Throughout the preseason, the ACC microsite will release a preview for each of the 12 teams. Today’s victim: the Virginia Cavaliers.

The past season was excellent for the Virginia Cavaliers. Sure, the team only went 9-7 in the conference and exited the NCAA Tournament in a spectacular flame-out against Florida in its first game. Still, last season was a success for Tony Bennett. The team nearly ran the table in their non-conference slate except for a strange flukish loss to TCU. This impressive run included victories against Michigan, Drexel, Oregon, George Mason, and LSU. In conference play, Virginia was less consistent (though admittedly they played one of the tougher league schedules), with their two best wins coming against North Carolina State and Miami. Mike Scott‘s career year and Bennett’s pack line defensive scheme powered the Cavaliers to one of Virginia’s best seasons in the past few seasons. With Mike Scott now gone, can the Cavaliers match or better their high-water mark?

Tony Bennett Appears to Have the Cavaliers on the Upswing

Newcomers

The Cavaliers are bringing in a small army to bolster their depleted ranks. Teven Jones, Justin Miller and Taylor Barnette represent the incoming guard rotation. All three initially figured to see only back-up and spot minutes with incumbent senior point guard Jontel Evans taking up most of the time at point guard. Unfortunately for Evans, a stress fracture in his foot has the feisty defender and playmaker sidelined for the beginning part of the season. Unless Bennett elects to hand the keys to his team to senior walk-on, Doug Browman, these three freshmen will likely undergo a sudden baptism by fire.

At the wing, the freshman class brings in some potential future starters. Justin Anderson and Evan Nolte both have a nice array of skills, athleticism, and size at the small forward slot, where Virginia had only Paul Jesperson and converted shooting guards before the arrival of these two. If these guys can play defense to the coaching staff’s satisfaction, it’s likely that they will see plenty of minutes, and indeed, potentially a spot in the starting rotation.

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Few programs in the country went through the adversity that St. John’s found itself facing last season.  Head coach Steve Lavin underwent surgery to treat prostate cancer in October of last year, and he was only able to coach four games in early November before deciding to sit out for the rest of the season. Multiple key players left during the season for various reasons, and at times the Red Storm were only able to play with a six-man rotation of scholarship players. This year should prove to be a challenge for the Johnnies, especially after the departure of Moe Harkless following last season, but they return a solid nucleus and add a number of talented freshmen who look to continue the restoration project that is Steven Lavin’s St. John’s basketball program.

2011-12 Record: 13-19, 6-12

2011-12 Postseason: None

Steve Lavin returns to the St. John’s bench in 2012-13. Can he bring back the success of the 2010-11 campaign?

Schedule

St. John’s non-conference schedule is fairly light. The Storm open with Detroit and the ever-dangerous Ray McCallum at Carnesecca Arena before heading to Charleston, South Carolina, for the DirecTV Charleston Classic. In the opening round of the tournament the Storm take on host College of Charleston before facing either Auburn or Murray State. The field also features Big 12 power Baylor, Boston College, Colorado, and Dayton. St. John’s will also host South Carolina in Queens in the Big East/SEC Challenge.  St. John’s plays one non-conference game in Madison Square Garden, against Fordham, and will play one game in Brooklyn’s new Barclays Center against St. Francis. In the Big East, the team opens at Villanova on January 2, and has home-and-homes with Rutgers, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and DePaul.

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There are many terrific things about our country’s democracy. The endless amount of political attack ads during election season are highly entertaining, our election results are actually legitimate, and our president flies all around the nation in a sweet airplane named Air Force One. The very best part about American democracy, however, is perhaps our nation’s open records laws. When you screw up or have information pertinent to the public interest, we’re there to call you out via police reports, court documents, and, as Penn State knows so well, e-mails.

E-mails Show Some Interesting Information Regarding Gillispie

That brings us to Texas Tech‘s men’s basketball program. USA Today‘s open records request of the university’s emails during the Billy Gillispie scandal reveals a few tidbits of intriguing material. Unfortunately for all you sadists out there, this isn’t the Freeh Report, and there’s no evidence of wrongdoing or mass scandal on the part of the athletic department, but correspondence between university officials sheds a little light into how the situation went down. According to the article, an assistant to the chancellor of the university forwarded articles from ESPN and CBS Sports to the Board of Curators, in addition to a personal letter from the mother of a 17-year-old who alleged verbal abuse from Gillispie. The most interesting aspect of these emails, though, deals with the practice violations.

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Ray Floriani is the RTC correspondent for the NEC.

Top Storylines

• A Dynasty Grows In Brooklyn: It’s probably fitting that the Northeast Conference administrators chose the brand-new Barclays Center to host its annual media day. The NEC trophy has resided in this borough two straight years and LIU Brooklyn is planning on a unique ‘three-peat’. In the NEC’s 32-year history, no team has captured the title for three straight seasons. LIU Brooklyn is primed to finish the trifecta, but there will be stiff competition. Mainstays Robert Morris, Quinnipiac and Wagner will be in the hunt, and don’t forget ‘Battle of Brooklyn’ nemesis, St. Francis, just a mile away in Brooklyn Heights. The Terriers surprised last season and have enough returning talent to continue their recent success.
• They’re Watching And Noticing: One of the significant aspects of the NEC’s improvement can be seen in coaching mobility. The higher-level schools are looking at and hiring mentors who prove they can X and O in this conference. Three years ago, Mike Rice went from Robert Morris to Rutgers. This past season, Duquesne chose LIU Brooklyn’s Jim Ferry, while Rhode Island, another Atlantic 10 school, obtained the services  of Danny Hurley, who quickly reversed fortunes at Wagner. As one coach noted at media day, “you have a group of good, aggressive coaches here who can build and run a program.” No surprise NEC coaches are on the big boys’ short lists.

LIU Brooklyn’s Julian Boyd Returns For NEC Favorite LIU Brooklyn. (AP)

• Circle the Date: Wagner faces off against Temple, Syracuse, Penn, Princeton, Hofstra  and plays in the Cable Car Classic in Santa Clara. However, a relatively early game of note is January 10 at LIU Brooklyn. The Seahawks have a four-game losing streak in the series and Wagner coach Bashir Mason all too well knows the the road to the NEC title will go through Brooklyn.

Reader’s Take I

Early Power Rankings (last season’s record in parentheses)

1. LIU Brooklyn (25-9, 16-2 NEC): The Blackbirds seemingly have it all: Experience, depth and recent success of enviable excellence. And talent. Start with returning NEC Player of the Year, Julian Boyd. The 6’7” senior forward put together a sterling season where he averaged 17 points and nine rebounds per contest, highlighted by 14 double-doubles. Jamal Olasewere, another first team All-NEC pick, returns up front as well. In the backcourt is junior Jason Brickman. Seventh nationally with 7.3 assists per outing, Brickman has drawn praise from rival coaches for his passing ability and expertise in controlling the game. Coach Jack Perri is now at the helm with Jim Ferry gone to Duquesne. The transition has been very smooth for the former LIU assistant. Winners of 34 of their last 36 conference games, the Blackbirds are NEC favorites. Read the rest of this entry »

With all the talk of NCAA investigations into eligibility and preseason injuries and whether or not the head coach is on the hot seat, it is easy to forget that this is actually a really exciting time for UCLA basketball. Aside from landing the top recruiting class in the nation and the expectations that the 2012-13 vintage of the team could be something special, the larger picture is of a program moving back into its historic arena after a dismal year on the road. The whole year will be an opportunity for Bruin fans from far and near to head back to Westwood and check out the new Pauley Pavilion and the new team. And there to greet them in the North Plaza in front of the gleaming new entrance to Pauley will be a brand new statue dedicated to the legendary but humble face of the program, John Wooden. Later today, UCLA will unveil the statue of its former head coach in a ceremony attended by members of both the Wooden family and the Pauley family.

UCLA’s Unveiling Of The Wooden Statue Today Serves As A Great Lead-Up To Next Week’s Pauley Pavilion Re-Opening

The unveiling of the statue will lead smoothly into homecoming week for the Bruins, culminating in the Bruins’ football game with Arizona next weekend. But more importantly for basketball fans, it will lead into Pauley Opening Madness next Friday evening, an event which will not only be the grand official re-opening of the facility, but will also serve as the Bruins’ unveiling of their basketball team for their fans (technically, the event will showcase all five teams that call Pauley home – the men’s and women’s basketball teams, men’s and women’s volleyball and gymnastics), with an open practice highlighted most entertainingly by a dunk contest (albeit without Shabazz Muhammad, likely the team’s best dunker), as well as several giveaways for students. Personally, I could take or leave most of these Midnight Madness and open scrimmage events, but the event coupled with a chance to take a look at the new arena and the new Wooden statue make for a draw for fans and a way to get the notoriously staid fan base excited for the upcoming season.

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And away we go, headfirst into another season heralded by our 2012-13 edition of Thirty Reasons We Love College Basketball, our annual compendium of YouTube clips from the previous season 100% guaranteed to make you wish games were starting tonight. We’ve captured here what we believe were the most compelling moments from last season, some of which will bring back the goosebumps and others of which will leave you shaking your head. Enjoy!

#14 – Where Comeback Tuesday Night Happens

We also encourage you to re-visit the entire archive of this feature from the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12 seasons.

1. The Washington Huskies had their first exhibition game two nights ago and knocked off Western Washington, 88-78, a much closer result than expected. Washington only committed 14 turnovers but couldn’t manage to pull away from the Vikings until the very end of the game. Abdul Gaddy struggled early, but redshirt freshman Andrew Andrews tallied 14 points to carry the team in the first half. Gaddy picked it back up in the second half and finished with 14 points as well. More importantly was the play of C.J. Wilcox, who led Washington with 21 points by shooting 7-14 from the field and grabbing seven rebounds. It’s October and it’s an exhibition so fans should not put too much stock into the margin of victory, but it was still a little too close for comfort.
2. CBS came out with its top 30 freshman in America and, somewhat surprisingly, Shabazz Muhammad was listed as third behind Nerlens Noel of Kentucky and Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State. After Muhammad comes his other currently questionably-eligible teammate, Kyle Anderson at #4. Brandon Ashley of Arizona is the next to make an appearance on the list at #15 and then Jahii Carson of Arizona State lands at #23 followed by Grant Jerrett at #24. Carson will have an impact at Arizona State, but that slot seems a bit high for him. Yes, he’s an athletic, great ball-handling guard, but other players like Josh Scott of Colorado or Kaleb Tarczewski of Arizona could have a bigger impact than him.
3. CBS also ranked its  top 25 transfers, and Xavier transfer Mark Lyons, now at Arizona, was ranked as the number one transfer. It’s hard to argue with this call considering Lyons will be a key cog for this Wildcat squad. He’ll take on the point guard spot for Sean Miller and should have a much larger impact than Josiah Turner did last year. Only two others from the Pac-12 made the list with Larry Drew II of UCLA coming in at #20 and Evan Gordon of Arizona State at #24. Those both seem like justifiable choices, however, leaving J.T. Terrell from USC  off the list is questionable, especially considering the fact that these same people listed him among the top 100 players in the nation. Terrell should play a big role for USC this year and although  he might not be the most notable player, he should still be on this list.
4. UCLA’s number one recruit, Shabazz Muhammad, injured his shoulder on Wednesday at practice, and the results of his MRI came back yesterday. Muhammad will be out of action from 2-4 weeks with a shoulder strain. The injury is to his non-shooting shoulder, but it’s still a bad injury to have for a player of Muhammad’s caliber and just another thing to go wrong for the Bruins. Exactly two weeks from today, UCLA starts its season against Indiana State and while no one expected Muhammad to be declared eligible in time for that game, this effectively seals the fact that the year will begin without Muhammad in uniform. If everything breaks just exactly perfect for UCLA and Muhammad, he could make his debut in Brooklyn at the Legends Classic, but really, at this point, that is little more than wishful thinking.
5. Hey, hey. Andrew stepping in here to take over the last bit of the Morning Five from Parker today, just because I wanted to gloat a little bit. Connor and I have been going back and forth all year picking every football game involving a Pac-12 team, and, well, ever since Washington State laid down for BYU back on the opening weekend of the seas0n, Connor has been kicking my butt. Wait. Actually, check that. Let’s make that “had been” kicking my butt. After week one, I was two games back. Just a week later I was down four. But, I didn’t panic, nailed the Stanford over SC upset, then came back a week later to take Washington over those same Cardinal, and by last Saturday afternoon when David Shaw’s bunch was wrapping up a victory in The Big Game, I had come all the way back AND taken a one-game lead over my foe. So, yeah, I’m spiking the ball a little bit harder these week, but I’m saving my touchdown dance for the final whistle, because we’ve got a pair of games this weekend on which we differ. Picks below, including our game of the week in bold. But, really, how can I lose to a guy who was so wrong about last week’s game of the week that he missed the final score of Oregon’s win over Arizona State by a whole six points?
   

   Game	Connor’s Pick	Drew’s Pick
   Colorado at Oregon	Oregon	Oregon
   California at Utah	California	Utah
   Oregon State at Washington	Oregon State 28-17	Washington 21-20
   UCLA at Arizona State	UCLA	UCLA
   USC at Arizona	USC	USC
   Washington State at Stanford	Stanford	Stanford

1. Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2014 out of Huntington Prep (WV) has decided to graduate early and reclassify to the 2013 class, Rivals.com announced Thursday. Wiggins is good enough that he’s already assumed the No. 1 spot in the class of 2013, supplanting Julius Randle or Jabari Parker, depending on whom you ask. Kentucky and Florida State remain in the lead for Wiggins’ services, but North Carolina and Kansas recently checked in on the 6’7″ Canadian as well. Kentucky seems like the obvious favorite at the time but the Wildcats already have five commitments in the class — three in the top 10 — leading to some serious competition for playing time. Wiggins’ father, Mitchell Wiggins, played for Florida State in the early 80s, which has obviously helped the Seminoles in his ongoing recruitment. Kansas and North Carolina sent assistants to Huntington earlier this week, but the interest between the two schools and Wiggins is still largely unknown.
2. Speaking of the Jayhawks, Kansas announced Thursday the installment of a four-year series with Georgetown to begin next December in Allen Fieldhouse. The two teams will meet in the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. during the 2014-15 and 2016-17 seasons with another trip to Kansas in 2015-16. The Hoyas are another quality non-conference opponent for Bill Self in a long line of quality non-conference opponents, from Duke and Kentucky to Michigan State and Ohio State in recent years. The primary incentive of this interesting Big 12/Big East match-up is to benefit KU’s east coast recruiting. Assistant coach Joe Dooley is an east coast native and has helped land a number of local recruits for the Jayhawks, such as the Morris twins (Philadelphia), Tyshawn Taylor (New Jersey) and Thomas Robinson (Washington, D.C.).
3. Baylor opened up its exhibition season with a 103-75 victory over Abilene Christian Thursday night in Waco. Junior guard Brady Heslip hit six three-pointers and finished with 18 points on the night. That Baylor gave up 75 points is a whole lot of scoring to give up to a Division II team, but the game was only an exhibition after all. There was nothing of note to take from the box score, obviously, but it was nice seeing one of those again after a six-month hiatus. Only two weeks until the real games begin.
4. Jeff Borzello of CBSSports.com ranked the top 30 freshman on Thursday, and put Kentucky center Nerlens Noel on top. The Big 12 had four freshmen on the list including three of the top 10. Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart was second on the list, and his versatility will give him plenty of opportunities to score this season while also racking up plenty of assists alongside scorer Le’Bryan Nash. The Big 12 rounded out its choices with Baylor center Isaiah Austin (#7), Kansas guard Ben McLemore (#9), and Texas center Cameron Ridley (#18).
5. Yes, it’s another CBSSports.com list. They’ve been on fire this week with these preseason lists of players and Jeff Goodman added another quality piece on Thursday, ranking the top 30 transfers this season. Not surprisingly, former Xavier standout Mark Lyons — now at Arizona — topped the list, but not far behind Lyons was Iowa State forward Will Clyburn (#4), who averaged 17.1 PPG and 7.8 RPG for Utah two seasons ago, both team highs. Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg seems to love Clyburn, another solid transfer to venture to Ames the last few years. The Cyclones were represented again with former Michigan State guard Korie Lucious coming in at No. 17. Big 12 newcomer West Virginia had two players on the list as well, center Aaric Murray (#5) and point guard Juwan Staten (#13). Oklahoma junior forward Amath M’Baye was the fifth Big 12 player on the list (#23), and was recently named a team captain.

1. John Beilein is in his 35^th year of coaching, but he’s nowhere close to ending his career. In fact, this might be the most talented team he has had in his long coaching career, and especially during his tenure at Michigan. At age 59, Beilein is still going strong, and he plans to be around for awhile, writes Nick Baumgardner for AnnArbor.com. As the article points out, Beilein stays young by using Twitter, listening to new music, and waking up early. Beilein better be ready for a youth movement, as his Wolverines are very young in addition to being very talented.
2. Last year, Draymond Green was the clear leader of the Michigan State basketball team. He broke out to have an All-American season and was a captain as a senior for the Spartans. This year, a young MSU team is short on leadership, meaning others will have to step up to fill Green’s void. Enter Keith Appling. The junior point guard wasn’t much of a leader last year, but this year, coach Tom Izzo said, “He’s a hell of a lot closer than he was.” Appling said he has become more mature this year, and although he wasn’t voted as a captain, he still plans to be the leader that his team needs. MSU will also need him to step up his game on the court if the Spartans want to win the Big Ten once again.
3. ESPN.com has a great wrap-up of Big Ten Media Day, with stories about Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Michigan in addition to the best quotes of the day. Some of the most interesting quotes came from what is perhaps the most interesting team: the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is considered one of the league’s sleepers, and coach Fran McCaffery said that his Hawkeyes should embrace that role. In fact, the team’s media guide had “on the rise” written on its cover. McCaffery knows that last year was an improvement, but he’s not going to settle there. Preseason expectations are high for Iowa this year — especially for a team that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2006 — but that’s the way McCaffery wants it.
4. Not many teams in the country can lose an All-American and a top outside shooter and still be ranked No. 4 in the following year’s preseason poll, but not many teams recruit like Ohio State. The Buckeyes must replace Jared Sullinger from last year, and while most people expect Deshaun Thomas to shoulder the load, the Buckeyes will also need some other big men to step up. That means an inexperienced player will have to progress, but OSU’s inexperience also comes with a lot of talent. Former McDonald’s All-American Amir Williams, a sophomore, is expected to help pick up some of the slack after Sullinger’s departure. He’ll be aided by senior Evan Ravenel and sophomore Trey McDonald. Even without Sullinger, the Buckeyes will still have a very talented frontcourt. Now, they must make sure they can consistently compete with the top teams in the league.
5. New Illinois head man John Groce has yet to coach a game in the Big Ten, but he already has the attention of Michigan’s John Beilein. Groce coached for Ohio last year and upset Beilein’s Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament, taking the Bobcats all the way to the Sweet Sixteen. Nevermind that Michigan is picked to finish well ahead of Illinois in the Big Ten, Beilein certainly won’t be taking the Illini for granted this year with the talent that Groce inherits. Beilein said Ohio did a good job of matching up against his Wolverines and he can envision Groce doing the same thing with the personnel currently in Champaign. So even though, as of now, Beilein looks far more likely than Groce to be successful come March, Beilein knows that a win against the Illini this season is far from a guarantee.

Thursday became a huge day in the world of recruiting when top Class of 2014 prospect Andrew Wiggins decided to reclassify to the Class of 2013, essentially moving all of his college recruiting visits and commitment to a lucky college to next spring. This decision allows Wiggins to leapfrog current undecided recruit Jabari Parker to take over the #1 spot as the top recruit in this year’s senior class. Wiggins is currently in the process of taking the necessary classes and filing the paperwork to finalize his transition.

Wiggins is considered by some to be the best high school player since LeBron James (Getty Images)

Wiggins, a native of Thornhill, Ontario (Canada), chose to finish his amateur basketball career at Huntington (WV) Prep, a ‘basketball academy’ known for producing great basketball players from across the globe, including current collegiate star Gorgui Dieng (Louisville), but also former athletes of the coaching staff including current Dallas Mavericks guard O.J. Mayo, Houston Rockets forward Patrick Patterson, New York Knicks guard Bill Walker, West Virginia forward Deniz Kilicli, and current Virginia Tech football player Logan Thomas. Xavier Rathan-Mayes, the 25th best player in the 2013 class and Wiggins’ teammate, recently chose to attend Florida State.

What makes Andrew Wiggins’ so spectacular? Some media members familiar with his talents have heralded him as the “best high school player since LeBron James.” The consensus is that Wiggins’ skill set is dominant in almost every category — scoring, slashing to the rim, rebounding, passing, and defense — all with the same tenacity and passion demonstrated by James throughout his time in high school and in the NBA.

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