Greivis Vasquez/Chester Frazier, Duke, Indiana Unknowns

1. Maryland and Illinois were parallel teams in a couple of ways heading into their matchup Tuesday night. Both were missing a key interior player -- Ekene Ibekwe for the Terrapins, Brian Randle for the Fighting Illini. And both had relatively inexperienced lead guards.

That point guard matchup, U of M's freshman Greivis Vasquez vs. U of I's sophomore Chester Frazier (understudy to Dee Brown last season) ultimately decided the game. Although Frazier had five assists to Vasquez's three, Vazquez outscored his opposite number 17-2. Moreover, the Terps frosh got 15 of those in the second half, after Maryland had blown a big early lead. His steal in the backcourt and ensuing layup, capping a quick six-point run that put Maryland up three, was probably the most important play of the game.

Champaign is probably one of the five toughest places to play in college basketball. Fifty-one consecutive non-Big Ten teams had left Assembly Hall with a loss before Maryland's victory. Vasquez went into by far the toughest environment he's played in as a collegian, and carried his team to the W.

2. Earlier this season, I suggested that Duke's DeMarcus Nelson was poised for a big year. For the Blue Devils' sake, I'd better be right.

This is the most beatable Duke team we've seen in more than a decade. They escaped at home against a mediocre Indiana squad. Greg Paulus is having a disastrous season; his confidence is shot (in part because he hasn't started in either of the last two games), and fouling out against and being outplayed tonight by a 5'8" former walk-on (Errek Suhr) isn't going to help. Josh McRoberts has done nothing to distinguish himself on the offensive end. Highly-touted freshman Gerald Henderson was practically non-existent tonight, seemingly reluctant to even touch the ball on offense. Even Nelson, who basically won the game for his team with 19 points, was quiet for a long stretch in the middle -- at least the second time this season he's started hot and then hardly been heard from.

If Nelson has to carry this much of the scoring load all season, the Devils are in serious trouble. He has a history of injuries and will no doubt wear down if he has to play this many minutes for a full season. There's time for everyone to bounce back, but there's no way the Duke squad I saw tonight is a top ten team. If they don't improve by Saturday, Georgetown will whip them.

3. Let's take a moment, though, to appreciate what Suhr, Mike White, and Armon Bassett did for Indiana tonight. After a lackluster first 20 minutes, Hoosier coach Kelvin Sampson chose to sit A.J. Ratliff, Earl Calloway, and Roderick Wilmont, and let these rather unproven players play. And play they did, battling all the way back from a double-digit deficit.

Ultimately, they were done in by their inexperience -- well, that, and a lack of timeouts. Bassett had a great game, but took an unnecessary, off-balance three-pointer on the team's penultimate possession, then made a poor decision to pass up a look from deep after Duke made a shocking turnover in the backcourt. With another TO, Sampson might've been able to get his team a better look, or worked a two-for-one.

NC State, Michigan, Poll Lunacy

1. NC State beat Michigan despite dressing only six scholarship players -- and playing only five for most of the game, as point guard Engin Atsur went out early with a hamstring injury -- so I won't pass judgment on them yet. They showed moxie coming back from down 10 when Atsur left and building as large a lead as they did, and they showed resolve in hanging on when Michigan made its run.

However, the Pack made three careless turnovers in the first four minutes -- before Atsur got hurt -- and Gavin Grant was very shaky handling the ball against full court pressure down the stretch. Redshirt freshman Brandon Costner made two terrible inbounds passes against the press. One resulted in a turnover; on the other, he was bailed out by a foul on a Brett Favre-esque deep throw into double coverage.

Especially if Atsur misses any time, NC State. will be extremely vulnerable to any sort of pressure defense. Regardless, new coach Sidney Lowe needs to find and develop a point guard, as Atsur will be gone next season.

2. Poor play by Michigan probably had more to do with NCSU's victory than anything the Wolfpack did. After a hot start, the Wolverines pretty much imploded.

This has been a popular topic in Ann Arbor for a while now, but I'm wondering just how long Tommy Amaker gets to live off of his reputation as a player at Duke and his letter of recommendation from Coach K. He won 22 games last year -- narrowly missing the NCAAs -- and with five key players returning, it seems that this is the season that Michigan finally goes dancing.

The Wolverine team I saw Monday night isn't going anywhere, however, unless they get their collective act together. They lack basic defensive fundamentals; NC State wasn't running anything special and consistently got easy buckets, even in crunch time when the defensive intensity should have been at it's highest. We're not talking getting beaten down the floor here, we're talking flat-out losing track of players on several occasions. Offensively, aside from the beginning of the game and the last few minutes, they were undisciplined, throwing careless lob passes; refusing to run an offense; and taking quick jump shots after one or two passes in the halfcourt.

The Wolverines failed to adhere to basic principles of winning basketball. With a veteran group like this one, that ultimately comes down to the coach. Unless things change quickly, Amaker could find himself out of a job.

3. Ohio State may be ranked number one in the coaches' poll, but they have yet to prove themselves against top-notch competition. Sure, they're winning by an average of 26 points, but do blowout wins over Kent State and San Francisco really compare to definitive victories over Kentucky and Georgia Tech, the teams that UCLA beat while winning the Maui championship? I don't think so, and neither do the writers, who have made the Bruins -- who made the national championship game last year, by the way -- tops in their poll.

The youg Buckeyes will, of course, have the opportunity to prove their chops, as they take on North Carolina Wednesday in Chapel Hill. If they beat the Heels, then we can talk. Until then, there's no way Ohio State is number one. At least not until Greg Oden debuts.

Jared Jordan, WVU, Arkansas

1. I'd be surprised if there is a player more valuable to his team than Jared Jordan, the Marist point guard. Jordan led the nation in assists per game and minutes per game last year, and won Most Outstanding Player in Orlando this week, averaging 20.7 points, 9 assists, and 6.3 rebounds over the three games.

I watched all of those contests, and am more impressed by him than anyone I've seen on this young season. He has everything you look for in a point guard. He's not exceptionally quick, but he gets into the lane relatively easily. He's not big, but once he's in the lane, he always seems to have enough room to put up a shot or snap off a smart pass. It's the kind of thing that is hard to explain in words, but there are certain players who never are bothered by defense; their understanding of the game keeps them from putting themselves in unmanagable situations. A big key to this is keeping his dribble alive until he needs to do something else with the ball. He can shoot from outside and finish at the rim. His sense of timing is excellent, and he knows what the other nine guys on the court are doing -- and often, what they are about to do -- at all times.

The Red Foxes are far from a one-man team; they have a bunch of snipers who make the extra pass around the perimeter, and seven-footer James Smith is another legit threat, although his post game could use a little more polish. But they'd be lost without Jordan, and I'm not sure there's another player in America that means as much to his team.

2. At the beginning of the season, I casually mentioned to a friend that I thought Arkansas was a sleeper team in the SEC.

Now that I've seen them play, I'm even more convinced. I knew about their defense and their size, but I didn't know about Sonny Weems, the juco transfer who broke out with 19 big points against West Virginia. I had concerns about Mississippi St. transfer Gary Ervin's ability to run this team -- and he vindicated them with 7 turnovers against a Souther Illinois team that defends as well, if not better, than the Razorbacks -- but he settled down with just two turnovers against Marist and three against WVU. I think these guys will ultimately be better off working Weems, Stefan Walsh, and Patrick Beverley into the offense even more than they are now (I don't like having a point guard as my main deep threat), but this is a team to watch.

3. Much has been made of the players coach John Beilein lost, and the difficulty he'll have teaching them his offense. The Mountaineers run a unique, complex offense that is based heavily on reads, and young players lack the experience necessary to run it perfectly. But this group is actually well-equipped to succeed through the difficult learning process.

Several current Mountaineers can create their own shots -- something no West Virginia player save Mike Gansey could do last year. Frank Young, Alex Ruoff, Joe Alexander, and Da'sean Butler don't shoot as well as Kevin Pittsnogle, Johannes Herber, and Patrick Beilein did, but they can all put it on the floor and get a shot off. And Ruoff seems particularly adept at finding teammates for easy buckets -- something that will serve him well as they learn more and more of the offense.

One other quick note on WVU, included mainly so it doesn't look like I'm leaving him out: Darris Nichols is a better fit for what Coach Beilein does than J.D. Collins. He hardly turns the ball over, but what I really like about him is that he plays within himself. Too often, Collins would get himself into trouble breaking the set by pounding the ball into the lane. Nichols doesn't do that.

(And 1) I love Feast Week -- it's one of my favorite weeks of the season -- so don't take this the wrong way. But there's one bad thing about all of these "preseason" tournaments: The announcers only have so much filler material, and the production team only has so many graphics. So while I thoroughly enjoyed all of this week's games, I'm very glad that I no longer have to hear that WVU's Alexander grew up in the Far East and learned to play basketball from And1 Mixed Tapes, or listen to Hubert Davis complain about not seeing a moose, or hear Jimmy Dykes blather on about how the Old Spice Classic will become a premier tournament. I am also glad to be rid of the graphic that tells me the temperatures in the eight cities of the participating teams in the Great Alaska Shootout, and the one where Dykes circles the word "mid-majors" and explains that they should really be called "non-BCS schools."

Sorry. But I had to get it out. Bring on the Big Ten/ACC Challenge!

#1 Goes Down

Kansas edges Florida in the first great game of the season -- the first on TV, anyway. Forgive me for ignoring the Great Alaska Championship, and focusing this whole post on this terrific contest.

1. Kansas' frontcourt outplayed it's more highly-regarded opposition. I was extremely impressed with both Julian Wright and Darrell Arthur.

I've seen Wright before, of course, and had been skeptical of his ability to play 3. I'm not sure if Wright is technically playing 3 (an injury to Sasha Kaun and the dismissal of C.J. Giles has left Kansas thin up front), but he certainly played like a 3 Saturday night. He showed a nice touch out to about 17 feet, the ability to drive to the basket (and to finish more ferociously than anyone I've seen so far this year), and he also threw at least two beautiful, no-look passes that even the best point guards would have been proud of. I'm not sure he can hit the triple, but it's hard to find other flaws in his game.

Arthur played a critical role in getting Joakim Noah and Al Horford in foul trouble. He and Wright outworked the Gator pair, who were notorious for their work ethic last year. Most impressive about the freshman, however, was the poise he showed on the free throw line down the stretch, hitting four in regulation and another pair in overtime.

2. Florida's backcourt, then, kept the Gators in the game. When the first half ended, Florida had been so thoroughly outplayed that I was stunned to see that Kansas was only up six. All of that credit goes to Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey, who had 10 points apiece. Green kept it up in the second half, while Humphrey came alive in the overtime. Without those two, there wouldn't have even been an overtime.

It is encouraging for Gators fans to see that their team can stay above water with guys like Noah, Horford, and Brewer struggling (in the case of Saturday night, all three sat for large portions of the first half due to foul trouble). But what's concerning is how unbalanced Florida looked. There were large sections of the game, as noted, where the perimeter players carried them. And there were short stretches where the post players were the ones scoring points. But -- and it surely is a bit of selective memory, though accurate enough to validate my point -- I can remember only one or two instances where a perimeter bucket was followed by one on the interior, or vice versa. This kind of versatility on offense -- the ability to score inside and outside -- is only good if both facets can work together in concert.

3. The game was marred, if only very slightly, by a few big mistakes from a couple key players down the stretch. Wright was brilliant all night, but his obvious, violent foul on Brewer's drive up four with ten seconds or so remaining was just inexcusable. On the other end of the court, Green nailed a three to put UF up 80-77 with just over a minute left in OT, but after a KU bucket, he dribbled diagonally across the halfcourt with no real purpose, eventually losing the ball to Wright. And finally, down 1 with just under ten seconds to play, the Gators let more than four seconds run off the clock before sending Robinson to the line. They had a chance for a quick foul in the backcourt, and didn't take it.

This is November, though. It's likely this kind of mental mistake will go away by the end of the season.

(And 1) This is just a minor point, but with 14 minutes to go in regulation and Florida down a half dozen or so, Billy Donovan chose to insert both Horford and Noah back in the game, with three fouls each. Neither player had been particularly effective and it's not as if Kansas was on a huge run, so it would have been more prudent, in my opinion, to play one and leave the other on the bench, with that much time remaining. A fourth foul to both -- even though they were struggling -- with more than a quarter of the game remaining would have been deadly for the Gators. Donovan has the luxury of a deep frontcourt, and I don't think he used it well in this situation. It didn't come back to bite them, but it might have.

Butler/Gonzaga

Thanks to my new, dual-tuner Tivo, I was able to watch about a million basketball games over the past two days, but I'm going to devote this post to the game that mattered most: Butler's upset of Gonzaga that capped their stunning run to the preseason NIT championship.

1. It was extremely refreshing to see Butler put the game away despite losing their magic touch from the field. The Bulldogs were patient, never pressing on the offensive end despite things looking a bit tenuous down the stretch. Butler runs an extremely patient offense that is well-equipped to protect large leads, like the one they had. The kids ran it to perfection, and even though the good looks they got didn't fall, they ate enough clock and played well enough on the defensive end that it didn't matter. A.J. Graves and Mike Green deserve a lot of credit for their poise on the free throw line, too.

2. Speaking of Green, what an interesting and important player for that team. He doesn't have the same skill set the rest of the perimeter players do; I remember him passing up a number of open looks from the three-point line, for instance. But he can break his defender down with the bounce, a skill that, of his teammates, only Graves has.

It's not unusual for a team that runs a perimeter-oriented offense reliant on the deep ball to have a player like Green. Every so often, the set is stagnant, and you need someone who could put it on the deck and create a shot, either a floater in the lane for himself or a three-pointer for a teammate when a defender sloughs off to help. The problem arises when said player doesn't understand that his dribble penetration is the last option; he begins pounding the ball into positions around which the offense isn't designed, and the end result is usually some sort of wild heave.

Green seems to understand when it's appropriate to break the set, and that makes him ever more valuable.

3. It was nice, Derek Raivio, to see you come alive a little bit in the closing minutes. Alas, where were you the rest of the game? With Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga's top offensive option, saddled by early foul trouble, someone needed to take over, and Raivio, an offensive-minded senior, was the obvious answer.

None of the Gonzaga guards -- not Raivio, not starting point Jeremy Pargo, not Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespides, not freshman Matt Bouldin -- stepped up, but it's Raivio's lack of leadership that is most glaring. He continues to make bad decisions (he had a very poor game Wednesday vs. UNC in that regard) and his attitude is poor. He seems to have regressed over his career at Gonzaga.

(And 1) I was pretty disappointed in the officiating in this contest. I'm sure Gonzaga fans will complain about Butler flopping (and there's probably some merit there), but I think the refs just plain called it too closely. Heytvelt got slapped with two fouls in the first 100 seconds and was never much of a factor. Both alleged missteps were on the offensive end, and neither were terribly egregious. You could scrutinize the tape of both infractions and surely find something that was against the rules, but the officials had the opportunity to let the contact go and dictate that they'd be overseeing a hard-fought basketball game worthy of a tournament championship.

Instead, we got a bit of a whistle-fest, with the number of stoppages and touchiness of the officials clearly benefitting the smaller, slower-paced Butler team.

What was even more frustrating -- to me, at least -- is that on Gonzaga's first two possessions of the second half, Sean Mallon committed two much more blatant offensive fouls than the ones Heytvelt committed on the Zags' first two possessions in the first half. How about some consistency? At the very least, give the benefit of the doubt to the more important player.

Josh McRoberts, Kentucky, UCLA

1. Duke's disappointing sophomore (Part I?) I don't want to come off as another Duke hater, but I could not have been less impressed with Josh McRoberts Monday night. Besides, part of the mission of 19'9" is to point out things you won't see in the box score, and anyone can see what a good game Lance Thomas had, or that I may have been right when I said that DeMarcus Nelson was poised for a breakout year.

My beef with McRoberts goes beyond the numbers, even though he's now been outplayed by one of his freshman teammates in three of the team's first four games.

He missed a couple of bunnies in the second half, when Air Force was making its run. These were not "good" misses, either; they were tentative little half-shots that he probably could have dunked. At the very least, he should have gone up stronger.

Worse -- once when he was called for traveling, once on an out-of-bounds call -- he immediately looked over to Coach K on the sideline. This is one of the captains of the team, and a guy who nearly departed for the NBA. He needs to show more maturity.

I'm going to give Greg Paulus a few more games while he gets back into his rhythm following a preseason foot injury, but let's just say he's on probation.

2. Kentucky changelings If you caught all of Kentucky's 87-81 win over DePaul Monday night in the first round of the Maui, you probably marveled, as I did, at the difference from half to half.

The first 20 minutes were ugly. The Blue Demons no doubt contributed to the harried pace, but Kentucky -- Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford in particular -- allowed themselves to get sucked into playing out of control. Several first-half possessions were complete wastes, with either of the aforementioned players racing up court with the ball, firing up an impossible shot with no thought of a pass.

The second half was markedly better. They played at a more controlled pace, and although Bradley still forced his own shot and they made a couple egregious mistakes down the stretch, they played better team basketball.

What's concerning for Cats fans, though, is that the experienced ballhandlers -- the guys you traditionally rely on to be a calming influence, are excitable, shoot-first types. They are talented scorers, but their history suggests that they are not going to turn into "smart" guards any time soon.

The only true point Tubby Smith has is freshman Derrick Jasper. He played sparingly in the second half, but he may ultimately be responsible for keeping his older teammates under control. That's a daunting task.

3. Picking nits I know it's a bit ridiculous to criticize a team that just won by 25 points and was never in danger of losing, but I thought UCLA could have shown a bit more discipline on offense. The Bruins hoisted 16 threes in the first half against Chaminade on their way to a 43-20 lead. For a while, it appeared that their offense was designed around throwing the ball towards the basket, then going to grab it off the glass.

It's not that it was a terribly ineffective offense; the Bruins were all over the offensive glass. But I'd have liked to have seen them execute their sets a bit better against an obviously inferior team -- and it'd surprise me if Ben Howland didn't agree.

Maryland, Drew Neitzel, Kevin Durant

1. 20 almost-perfect minutes I'm not sure I've ever seen 20 minutes of basketball in which one team played better than Maryland just did against St. John's in the first half at Madison Square Garden. You can look up the numbers yourself, but the highlights are 55 percent shooting (6-for-9 from downtown); three players in double figures -- including Ekene Ibekwe, who matched his season output to date with 22 points; and holding SJU to under 22 percent from the floor. When the dust settled, Maryland went into the locker room with a 58-21 lead.

Gary Williams seems to have a bunch of of players who, unlike last year, make sense as a team. Ibekwe and James Gist aren't particularly polished or skilled relative to other ACC players, but both are tremendous athletes who run the floor extremely well. Last year, the Terps were without a true point guard, and the team seemed to lack an identity; Ibekwe and Gist couldn't score in the halfcourt, while Maryland's backcourt players' games weren't suited to an up-tempo style.

That's changed with the departure of Chris McCray, Nik Caner-Medley, and Travis Garrison, and the arrival of Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes. D.J. Strawberry can return to the wing, where he's perfectly capable of playing in the open court, something he struggled with as a lead guard. The ability of the two freshmen guards to push the ball means that Maryland finds itself in its halfcourt offense less often, which is good, because they will still struggle to score out of their sets.

2. Welcome to the party, Drew I've been relatively unimpressed with Michigan St. point guard Drew Neitzel in his first two years in East Lansing. His numbers have been good enough, but he always seemed a little nervous with the ball, and I don't really have any memory of him making any big plays. When it got down to crunch time, the ball always seemed to end up in the hands of Maurice Ager or Shannon Brown.

With those guys gone, however, Tom Izzo needs someone to step up, and in Thursday's victory over Texas, Neitzel showed he just may be the guy. And I started writing this well before he drove for the game-winning layup with 2.4 seconds left and the game tied. All night, he appeared more comfortable on the court, stepping confidently into three-pointers and snapping the ball around to his teammates.

The Spartans will rely heavily on Neitzel this year, asking him to increase his scoring while at least maintaining his assist level. The latter will be particularly tough, as the Michigan St. big men looked awful. Drew Naymick grabbed a couple of big offensive rebounds, but other than that, there's little good you can say about the performance he, Goran Suton, and company put on. Catchable passes and rebounds bounced out of their hands, and when they did manage to squeeze the orange, they either put up a jittery, rushed shot, or didn't even bother looking at the basket.

3. First look at Durant The kid is good. He didn't seem as smooth as North Carolina's Brandan Wright -- a similar player -- but he's more willing to get his hands dirty inside, and his ability to put it on the floor is still above average for a 6'9" 18-year-old. I liked his pullup jumper. I didn't like one step-back jumper I saw him take; it looked mechanical, like he was doing it in parts -- okay, one dribble with the right hand, now a hard step forward with the right foot, now I hop back, now I shoot! -- rather than a single fluid, comfortable movement. I'm also going to have to take the scouting report's word for it that he's a threat from deep. He did hit one triple, but he took eight, and his shot looked a little flat to me.

That's my first impression.

(And 1) O.J. Mayo, regarded as the top high school senior, signed a letter of intent with USC. It might be enough to get the Trojans into the tournament next year, but Mayo has the opportunity to influence that program well beyond the 2007-08 season. Second-year coach Tim Floyd has an NBA pedigree, and the signing of Mayo -- one of the most highly-recruited players in recent memory -- furrther validates USC as a viable option for high school stars.

Winthrop, Gonzaga, Morris Almond, Bob Knight

1. See you in March I've got a lot of thoughts on North Carolina, whose fabulous freshmen I saw for the first time tonight, but I'll have the opportunity to talk about the Tar Heels all year. For now, I'd like to mention a team I might not talk about again until March: Winthrop, eventual 73-66 losers to mighty UNC on Wednesday night.

The Eagles led by as many as nine early in the second half before tiring against the deeper Heels (both teams were playing their second game in as many nights). What's more, they went on an improbable 17-0 run in the first half. Normally, when a less-talented team hangs with a traditional power, they do it by staying close the whole way. That they were able to so thoroughly outplay UNC during a substantial stretch of the game is a testament not only to their talent but the confidence they earned while nearly upsetting Tennessee in last year's tourney. They have two legit players in Torrell Martin and Craig Bradshaw, and won't back down against anybody. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the second round of the Dance come March.

2. Memory lane This version of Gonzaga reminds me quite a bit of the 98-99 team that put the school on the national basketball map with a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight. Recent editions of the Bulldogs have relied heavily on bruisers like Rony Turiaf and J.P. Batista, as well as inside-outside forward Adam Morrison.

These Zags are perimeter-oriented, much like the 98-99 team, although their crowded backcourt of Derek Raivio, Jeremy Pargo, Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespides, and Matt Bouldin is less reliant on the three than Matt Santangelo and Richie Frahm were. Altidor-Cespides and Raivio can hit it -- and Raivio still shoots it too often -- but this more of a slashing group.

Up front, sophomore Josh Heytvelt reminds me a lot of Casey Calvary, with perhaps a little more polish in his offensive arsenal. He's not quite as ferocious on the glass or with his dunks as Calvary, but he is a similarly athletic big. Heytvelt epitomizes what I love about college basketball: The annual influx of players who make huge strides from year to year. There was nothing about his freshman season (10 minutes, four points, and two rebounds per game) that would suggest he was capable of starting the season the way he has. But after failing to reach double figures in any game during his freshman campaign, he's done it each of the first three times out this year.

3. Sweet future for Almond Rice's Morris Almond struggled against Gonzaga Tuesday night, going just 4-for-15, but it didn't take long for me to see why scouts and talking heads were raving about him heading into the season. He first bucket was a smoth stepback jumper; on his second, he went up for a jumper from about 15 feet away, absorbed substantial body contact, waited patiently for his body to realign itself, and then lofted a soft shot that dropped through. And the foul.

When he was at North Carolina, Rashad McCants never looked like he was exerting much effort, barely breaking a sweat as he glided around defenders on his way to the hoop. Almond has that same quality.

(And 1) This is a college basketball blog, so a few words on the biggest issue in the sport at present: The Bobby Knight ordeal.

I'm not particularly satisfied with what anyone is saying about it. Knight's detractors inevitably exaggerate his malintentions; those who defend him by characterizing the open-palmed chuck underneath Michael Prince's chin as the coach simply "lifting" the young man's head are kidding themselves.

The bottom line, in my book, is that standards of acceptability vary, even from program to program. You wouldn't likely take the kind of verbal abuse Knight doles out at your job -- I certainly wouldn't -- but that's in large because it's not what you signed up for. Tech officials have stood behind Knight, neither Prince nor his parents are complaining, and I haven't heard anything from other Tech kids or their parents, either. That tells me that within the Red Raider basketball family, this is an acceptable way to communicate.

There's nothing inherently wrong with what Knight did. I wouldn't recommend doing it to a stranger in a bar, and it certainly approaches the line of acceptability, but it's not like he punched the kid. It wasn't mean-spirited, and it wasn't done to punish. Prince -- and college basketball players everywhere -- has almost certainly been in more physical danger during "toughness" or "hustle" drills at practice, the kind that have players scrapping on the court for loose balls or whacking each other with pads while shooting layups to simulate getting fouled.

Finally, Real Hoops: Virginia/Arizona, Duke, Indiana

I'm cancelling my quixotic attempt to preview the entire AP Top 25, mainly because there's actual basketball to talk about. I caught much of Virginia's victory over Arizona, some of Duke-Georgia Southern, and nearly all of Indiana-Lafayette. So let's get to it, the first real "three-point" entry of the season.

1. 93-90??? Take a look at some of these early-season scores: Michigan St. 45, Brown 34. UConn 53, Quinnipiac 46. Heck, Marquette, a nationally ranked team, trailed at the half against Division II Hillsdale before pulling out a ten-point victory, and needed overtime to edge Idaho St.

It happens every year: Plenty of major conference, top 25 teams come out of the gates rusty, putting up low point totals and struggling with -- and in the case of Boston College against Vermont at home Monday night, losing to -- opponents they should easily beat. Offenses take a while to jell, and teams usually rely on defense and superior athleticism to pull out victories in these games.

So when two major conference teams put up postseason-worthy offensive performances in the first game of the year -- against each other, no less -- it catches my attention.

The Cavaliers and Wildcats put on an offensive show Sunday night, with UVa outgunning U of A in a stirring comeback victory in their new building. Arizona had 20 assists on 31 baskets, and Virginia shot 47 percent from deep and took 38 free throws. The Cavs may have found their third scorer in Mamadi Diane (25 points, 5 of 6 three-pointers), while the Cats seamlessly integrated freshman standout Chase Budinger (17 points) and overcame a poor offensive performance from point guard Mustafa Shakur.

Both teams are capable of playing better defense. But as good as these teams looked offensively, I can't wait to see how they look once they hit their stride in midseason.

2. Who will lead Duke? If all you saw was that Duke beat Georgia Southern 72-48, you'd naturally think that the Devils dominated the game. And they did in the second half, holding the Eagles to just 18 points in the second half. But that does not tell the entire story. It took more than a half -- and an earful from Coach K in the locker room, no doubt -- for the Devils to wake up.

What's concerning is that this is an uncharacteristically young Duke team, with no impact seniors and just one junior, wing DeMarcus Nelson. And with the team struggling to find its legs, neither he nor the two experienced sophomore starters -- Greg Paulus and Josh McRoberts -- rose to the challenge. Paulus, the point guard, had just one assist. McRoberts, who tested the NBA draft waters last summer, showed little of his offensive arsenal. And Nelson, while he put up double figures in the half, didn't really take control the way you would want when the team needs a lift.

It got better in the second half, but the Devils need to replace departed seniors J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, and Sean Dockery -- not just their considerable production, but their leadership, their ability to win games. Unless a real leader develops, Coach K may not be able to let this edition of Duke self-correct as some of his other teams. He may have to be quicker with timeouts in trouble spots.

3. Sampson era begins at IU Another misleading score is Indiana's 91-66 victory over Lafayette. The Hoosiers used a huge run in the latter part of the second half to turn a one-possession game into a blowout.

New head coach Kelvin Sampson has definitely made his mark on this team. Sampson's squads at Oklahoma were always among the most physical in the nation, and he's brought that brand of basketball to Bloomington. The only trouble is that the players he has are not his recruits, and they aren't used to playing that way. I thought the referees may have called the game a little too tightly, but Indiana found itself in serious foul trouble all game long. The Leopards were shooting one-and-one with 12 minutes to go in the first half, and with 14 minutes to go in the second. It took D.J. White just over 3 minutes of cumulative floor time to pick up four fouls, and he didn't return until the game was well in hand. Midway through the second half, three IU starters -- White, A.J. Ratliff, and Ben Allen -- all had four personals. Indiana's aggressive defense also led to them getting burned on a number of smart backdoor cuts by Lafayette.

Offensively, Sampson's influence seemed present, as the Hoosiers looked markedly different than they were under Mike Davis. Earl Calloway was unstoppable going to the basket during one stretch, bringing an element that's been missing for quite a while. The Hoosiers still shot their share of three-pointers -- and Roderick Wilmont shot it particularly well -- but it never seemed excessive, like it has in the past. Furthermore, it seems logical that with White on the court, the Hoosiers will rely even less on the deep ball. Indeed, with so many players in foul trouble, it may be best to reserve judgment on the IU offense until next time out. But the Hoosier players will need to adapt their games to their new coach's aggressive style in order to stay on the floor.

AP Top 25: Texas A&M, Memphis, BC

Halfway done with the AP preseason top 25...

13. Texas A&M Looking at of some of the teams ranked in the top ten, and then looking at the Aggies' roster, you can't help but think that some people are perhaps valuing youth and potential over experience a bit too much.

Coach Billy Gillispie has his top six scorers back from a team that went 22-9 last year, beat Syracuse in the first round of the NCAAs, and took eventual Final Four team LSU to the brink in the next round before losing by a point. The group includes two all-conference candidates in senior Acie Law IV and junior Joseph Jones. Law is a do-everything lead guard who reached double figures in all but two games on his way to an average of 16 per, and he is capable of taking over a game with his scoring; he dropped 35 on Oklahoma State in one of the toughest gyms for visiting players. Jones is a 6-9, 250-pound bruiser who had 31 points at Texas in a loss last February. His rebounding average should improve from 6.5 per game with another year of experience under his belt.

A&M isn't a traditional basketball power, so to be ranked this highly really says something about Gillispie, Law, and Jones. If they can get any contribution from the team's role players, they could make a deep March run.

14. Memphis It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who gets top recruits year after year, but a part of you has to reach out to John Calipari. Because if Shawne Williams and Darius Washington Jr. hadn't left early and declared for the NBA draft (Williams went to Indiana in the middle of the first round, Washington went unselected) Coach Cal would've really had something going in the River City.

He still might. After all, Calipari brings this on himself by always going after -- and getting -- blue-chip recruits, so the cupboard isn't bare, even though the loss of Williams, Washington, and the graduated Rodney Carney leaves the Tigers without a returning double-digit scorer. Somebody -- Chris Douglas-Roberts? Joey Dorsey? Antonio Anderson? -- will have to step up as a go-to scorer. The team will also need either sophomore Andre Allen or highly-touted freshman Willie Kemp to fill the leadership void left by Carney (the team's lone senior last year), and Washington (a two-year starter at the point).

The talent is there for this team to be ranked even higher than this, but expectations are tempered a bit because every returnee has been a role player in previous years. How well those Tigers make the transition to heavy producers will dictate the outcome of their season.

15. Boston College Two years ago, the Eagles ended a strong season on a sour note, bowing out in the second round of the NCAAs to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It wasn't just that they lost, but how they lost; being outmuscled and outhustled by a mid-major. That's not supposed to happen to teams from the Big East.

BC acquitted itself well last year as a new member of the ACC, advancing to the Sweet 16 before losing by a single point to top-seeded Villanova. Two key players from that team are gone. Point guard Louis Hinnant is the easier of the two to replace, as sophomore Tyrese Rice showed last year he is more than ready to take the reins. Equally comfortable driving to the basket as he is slinging three-pointers with his smooth lefty release, Rice will be asked to distribute more this year, and he appears willing to do so.

The real challenge facing coach Al Skinner is filling the void left by Craig Smith. It shouldn't be hard to replace his scoring -- Rice, Jared Dudley, and Sean Marshall have all proven they can fill it up -- but his rebounding, more than nine a game, will be tougher. The Eagles aren't off to a good start, as two of the players most likely to take Smith's minutes were suspended before the season. Sean Williams, a superb athlete who may be the conference's best shotblocker, will miss the first two games, and Akida McLain, who avered four points and three boards in just 12 minutes last year, will miss nine.

BC is a veteran ballclub with that plays a great brand of team basketball. If they can find an answer in the post, they'll remain near the top of the ACC.

AP Top 25: Arizona, Alabama, Duke

Soldiering on with the AP Top 25...

10. Arizona Wildcat point guard Mustapha Shakur's career in Tucson probably hasn't turned out the way he envisioned it. He's been a solid player for coach Lute Olson, but hasn't quite lived up to his press clippings, and threw his hat into the NBA draft ring despite a rather pedestrian junior season in which he showed little improvement from the year before.

He withdrew his name, however, and returns for his senior year as a major key to Arizona's success. Hassan Adams and Chris Rodgers have graduated, and despite losing a lot of points and rebounds, the Cats are perhaps better off -- Rodgers was constantly in and out of Olson's doghouse, and Adams had his share of discplinary and even legal problems. Ivan Radenovic, Marcus Williams, and Chase Budinger -- who Olson reportedly has said is the most talented player he's ever brought to U of A -- should provide plenty of production. Shakur's job will be to play within the system and make sure everything runs smoothly.

It's not a given. Shakur has appeared unhappy at times in his career, and the temptation will be there to try to do too much to bolster his pro stock. That's something that the Wildcats can't afford.

11. Alabama Ronald Steele is another point guard who withdrew his name from the 2005 draft and decided to return for another season. Whereas Shakur seems to be looking for any way to get off of campus, however, Steele appeared to be just testing the waters. He doesn't carry the chip on his shoulder that his counterpart at Arizona does, and so his return is categorically a good thing.

Steele broke out as a sophomore, nearly doubling his scoring average to 14.3, while average nearly four rebounds and better than four assists per game. His return, paired with that of Jermareo Davidson, a power forward who decided to come back for his senior season, gives Alabama something few teams in America have: a true inside-outside offense. Steele is an all-America candidate at the lead guard spot, and Davidson can more than hold his own in an SEC filled with strong power players.

The Crimson Tide are a unique squad in that they only return five players from a year ago, and yet they are being touted by many as a potential Final Four team. That speaks volumes about Steele and Davidson.

12. Duke If you're looking for a player who few are talking about but who is primed for a stellar season, try Duke's DeMarcus Nelson. I believe the 6'3" junior never fully recovered from an injury suffered in the second week of the season that cost him ten games. That injury may have cost the Devils a national championship, as it further shrunk Coach K's notoriously short rotation, leaving J.J. Redick out of gas by the end of the year. Nelson is the third scorer the Devils needed last year, but he seemed out of rhythm after the injury.

Nonetheless, he managed to average seven points last year, and with Redick gone, he could more than double it this campaign. Throwing a monkey wrench into the works is that sophomore point guard Greg Paulus will miss the first few weeks of the season, at least, with a broken bone in his foot. Coach K has handed primary ballhandling responsibilities in practice to freshman Jon Scheyer, and has said he's hesitant to have Nelson run the point -- even though he's capable of it -- because he doesn't want to mess with his game. If Nelson has to bring the ball up and initiate the offense, it may disrupt his scoring rhythm. Scheyer's ability to be the lead guard right off the bat may be a big key to getting Nelson off to a good start -- a necessity for Duke's season.

AP Top 25: Ohio St., Georgetown, Wisconsin

Continuing with observations about the AP preaseason top 25...

7. Ohio St. I was tempted to leave the Buckeyes out, or at least put off writing about them until later, because there is no way they are the seventh best team in the country right now. Not with all those freshman who have yet to play a single meaningful minute of college basketball.

And certainly not with Greg Oden sidelined.

The 7'1" freshman -- who, by the way, would have been the top draft pick in each of the last two NBA drafts, if eligible -- will be out with a wrist injury at least until Ohio St. kicks off the Big Ten season after the new year. The injury robs coach Thad Matta of valuable court time to meld his outstanding recruiting class (four freshman ranked in the top 30) with a solid core of returnees.

Those predicting big things for the Buckeyes are essentially expecting Oden to have the kind of impact Carmelo Anthony did in his lone season at Syracuse. Like 'Melo did, Oden will have plenty of help, from both experienced players and fellow freshman. And the kid is undoubtedly a monster, a player we'd never have seen in college ball prior to the NBA establishing the age limit.

The question is not his talent, it's team chemistry. Incorporating all these freshmen is a difficult enough task, but with Oden missing the first month and a half of the season, the Buckeyes will have to jell twice. As a center, Oden will rely on his teammates more than a perimeter player might, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the Buckeyes regress a bit once Oden is in the lineup. This could be one of those teams that plays below expectation all season before making a deep run in the tournament.

8. Georgetown Everyone appears ready to annoint Roy Hibbert the next in a long line of dominant Hoya big men. Me, I want to see him produce for a full year before I start seriously mentioning his name in the same breath as Ewing, Mourning, and Mutombo.

Hibbert had a serviceable sophomore season, essentially doubling his scoring and rebounding production from his freshman campaign. But he really raised eyebrows during the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, following up a 17-point, nine-rebound performance against Northern Iowa with a dominating 20-and-14 game against Ohio St.

It's not that I don't think he has the skills to be an elite big man; the problem with Hibbert has always been as much about intensity and desire as it has been about polish, and he showed plenty of the former in the Big Dance. But can he -- will he -- keep it up for an entire 30-plus game season?

The Hoyas already have the Big East's best frontcourt, with junior Jeff Green -- one of the players I most enjoy watching -- returning and the addition of Ewing Jr., the transfer from Indiana, joining the team. Jonathan Wallace will have to step up his production on the perimeter to replace the scoring of departed seniors Brandon Bowman and Ashanti Cook, but his most important role may simply be protecting the ball and getting the ball to Green, a point forward through whom the Hoyas like to run the offense.

9. Wisconsin On paper, the Badgers looked a lot better than a 19-12 team last year. They had one of the Big Ten's best players, Alando Tucker; a blossoming big man in former McDonald's All-American Brian Butch; and a high-scoring guard in Kammron Taylor (known to many as a dead ringer for Chris Rock).

So what happened?

I'd submit that last year's Badgers underscored the importance of having a lead guard who can create opportunities for other players. Wisconsin finished with just 421 assists on the season (ahead of only lowly Purdue in the Big Ten). Taylor, their alleged point guard, led the team in assists with just 2.4 per game. Again, the Boilermakers were the only other conference opponent to not have a player on the roster average at least three dimes.

When you play the low-tempo brand of half-court basketball favored by Badger coach Bo Ryan, someone who can create with the shot clock winding down is imperative to success. With the notable exception of Ohio St. (see above), the Big Ten heavies are down this year, and so the lack of a true playmaker may not keep Wisconsin from a top-three finish in the league, like it did last year. But if they hope to make noise nationally, the Badgers will need to find someone -- Taylor, or perhaps freshman Trevon Hughes -- to fill the role of a traditional point guard.

And 1 Every so often I'll have a fourth point to make, and when I do, I'll call it "And 1" and put it here.

Caught my first college game of the season tonight, Vermont vs. Maryland in the second round of the 2k Sports Coaches vs. Cancer tourney. Living just outside DC, Terrapins basketball is pretty much forced upon me, and while it's early in the season, I think Maryland is set for a bounceback season. I noticed a marked difference in the team's attitude tonight; the "snarl" that seemed to define the team last year left with the graduations of Nik Caner-Medley, Travis Garrison, and Chris McCray, and the current bunch of Terps look refreshed, and appear to be enjoying the game.

There are still kinks to be worked out, of course -- their bigs need to stay out of foul trouble and it remains to be seen how well their freshman guards perform against tougher competion -- but the body language and energy I saw bodes well for Maryland fans.

AP Top 25: Pitt, LSU, UCLA

Continuing my thoughts on the preseason AP Top 25...

4. Pittsburgh Panthers coach Jamie Dixon's first order of business this year should be to decide what kind of basketball team he has. Pittsburgh seems like a team with a little bit of an identity crisis.

The Panthers made their latest arrival on the national scene thanks to deliberate, half-court basketball, highlighted by stifling defense. Those teams were coached by Ben Howland, now the head man at UCLA, and when Dixon -- a Howland assistant -- took over at the start of the 2003-2004 season, he had the players in place to continue with that style of play.

Since then, however, the turnover of personnel inherent in college basketball has rendered Pitt less and less suited to that brand of basketball. Last year, they surrendered 68 points per game, a stat that would horrify Howland. Offensively, however, they didn't appear comfortable playing games in that scoring range, and they must replace point guard Carl Krauser, who forced the action too much but was the team's most offensive-minded player.

In other words, offensively, the Panthers seem similar to recent editions, but they are less solid defensively than those teams were. Marked increases in offensive output from Ronald Ramon and Sam Young will ultimately determine if Pitt deserves this high ranking.

5. LSU When all is said and done, there might not be a team who misses a single player more this year than the Tigers will miss Tyrus Thomas. It extends well beyond his offensive numbers (12.3 ppg, 9.2 rpg) ,which, while impressive, are replaceable. As well as he was playing at the end of last season, with his versatility and explosiveness, the opposition always had to keep an eye on him on both ends of the court.

LSU's guards are serviceable, but don't shoot well enough to spread the floor, which means coach John Brady will rely heavily on junior center Glen "Big Baby" Davis. With per-game averages of 19.6 points and 9.7 rebounds in his sophomore season, Davis appears up to the task, but note that the 6'9", 300-pounder has played each of his two seasons in college alongside a standout post player: Thomas (the fourth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft) last year; and Brandon Bass the year before.

No such running mate exists on LSU's roster this season, and it'll be up to Davis to prove that he can continue to produce now that he'll be the lone focus of the opposition's defense.

6. UCLA From one player who will be missed to one who won't be, or at least not as much as many seem to think: UCLA's Jordan Farmar. Selected late in the first round of last year's draft, Farmar takes 13 points and five rebounds away from last year's national runners-up, as well as two years worth of experience running the offense, handling the ball, and taking big shots.

His production will be easy enough to replace, with Josh Shipp's return to health and the continued development of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. It's the other stuff, the intangibles, that has Bruins fans worried.

It's an understandable sentiment, and I don't want to diminish Farmar's importance to last year's squad, but I think this edition of UCLA will be just fine without him. Sophomore Darren Collison saw enough of the floor as a freshman to comfortably handle point guard duties in his sophomore campaign. He showed a scoring ability and a fearlessness that suggests he has no problem taking the big shot if need be. He probably won't, however, as long as Arron Afflalo is around. Also the team's best defender, Afflalo is a standout offensively who can spot up or create his own shot, the same way Farmar could.

Truth be told, I like this bunch better than the three teams currently ranked directly ahead of them. A return trip to the Final Four is well within reach.

AP Top 25, Part 1 (of 7 or 8. Ish)

The Associated Press released its initial Top 25 today, and with the season set to tip off in mere hours in College Park, Md., it's high time I got the ball rolling with my season preview. In the long-standing (ahem!) tradition of 19'9", I'll take the Top 25, three at time, one post per day for the next week or so. It's not going to be a comprehensive preview; just one or two observations on each team off the top of my head.

1. Florida Before you hand the national championship to the Gators, as everyone seems so anxious to do (UF does, after all, return the top eight players from last year's title team), I implore you to look at last year's schedule. Among their regular season victories, only two -- at LSU and at Kentucky -- look like the work of a national champion, and even those are a bit misleading; Kentucky wasn't Kentucky last year, and the LSU victory only impresses because the Tigers, like the Gators, were surprise participants in the Final Four.

Florida's signature victory came in the Minneapolis regional final against Villanova, and it should be noted that with it's four-guard lineup, that Wildcat team was unlike any top seed in recent memory, and simply wasn't built to beat a team like the brawny Gators. Once Florida arrived in the semifinals, they didn't have to worry about heavy favorites Connecticut or Duke -- they got George Mason and a young UCLA team instead.

I say this not to diminish the accomplishments of Billy Donovan's bunch, but rather to point out that, as roads to the national championship go, there are few easier than the one the Gators took to center stage in Indianapolis.

It doesn't feel right to say that a defending national champion that returns all five of its starters and nearly every key bench player is unproven, but no one was talking about this Florida team as a championship contender on the eve of the tournament. There's still plenty left to prove in Gainesville.

2. North Carolina Of the nine players who saw the court in Carolina's 83-76 victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium near the end of last season, four were freshmen. If you want to bet against that group now that they've added a recruiting class that includes three players who were ranked No. 1 at their positions, by all means, go right ahead.

There wasn't a player in America I enjoyed watching more last year than power forward Tyler Hansbrough. By and large, I'm a guard-oriented kind of guy, but every once in a while, a big man comes along who takes over games with rugged, inspired play on the blocks, and it gets my attention. Hansbrough is that type of player.

Hansbrough became the first freshman in Carolina history to lead the team in scoring, with nearly 19 points per game. But one game -- the aforementioned Saturday night in Durham -- sums up what I love about this kid. On the season's biggest stage, in the toughest gym in the nation, against the reigning defensive player of the year (Shelden Williams, who the Atlanta Hawks would make the fifth overall pick in the draft that summer), Hansbrough had his best game of the year, tallying 27 points and 10 rebounds. He also averaged 24.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in two games against Boston College and their standout Craig Smith, and went to the line 21 times in two meetings against N.C. State and Cedric Simmons, a first-round NBA draft pick.

With Williams, Simmons, and Smith all gone, the ACC is relatively free of quality big men. With the lane opened up, and with more weapons around him, Hansbrough is primed for an even bigger year -- one that should end with national player of the year honors.

3. Kansas A second straight first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament has Kansas on the verge of becoming one of those teams that casual fans associate with post-season disappointment.

It should be noted, however, that the current crop of Jayhawks is responsible for only one of those failures, last year's 77-73 loss at the hands of the Bradley Braves. When we further point out that Bill Self's young club nearly came all the way back from a 14-point second half deficit, and it doesn't seem so bad, does it? A reasonable inference is that Kansas, without a veteran leader, simply took a little while -- a little more than a half, say -- to get used to the pressure of being a heavy favorite in an NCAA tournament game.

This Kansas team is talented. Few freshman wings last year looked as polished with the ball as Brandon Rush, and Mario Chalmers -- once he became comfortable -- and Russell Robinson form a strong backcout. Incoming freshman Darrell Arthur will allow Julian Wright to play more minutes at small forward, which is supposed to be a good thing.

I remain unconvinced. I didn't see Wright play in high school, but what I did see of him last year did not suggest that the three is his natural position. He looked ragged and uncomfortable facing the basket and putting the ball on the floor, and didn't step outside for long jumpers the way we've come to expect from a swingman at a major program.

If -- and only if -- the highly-touted Wright is as advertised, then this lofty ranking may be justified.