regular-season championship last year, the Huskies are once again a conference contender despite the departures of big man Jon Brockman and floor leader Justin Dentmon. Though Isaiah Thomas returns as the Huskies' leading scorer from last year, Romar can kiss goodbye any hope of winning a second straight conference title if Washington has to play without Pondexter, Gant, or even Venoy Overton for any extensive period of time.

2. Michael Jordan may not be making headlines in the NBA on a daily basis anymore, but his sons are doing it regularly at the collegiate level. Days after Jordan's oldest son, Jeff, announced that he would be rejoining Illinois' basketball team following his decision to quit four months earlier, Marcus Jordan has let his voice be heard. But unlike Jeff, it's not about his commitment to the game - it's about his commitment to his feet. The 6-foot-3 freshman at Central Florida is refusing to wear the adidas shoes provided to the team, saying that he will only wear his father's Nike Air Jordans due to the special meaning that they hold to his family. But UCF is still in the final year of its five-year contract with adidas, which requires all coaches and athletes to only use the company's apparel and equipment, and is currently negotiating a new deal that could be worth up to three million and last as long as six years. While the school has hope for "a workable situation to a unique situation," it's time for Michael to stand up to his son and tell Marcus that the team means more in the long run than a pair of Jordans.

1. It looks like Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney isn't the only one who's dealing with amateurism issues this offseason. Despite being able to work out with his teammates for the past week, Kentucky freshman John Wall, Scout.com's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2009, has yet to be cleared to play by the NCAA after several reports surfaced over last few days. And while it may seem ridiculous to place Kentucky's national title hopes on a freshman's eligibility, that's what many of the pundits are doing this offseason. Wall, who practiced with the Wildcats again on Friday, has even been projected to be the No. 1 pick in next June's NBA Draft. But if the 6-foot-4 point guard isn't cleared to play this fall because his AAU coach, Brian Clifton, was considered a certified agent from 2007-2008, Wall will have a tough time proving that he's the best pro prospect in the country. And even more, John Calipari's team will have its own trouble just trying to win the SEC without Wall, whose quickness and playmaking abilities have been compared to current Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose.