2Brandon Costner, a sophomore forward and the son of former St. Joe's star Tony Costner, will again be the top threat for N.C. State. The Wolfpack return four starters from a team that made a surprising run to the ACC Tournament championship. Point guard is the biggest question.
3The 13 American kids on Duke's roster come from 10 different states, including two each from New Jersey and California. There's also one kid from Lithuania. None hail from North Carolina. Folks around here are most familiar with Episcopal Academy's Gerald Henderson and Haddonfield's Brian Zoubek.
4Zoubek has recovered after breaking a bone in his foot on July 9. Ditto for teammate DeMarcus Nelson, who fractured a bone in his wrist 3 days later.
5North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough was the consensus pick for ACC preseason player of the year. Virginia's Sean Singletary (Penn Charter) was the only other player to receive consideration.
6Freshmen Jeff Jones (Monsignor Bonner) and Sammy Zeglinski (Penn Charter) also are part of the Philadelphia-UVa. contingent. Former Temple star Rick Brunson is the Cavaliers' director of basketball operations and former La Salle assistant Steve Seymour is in his third season as an assistant. Virginia visits Penn on Nov. 23 in the first of a 2-day tournament at the Palestra.
7The excitement surrounding the Minnesota basketball program now that Tubby Smith is in charge has not resulted in increased local TV exposure. Only a handful of Gophers hoops games will be televised, nowhere near the coverage the UM hockey team gets. A little different from Kentucky, eh Tubby?
8His replacement at Kentucky is Billy Gillispie, who was given 2.3 million reasons annually to leave Texas A & M, each one with George Washington's picture on it. Gillispie's best addition might be prying away Illinois assistant Tracy Webster, who has considerable recruiting influence in the Chicago area.
