For the moment, pardon my indulgence.

Never been the biggest fan of Big Ten basketball. Whether it was downplaying Illinois' remarkable 2004-05 season, ignoring Michigan State's chances to beat Duke in the 2005 NCAA Tournament or bemoaning the ACC-Big Ten Challenge each season (win some games, then!), the league has never appealed to me.

Even last season, I couldn't embrace Ohio State despite the mountain of evidence that was Greg Oden, Mike Conley and a damn fine Buckeye team.

Part of it is because every now and then, the Big Ten does lay a huge egg when it counts. Part of it is a lingering belief that Big Ten basketball is ugly, slow and boring (OK, there's no disputing the slow). And part of it is my wish that the Big 12 could have the Big Ten's NCAA Tournament success.

But the overwhelming lesson is, despite your hoops beliefs, don't mess with Big Ten hoops. The league will surprise you.

Which brings me to this season. I'll buy Indiana as a Final Four contender. Liked the Hoosiers a lot last season (probably too much; for that I blame my love of D.J. White) and they should be better this season since scoring shouldn't be an issue with freshman Eric Gordon and juco transfer Jamarcus Ellis.

It's Michigan State that gives me pause. The Spartans and Hoosiers are expected to be the crop of the Big Ten this season, followed by Ohio State, according to the league's coaches.

(Ask Michigan State who the better team is, it points to Indiana. Ask Indiana, its Michigan State. Gotta love the safe talk.)

Yet, it's that nagging Big Ten feeling all over again despite evidence to contrary. Michigan State returns all five starters from a 23-12 team and Drew Neitzel is slated to be the player of year. Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson says that experience will make the Spartans good from Day 1, while his Hoosiers could struggle at the start.

That may be true, but it still doesn't help me embrace the Spartans as a possible Final Four team. Big Ten champs? Sure. But they don't seem explosive enough or as tough as Tom Izzo's previous Final Four teams, which usually had both.

It may the old doubts surfacing, but I think they'll need more than Neitzel and some experienced role players. Neitzel won't be able to carry the scoring load by himself and that leaves a lot to Raymar Morgan, Goran Sutton and Marquise Gray.

Indiana, on the other hand, has a potentially transcendent player in Gordon and just as good of a supporting cast. The Hoosiers could be one of those March teams no one wants to play.

(Then again, they could depend too much on Gordon and suffer an early exit like Kevin Durant and Texas last season. It always depends on the seed and region.)

Admitting the Big Ten has a Final Four team before the season may not count as a huge change, but it's significant for a former hater like me. I may not be able to embrace the conference as a whole yet, but it's not far away.

The NCAA wants its coaches to be better behaved on benches this season. Unsportsmanlike action (i.e. cussing) will result in a technical without warning. The rule has always been in place, but it's been "interpreted in various ways" and this is supposed to streamline any decision making refs have to do.

Needless to say, it hasn't sat well with the game's more vocal coaches.

UConn's Jim Calhoun, one of the more colorful sideline coaches, told reporters at Big East media day "90 percent of what I say during a game is to my players."

Furthermore, he doesn't want the game to lose any of its spontaneity because coaches are concerned about how their actions may be interpreted.

(The NCAA also wants to cut down on excessively using gestures. Objectionable conduct is actually quite a long list, according to the NCAA: Disrespectfully addressing an official; attempting to influence an official's decision; using profanity or language that is abusive, vulgar or obscene; taunting or baiting an opponent; objecting to an official's decision by rising from the bench or excessively using gestures that either demonstrate officiating signals or displeasure with officiating; inciting undesirable crowd reactions; and entering the playing court unless done with permission of an official to attend to an injured player. It's important to note that a coach could always receive a "T" for this stuff, but there's going to be less tolerance for it from now on.)

Bob Huggins and Tom Crean also voiced their concerns, and Cincinnati's Mick Cronin said his assistant coaches would be busy grabbing him to prevent any technicals.

Crean says one of the "great things about this league is the personality of the coaches." That isn't limited to the Big East, either. The ACC has two of the most animated coaches (to put it mildly) in Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Maryland's Gary Williams and the Big Ten's Tom Izzo and Indiana's Kelvin Sampson can both be seen stalking the sideline.

And of course, there's Bob Knight.

Krzyzewski says the rule is probably overblown because most coaches don't go crazy on the sideline. Williams wants to know why it'll be enforced this season when "there was no outcry last year that coaches were out of control."

All of which are valid points.

As fewer and fewer college basketball stars stay in college for three or four seasons, the game is dominated by its high-profile coaches more than ever before. Putting limits on those coaches -- whether it's limiting what they can say or how they interact with their players on the court -- can hurt the game because it's dictating how one directs and instructs its team during the game.

After all, not every coach is the same. For every mild-mannered coach who doesn't routinely use four-letter words, there is one who does. And it's wrong to dictate how that coach goes about coaching his team.

Instead, the rule puts an emphasis on referees. And as any NBA fan can tell you, it's always a bad sign when the refs become a focal point of the game or determine the outcome (poor officiating is bad enough without having to police the sideline.)

For more, check out ESPN's Jay Bilas' blog on the subject, which goes over the rule in more detail.

And if you want to read the perfect lede on bench decorum, read this editorial from the Iowa State Daily. We've all been there, Andy. &*%$^!# hackers!

Need your fill of college hoops news? Of course you do…

"North Carolina and the rest of us," seems a little overdone, but Clemson coach Oliver Purnell isn't far off. The Tar Heels, who return four starters and are msnbc.com's pick to win the men's NCAA Tournament, are the unanimous media selection to win the ACC Conference. UNC shared the regular-season crown with Virginia last season and won conference tournament, too. The rest of the ACC – Duke, N.C. State, Clemson, among others – won't roll over, though.

Who thought they'd see the day when big-time recruits turned down Duke and North Carolina?

If UCLA is this physical in practice, how will the Bruins be against opponents? I can't be the only one who wishes Ben Howland's team would play a little less physical (read: non-stop hand checking and fouling) for the good of an enjoyable game. But hey, if it gets you to back-to-back Final Fours, I guess you stick with it…

Taj Gibson had to do it all inside for USC last season. Not so this year? Gibson would like to think so.

It's a sad day for the media when Joey Dorsey is focused on playing basketball and not trash talking. Good for the Tigers, though. That meeting against Greg Oden and Ohio State will probably be on his mind all season.

Billy Gillispie told a Kentucky crowd that the 'Cats' schedule is "absolutely ridiculous." He later said he was joking, but it seems Gillispie is concerned about how his young team will play against non-conference foes like North Carolina, Indiana, Louisville and at Houston. He wouldn't confirm a radio report that Kentucky wanted to remove the Houston game from the schedule, though. I wouldn't blame Gillispie for trying, either. The Cougars won't be a pushover at home.

We knew exactly what Florida had last season – the best starting five in college hoops. Billy Donovan's new task? Finding the right mix to replace that starting five (and super sub Chris Richard) with one of the top recruiting classes in the nation and junior guard Walter Hodge. That could mean playing more guard-oriented lineups.

UConn missed the NVAA Tournament for the first time in forever last season (actually 2001, it just seemed like forever). Jim Calhoun's team could play defense, it just couldn't score. The Huskies have to push the pace more this season, which could bode well for junior guard Craig Austrie, provided the offseason work pays off.

As a guy who never liked Aaron Gray, I'm all for Pittsburgh using a 6-7 starting center. It'll make it easier those guards and Sam Young to run.

Some good news for Kansas: Brandon Rush has been cleared to practice full speed, but no contact yet. Still unlikely to play earlier than Dec. 1, though.

Everyone's got an opinion when it comes to who's No. 1 in men's basketball. And it's one of those season when it doesn't look like there's going to be a consensus.

But after a season where Florida rolled to its second-straight NCAA Tournament title, a little variety at the top will be refreshing.

Our preseason Top 25 is available here. Ken Davis has tabbed North Carolina (the 2005 champs in one of those season where most everyone picked the Heels to win before everything started), as the team to beat, followed by UCLA, Louisville and Memphis. Not bad.

(If you disagree, cast your vote here and check in here to see what our readers think of the Heels' chances during the season.)

And, because it's still two weeks before the polls come out, not everyone has tabbed their champion yet. FOX Sports' Jeff Goodman rolled out No. 23 in their season preview on Saturday. CHN is doing the same thing, though UCLA was No. 1 in its preseason top 50 that was published in June.

But ESPN's Jay Bilas also likes UNC, as does SI.com's Luke Winn, who places the Heels atop their power rankings. CBS Sports.com's Gary Parrish, however, likes Memphis.

Sporting News writer Mike DeCourcy thinks it's UCLA, after back-to-back Final Fours, are ready to cut down the nets, mostly because of fab freshman Kevin Love.

Me? I'm still working my way through all the season preview material (including at Basketball Prospectus, which has two of my favorite tempo-free writers -- Ken Pomeroy and John Gasaway -- doing the previews) and will probably settle on a favorite later next week.

Kansas could be the 1, but that's just the fan in me talking. For now.

The legend, John Wooden, turned 97 years old Sunday. Happy belated birthday, coach.

Oddly enough, one of the biggest celebrations didn't come in Los Angeles, where Wooden lives and rose to basketball idol status by guiding UCLA to 10 NCAA Tournament titles in the 1960s and 70s, but in his native Indiana.

Gov. Mitch Daniels issued a proclamation that makes Wooden's birthday a celebration statewide, which was the second time Daniels has done so. The coach also may have a stretch of Indiana highway named after him. Not a bad Hoosier state honor for a coach not named Bobby Knight.

That piece of road, from Centerton to Martinsville, is a nine-mile stretch that starts near the farm where Wooden grew up. It might not be officially renamed until the spring, but it's still a nice tribute to go with the court the Bruins play on and a post office in Reseda, Calif.

But none of that is as great as this column from the Los Angeles Times' Bill Dwyre, who interviewed some of Wooden's former Bruins for their thoughts on their coach.

My favorites? Gail Goodrich, who starred on Wooden's first title team and went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, says that when he once made a behind-the-back pass, Wooden lit into him. Sort of.

"In the locker room, he went off on me, but as only he can do," Goodrich told Dwyre. "He never cursed, but when he started out with his 'Goodness gracious sakes alive,' I knew I was in big trouble."

Goodness gracious sakes alive is now my go-to phrase. Much nicer than dropping four-letter words.

Bill Walton, a legendary Wooden endorser, offers up this gem:

"When Shaq was getting to be a star big man," Walton told Dwyre, "they made a commercial and brought other big centers in for the shoot. I was there and Kareem and several others and Wilt. They also had Coach Wooden, as part of it, sitting in a director's chair. So Wilt, always dominating everything, gets us all together and he says to Coach Wooden, 'Johnny -- always called him Johnny -- so, look around you, you're the coach. Who gets to start?'

"Wooden doesn't even hesitate. He says to Wilt, 'Which one of you won three NCAA titles?' Then he looks at Kareem."

As a Kansas graduate -- albeit 50 years after Chamberlain was a Jayhawk -- that bit makes me laugh. Not many people could've said that to Wilt.

However, through all of that, the most interesting comment came from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who illustrated a late-game coaching move from Wooden that would've been dissected again and again on SportsCenter today.

"My sophomore year, we were playing Colorado State," Abdul-Jabbar told Dwyre. "It's at Pauley, but it is close. At a timeout, late in the second half, his instructions were surprising, contrary to logic, contrary to something I thought we should be doing. They had the ball and I was looking for defensive instructions, how to stop them this time down. Instead, he told us to foul one of their guards as soon as he got across half court. They were in the one-and-one, so that really didn't make sense to me.

"But we did as we were told, and the guy missed the front end of the one-and-one. We got the rebound, went down and scored and the game was over.

"Never again did I question him."

That was in Dec. 1966, when UCLA beat Colorado State 84-74. It wasn't close, but Wooden, if Abdul-Jabbar's recollection is correct, knew the Bruins would fare better by not playing defense and instead exploiting an opponent's weakness, in this case, free-throw shooting.

It's similar to the strategy some coaches employ today to preserve leads late in games. (To be clear, it usually involves a coach not wanting the opponent to hit a game-tying three-pointer when they could be shooting two free throws instead. Debate rages about this every March when a team, like Ohio State vs. Xavier in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, forces OT on a late 3.)

But that's Wooden. He was ahead of his time.

Midnight Madness has gone the way of the summer movie. It used to be a simple thing with skits and a scrimmage. Now it takes fancy cars, fireworks and a bit of panache.

Then again, considering how much I enjoyed The Bourne Identity and Transformers, a bigger show isn't all that bad -- especially when I think of just how excruciating Midnight Madness could be. Hanging around in the gym on a Friday night just to see an exaggerated scrimmage? Ugh. Fans could use a little entertainment.

Enter the Jerry Bruckheimer version of Midnight Madness.

That would be Maryland coach Gary Williams showing up at the Comcast Center in a yellow Lamborghini, getting out with to shooting flames and "his traditional fist pump as the Shop Boyz hip-hop beat "Party Like a Rock Star" thumped in the background."

Or it's the Kansas Jayhawks arriving at Allen Fieldhouse in a "Corvette, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, BMW, Hummer, Avalanche and stretch limousine," to say nothing of an appearance by a "Survivor" winner.

What about success-starved Minnesota fans showering new coach Tubby Smith with cheers while Dickie V offers up a larger-than-life video tribute? When it comes to wowing fans, go to those absurd lengths.

Of course, some schools went old school, trotting out the new, high-flying freshmen. In Memphis' case, that's probably the right call. Derrick Rose is going to amaze people this season. Same deal in Indiana, where fans were more than ready for "Er-ic Gor-don, Er-ic Gor-don."

(None of this applies if you're the two-time defending champs. At this point, Florida sets its own tone.)

Other schools had to make a tougher transition. New Wake Forest coach Dino Gaudio will try to help the program recover after the death of popular coach Skip Prosser in the offseason. As one might expect, Prosser's memory will loom over the school for some time. "We're going to do everything we can to show Coach Prosser that he definitely is not going to be forgotten," forward L.D. Williams told the AP.

Then again, no other school was more amped for Midnight Madness than Kentucky, where the Billy Gillispie era officially began. How amped? A crowd of "23,313 treated the new coach to a 30-second standing ovation." (The Rupp crowd got a Bruckheimer-esque show of their own, with pyrotechnics and a rappelling mascot.)

As John Clay from the Herald-Leader writes, this day was a long time coming.

"After a summer of speculation and scuttlebutt, Big Blue Nation wants to see with its own eyes, make its own judgments on style of play, and evaluations of talent, philosophy and approach. They want mysteries solved."

And really, that's what Midnight Madness is all about. Even in the new blockbuster style.