In-Season Tournaments

#4 Kansas at #24 USC

#8 Texas at #1 UCLA

#9 Texas A&M at Arizona

Other

Yes - The ACC needs better competition

No - The ACC is better, but there's still good games

Miami (OH)

Mississippi State

Southern Illinois

USC

George Mason

#20 Kansas State

NC State

Penn State

#19 Villanova

Other (Rider, South Carolina, UCF)

For the second year, ESPN and the MAAC will put on the Old Spice Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. Last season’s tournament, won by Arkansas, was a competitive event that featured five teams who eventually played in the postseason. Will this year’s group of eight yield the same success? The answer to that question won’t be known until March, but this year’s field does have something that last year’s didn’t: one of the nation’s best freshmen. His name: Michael Beasley of Kansas State. But to focus solely on Beasley would be unfair

Ohio State

#21 Syracuse

#15 Texas A&M

Washington

Duke

Illinois

LSU

Marquette

Oklahoma State

Other (Arizona St, Chaminade, Princeton)

As usual, the 2007-08 college basketball season will kick off with a slate of early season, made for-TV tournaments, and once again one of the best among them will be the EA Sports Maui Invitational.

Five of this year’s eight team field have been to the Final Four in the last four years: Marquette (2003), Duke and Oklahoma State (2004), Illinois (2005) and LSU (2006). Two of them (Duke and Marquette) will begin their new campaign ranked in the Top 10 nationally.

Things change quickly in college basketball.  What was a dirty word in March – NIT – is now a positive.  For teams on the bubble last March, the prospect of playing in the NIT instead of the NCAA tournament was hard to stomach.  However, now that it is November, playing in the NIT – the Dick’s Sporting Good NIT Season Tip-Off – is a welcome experience.