ESPN Men's Basketball

This Saturday promised one of the best wall-to-wall slates of college hoops fixtures thus far this season, and the afternoon action didn't disappoint. In fact, it just about blew my mind. Let's take a comprehensive look at what we learned from said afternoon action, shall we? (Check back late tonight for a recap of the evening action.)

Florida State 76, No. 4 Duke 73
What we learned: How cool is Leonard Hamilton? Bad charge call? He just smiles. Another bad, potentially crucial, game-deciding charge call? A smile and a wink. A buzzer-beating 3 to upset No. 4 Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium -- the same 3 that sent FSU's bench into a joyous on-court scrum? A quick nod. A walk to midcourt. A handshake. No big deal, right?

Hamilton isn't the celebratory type; he's as steady a presence as there is in college hoops. But what his team did Saturday -- just a week after it blew the doors off against North Carolina at home -- was worth much more than the cucumber-cool reaction Hamilton offered. This was a massive, season-changing win for the Florida State Seminoles.

There were plenty of opportunities to fade away. Midway through the second half, Ryan Kelly hit two 3s and a fast-break dunk to extend Duke's lead to 58-50, its widest margin of the afternoon. The crowd was rocking. FSU's shots weren't falling. It appeared Duke would do what Duke does: Gather itself, extend a lead, and ride out another ho-hum ACC home victory. Instead, the Seminoles kept battling. Within a minute, they had closed the eight-point lead to just five, and by the time the game reached its crucial moments -- the final minute -- FSU pulled just ahead at 71-70.

Things stayed tight all the way through. Kelly received the benefit of the doubt on a pretty clear charge with 20 seconds left and Duke guard Austin Rivers made a great move to the rim to tie the game at 73 with just 6 seconds remaining. But FSU guard Luke Loucks, calm as his head coach, advanced the ball to guard Michael Snaer in time for Snaer's buzzer-beating, game-winning 3 just a few feet in front of the visitors bench. That's when the ecstasy, apparently shared by all but Hamilton, commenced.

So what did we learn? We learned that the Noles are indeed very real. Are they as good as their 33-point blowout over UNC? Of course not. But they're good enough -- strong enough, defensive enough, big enough, tough enough -- to present matchup problems for some of the best teams in the country, even on those teams' home floors. Before the season, we thought Florida State was the third-best team in the ACC. After losses to Harvard and Princeton and a wipeout at Clemson, that projection looked wildly optimistic. Now, it almost feels cautious. If the Seminoles play like this the rest of the way, they're definitely better than that.

No. 5 Missouri 89, No. 3 Baylor 88
What we learned: This one-point deficit was reached thanks to a meaningless last-second 3 from Baylor's Brady Heslip, and so the score line belies the real takeaway from this Tigers road win: Missouri is no illusion. No. This team is just flat good.

Can any other conclusion be reached? Consider the accomplishment here: The Tigers went on the road against the No. 3 team in the country, one with as much size and athletic interior talent as any of the nation's contenders -- a quality supposedly anathema to Mizzou's very essence -- and scored 1.24 points per possession in a win that required a first-half battle, a second-half push and a late survival of an inevitable Baylor run. The Tigers are simply relentless on the offensive end, attacking the tiniest of defensive gaps with more speed than any other backcourt in the country.

If you were wondering why Missouri forward Ricardo Ratliffe is so handily dominating competition this season -- leading the nation in field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage by a huge margin to date -- you received your answer today. Ratliffe cuts and spaces in the middle of the paint as well as any forward in the country. He's a tireless, opportunistic offensive rebounder with great hands and lightning-quick feet. And more often than not, Missouri's guards -- particularly Phil Pressey, who was brilliant in Waco -- break down the defense, ruin its rotation and find Ratliffe for easy finishes around the rim. His line Saturday, against all that long, NBA-worthy Baylor talent: 27 points on 11-of-14 from the field (see?), 8 rebounds (6 offensive) and 2 blocks. He was, per the usual, brilliant. Meanwhile, Pressey finished with 18 points and 7 assists, 6 steals and 5 rebounds. Can't understate his total impact on the game.

There are concerns for Baylor going forward. Perry Jones III continues to live up to the occasionally unfair "soft" label; when you're a 6-foot-11 lottery pick, and the opposing team had only two contributors bigger than 6-6, 8 points and 4 rebounds just doesn't cut it. The Bears, despite their clear size advantage, allowed the Tigers to rebound 48.3 percent of their misses on the offensive end; per Ken Pomeroy's rankings, Baylor is the 220th-best team in the nation on its defensive glass. When you can run a front line of Jones, Quincy Acy and Quincy Miller (who turned in a stellar scoring performance today, it should be noted), why are you getting so consistently and comprehensively outworked on the boards?

Still, let's give the Tigers a huge amount of credit. When Missouri were blown out at Kansas State, the concerns about this team's size were seemingly validated. Sure, Mizzou played well in the nonconference. Sure, the shots were falling. Sure, Ratliffe was on a tear. But could Frank Haith's team really keep it up in conference play? Weren't the Tigers, among any team with an undefeated nonconference record, the most likely to fade into Big 12 mediocrity? The answer, as we now know, is a resounding no. Small? Sure. Guard-oriented? You bet. This team is what it is. What you see is what you get. And what you get is one of the best offensive -- check, that, one of the best, period -- teams in the nation, bar none. Great win.

West Virginia 77, Cincinnati 74 (OT)
What we learned: If you haven't seen Kevin Jones play lately, you're missing the Big East Player of the Year to date -- and a legitimate national POY contender, too. Frankly, you might not recognize him. Jones, who struggled to adapt to a star role last season, has emerged as all that and more in 2011-12. This form was again on display today, especially late in regulation, when Jones hit a massive go-ahead 3 to help WVU push Cincinnati to overtime, where the Mountaineers outlasted the Bearcats for a massive home win. Jones finished with 26 points on 11-of-15 from the field, hitting both of his 3-point attempts and grabbing 13 rebounds in the process. Like I said: If that's not the Big East Player of the Year thus far, I don't know who is.

In the meantime, despite the loss -- and a truly questionable layup attempt by Dion Dixon, when the Bearcats needed a 3 to tie -- Cincinnati can come away from this game looking pretty good. Just a few days after beating UConn on the road, it faced down a star-led squad on its brutal home court and very nearly, but for a few late errors and big plays by West Virginia, came away with a win. If you thought Cincinnati was the second-best team in the league after the win over the Huskies, you might still feel that way now.

Tennessee 60, No. 11 Connecticut 57
What we learned: The Huskies can't stop the slide. Saturday's loss at Tennessee marks UConn's fourth loss in its past six games, and was again emblematic of the woes facing this team: disjointed offense, a willingness to take bad shots, lack of leadership in tough situations, interior play far below the sum of its insanely talented parts. We knew Cuonzo Martin's Tennessee squad would come out and play hard in Knoxville. Even when the Volunteers have been bad this season (which has been often: This win moves them to a mere 9-10 overall), they've played with a blue-collar, let's-work-hard spirit preached constantly by their first-year head coach. Today it paid off.

But Connecticut deserves much of the blame here, too. Andre Drummond and Alex Oriakhi should be dominating undermanned frontcourts like UT's. Instead, they combined for 11 points and were obviously outplayed by freshman Jarnell Stokes, who posted a double-double in his third career game. The same Stokes who was a 17-year-old kid in high school last month. Great win for the Vols, of course, but the postgame questions will be all about UConn. As of Jan. 21, this team -- so talented, so promising, so mystifyingly mediocre -- still has miles to go before it can be considered a Big East contender, let alone one with national title aspirations.

No. 2 Kentucky 77, Alabama 71
What we learned: There are no moral victories in college hoops. Alabama coach Anthony Grant will be eager to share that rather cliché bit of information with his team following Saturday's loss at Kentucky. And it's true -- a win is a win, a loss is a loss, and minimal nuance is allowed to color those stark W's and L's at the end of the season. Still, in the final moments of Bama's impressive Saturday road stand, against the No. 2 team in the country and a program that has won its past 47 road games, the longest active streak in Division I, the only thought that occurred to this viewer was: "Well, no matter whether they win or lose, this was a great game for Alabama."

It was. The Crimson Tide are in the midst of a three-games-in-eight-days scheduling bump, one that put them on the road at Mississippi State (loss), at home against Vanderbilt (loss, and an ugly one at that) and then, mercilessly, on the road at Kentucky. Yet Alabama never quit coming at the typically impressive Wildcats. Even when struggling forward Tony Mitchell fouled out with five minutes remaining, the Tide kept getting scores and free throws and good looks, pushing the game and preventing UK from ever finishing in comfort.

In the end, Anthony Davis' freakish interior defense saved Kentucky's day; the last of his four blocks came with 7 seconds left to preserve a four-point lead, and thus the expected result was achieved. But give Alabama credit: That was a gutsy, tough road performance. This team seemed easy to write off over much of the past two months, but if Saturday's performance was any indication, it will be a worthy competitor in the coming SEC stretch run.

Dayton 87, Xavier 72
What we learned: The Flyers have come a long way since Nov. 30. That's when this team lost 84-55 to Buffalo at home, three days after winning the Old Spice Classic title game over Minnesota. Four days later, Dayton was blown out at Murray State. At that point, first-year coach Archie Miller appeared to have a sincere rebuilding project on his hands. Nearly two months later, the Flyers are, well, flying. This 15-point home win over putative Atlantic 10 favorite Xavier puts them at 4-1 in A-10 play, another excellent addition to a résumé that includes victories over Alabama, Saint Louis and, most recently, a strong 10-point win at Temple. By now, Dayton isn't a rebuild. It isn't a neat little story. It's a legitimate A-10 contender with an easy case to make for an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament. Who saw that one coming?

In the meantime, Xavier's off-and-on struggles -- which appeared to abate with a four-game winning streak in A-10 play -- reared their ugly head again. The Musketeers were mediocre on offense and downright bad on defense, allowing 87 points in 65 possessions, or 1.33 points per trip. Sometimes it's ugly offense, sometimes it's lenient defense, but in either case, it's clear Chris Mack's team hasn't put its midseason slide entirely in the rearview.

Some other observations from Saturday afternoon's selections:

• I didn't get to see all of Kansas' tough 69-66 road win at Texas, but the portions I did see lent some solid eyeball observations to my current theory on Texas: The Longhorns have plenty of holes, particularly in their frontcourt, but they're much better than most people seem to think. To wit, the Longhorns entered Saturday ranked No. 24 in Ken Pomeroy's adjusted efficiency rankings. They're solid on the offensive glass, good at getting to the free throw line, and while they don't play vintage Rick Barnes defense, they keep games close enough to give lights-out scorer J'Covan Brown chances to go win the game late. He had one such chance Saturday, and it missed, but the lesson was well-taken: Texas will give superior teams fits from here on out. Don't say you weren't warned. (And how 'bout Tyshawn Taylor's continued torrid pace with 22 points and ZERO turnovers? What a three-game stretch.)
• Playing Kentucky's brutal Davis-led defense must have a way of making other defenses feel wide open. That appeared to be the case in Fayetteville today, where the Arkansas Razorbacks -- fresh off a loss to the Wildcats this week -- made their first 11 shots and went 80 percent from the field in the first half against Michigan. Early in the second half, the score was 49-33 Arkansas, and a blowout appeared to be in the works. But the shooting slowed down, Michigan made its comeback, and the Razorbacks narrowly avoided a late loss when Wolverines guard Trey Burke's last-second 3 missed. Bad second half, but a nonetheless solid win for freshman B.J. Young and the rest of Mike Anderson's young team. And what a day for the SEC, eh?
• Purdue had the toughest task of any team in the country Saturday afternoon: The Boilermakers had to fight a Midwestern snowstorm that trapped them on their airport tarmac and prevented them from getting more than a few hours of sleep before the 12 p.m. ET tip. Predictably, Michigan State rolled. Purdue has serious issues on both ends of the floor, particularly with an offense that offers little but a barrage of outside shots. But it's hard to blame the Boilermakers too much for the lopsided 83-58 result.
• Yes, it's hard to win on the road. Yes, it's hard to win on the road in the Big East with a team comprised almost entirely of freshmen. But it's even harder to lose when your opponent shoots 3-of-24 in the first half, 12-of-41 for the game -- which ties Harvard for the season record for fewest field goals in a win -- and makes just three of its 14 3-point field goal attempts on the afternoon. And yet, that's exactly what Rutgers did Saturday, as Georgetown overcame a legendarily poor shooting performance (effective field goal percentage: 33.8) to rally for a late win. Hoyas freshman Otto Porter continued his stellar freshman campaign, scoring Georgetown's final six points and nailing the winning free throws with just 8 seconds remaining. Georgetown fans won't necessarily be pleased with this one, but when you shoot this poorly and still get a win, and thanks to a steady freshman to boot, there's encouraging stuff in there somewhere.
• Maryland will eagerly await to hear the status of freshman center Alex Len, who left the Terps' 73-60 loss to Temple at the Palestra with an ankle injury. Len has helped lead a quiet stretch of solid play from the Terps. With him, this team can compete in the ACC. Without him, well, it's not looking good.
• Poor Boston College. The Eagles showed signs of improvement in two early ACC wins over Clemson and Virginia Tech, but Steve Donahue's team returned to early-season form Saturday, which is a way of saying it got beat soundly at home by another very marginal team -- in this case, a 71-56 home loss to Wake Forest. Yeesh.
• What happened to Belmont? Everyone's favorite mid-major darling -- which returned the lion's share of personnel from last season's 30-5 campaign -- fell 79-78 at USC Upstate on Saturday, dropping to 13-7 overall and 6-2 in the Atlantic Sun to date. The other loss came at home to Lipscomb earlier this month, and all of a sudden the Bruins' expected A-Sun dominance looks entirely vulnerable. Strange times in the Volunteer State.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A few months before the start of the season, a poll in the Kansas City Star indicated that 78 percent of Missouri fans wanted first-year coach Frank Haith to be fired.

It might be time to take another vote.

Because if what happened at this week’s CBE Classic is any indication, the Tigers could be poised for one of their most successful seasons in recent memory. A lofty perch in the national rankings, a Big 12 championship and a deep run in the NCAA tournament ... all of it seemed possible as the final horn sounded in Missouri’s 92-53 title-game victory over 18th-ranked Cal at the Sprint Center.

“I’m surprised by that score,” Haith said.

And he certainly wasn’t alone.

Even with a veteran team that won 23 games last season, no one expected Haith’s imprint to be this visible this fast. Most programs that endure coaching changes take a step back before they take a step forward. In Columbia, though, the Tigers have pressed a button and taken off like the Millennium Falcon -- at light speed.

After this week it may be time to catapult the No. 21 Tigers into the top 10. They were that good.

“This is the best I’ve felt in my four years here, because this is the most selfless team I’ve played on,” said senior guard Kim English, who led Mizzou with 19 points. “We’re all buying into the process.”

That’s a credit to Haith, who wasn’t exactly greeted with flowers and candy by Missouri fans when he was hired in March to replace Mike Anderson. Haith led Miami to just one NCAA tournament berth in seven seasons. And in August, his name was linked to former Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, who allegedly provided impermissible benefits to a number of Hurricanes athletes, including at least one basketball player.

But none of those things -- or the loss of standout forward Laurence Bowers to an ACL injury -- has had an effect on Haith, whose Tigers appear to be in midseason form after just five games, which included an 87-58 beatdown of Notre Dame on Monday night.

“Things just clicked,” said Haith, whose team improved to 5-0. “We’ve got a veteran team with older guys, but it can go either way with older guys. They can be stubborn because they’ve been used to doing things a certain way for a long period of time. Or they can have the poise and understanding to buy in.

“Our guys have really bought in and shown great leadership.”

Indeed.

On offense, especially in the half-court, Missouri is operating with a plan and structure that seemed missing at times in past seasons. The Tigers are getting outstanding shots because they’re taking pride in making the extra pass, even if it means passing up a wide-open, 10-foot jumper for an assist to a teammate streaking toward the paint for an easy layup. Missouri shot 58.8 percent from the field Tuesday.

The Tigers are also using a menacing defense to generate points, which was a trademark under Anderson. Only now, instead of employing a full-court press for large chunks of the game, MU has stepped up its half-court defense. Any time an opponent coughs up the ball -- the Tigers scored 23 points off turnovers against Cal -- or misses a shot, the Tigers capitalize thanks to a four-guard lineup that beats everyone down the court for an easy bucket.

Not many teams in the country will boast as much speed and athleticism as Missouri, and there might not be any school that will have as many high-level ball-handlers on the court at the same time. The situation completely overwhelmed Notre Dame in the CBE semifinal. And against Cal ... well, at times it didn’t even seem fair.

And remember, this wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill Golden Bears squad. Mike Montgomery’s team entered Tuesday’s game with a national ranking and a reputation as the best team in the Pac-12.

“I’d be naive to think that’s going to happen every night,” Haith said of the lopsided score. “We just played really, really well.”

As good as things went this week in Kansas City, the Tigers are far from satisfied. They know one of their main weaknesses is a lack of size, with Ricardo Ratliffe and Steve Moore, who scored a career-high 10 points Tuesday, being the only true post players. Long, athletic teams could give Missouri more trouble than Notre Dame and Cal, who were physically overmatched.

Still, none of that seemed to matter as the Tigers paraded off the Sprint Center court carrying the CBE Classic championship trophy. Haith pumped his fist, fans dangled their hands over the railing for high-fives and players whooped and hollered as they trotted toward the tunnel to the locker room.

After a tumultuous offseason, things are looking good for Frank Haith and Mizzou.

Perhaps better than anyone -- even the Tigers themselves -- could’ve expected.

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Eventually the ball went up and two teams played basketball.

Missouri won. And won rather easily.

But it wasn’t just the players wearing the black and gold of the Tigers that won.

Missouri, the state, won.

The One State, One Spirit Classic delivered exactly what it promised -- it united a state for a common cause and brought two hours of levity to a community still reeling from the devastation of an F5 tornado.

Fans here support their local team, a program ranked fourth nationally in the Division II preseason rankings. But they also love the state school from up the road. Having Mizzou in town was a rare treat that only heightened how special the game was and the Tigers’ commitment to hosting it.

As Tigers coach Frank Haith joked, not many BCS schools were opening the season on the road against a Division II power.

Each person in the sellout crowd represented a donation, as did the T-shirts sold at the concessions and the commemorative chairs auctioned during the game. More than money, though, Missouri brought a welcome distraction for a community that is still clearing debris and rebuilding five months later. When Haith dreamed up this game, he did it with the attention of redirecting attention back to Joplin once the news trucks left and the next big story came along.

“Things happen, you forget and go on to the next devastation, so I wanted to know how could we bring the awareness back?’’ Haith said. “That’s what we wanted this game to do.’’

Of course, there was basketball too, a sneak peek at what Haith’s Missouri Tigers will be this season.

The answer? Small.

With Laurence Bowers on the bench on crutches, recuperating from a season-ending ACL tear, the Tigers have little choice but to use a small lineup. And at least on this night -- against a Division II school -- it worked well. The combination of the smaller lineup and the full-court press style leftover from Mike Anderson’s tenure made for a quick, free-flowing offensive team.

The caveat: Will it work well in the Big 12 or will the Tigers’ interior defense be exposed by bigger and tougher teams?

That, of course, is a to be determined.

Archie Goodwin is a highly touted recruit. He chose to play basketball at Kentucky. In and of itself, this is neither unusual nor controversial.

Arkansas fans might not agree. After all, Goodwin is the best recruit from his home state of Arkansas. Razorback basketball fans are entering a new era: Mike Anderson is back, a highly touted class is arriving this fall, and Nolan Richardson's old "40 Minutes of Hell" system is about to wake up the mid-90s echoes once more. (At least, that's the plan.) At the time of his commitment, ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep asked Goodwin what he would say to disappointed fans in his own neck of the woods. To Goodwin, picking UK was nothing more than good business:

"That's one thing that is the toughest," Goodwin said Wednesday. "Growing up here and with so many expectations to go there, it's been a lot of pressure. Arkansas is a great school and I love Coach [Mike] Anderson and his staff. I love my state, but it's a business decision and this is best for my career and my family."

You can see what Goodwin means; Kentucky coach John Calipari sends a prodigious quantity of players to the NBA seemingly every year. In terms of exposure and national title opportunities, UK was the much safer choice.

That doesn't mean Arkansas fans are all that pleased with the explanation -- and they've been informing Goodwin of their displeasure on Twitter. (Ah, Twitter, where you can pester a high school senior for reasons why he didn't choose to attend your preferred school. Technology sure is great!) Goodwin's response was likewise filtered through the tweet tubes:

Ill always rep ARK. I got it tatted on my chest!! But I had to do what i Had to do. Point Blank Period

Has that squashed the beef? Not quite. Though the folks at Arkansas Expats understand (they would), some of their commenters don't. And judging by some of Goodwin's Twitter work in recent days, it seems like Arkansas fans are still being a little too uproarious on the Internet.

Eventually, that will die down -- at least until Goodwin takes the court against his home state's beloved team. Until then, as Goodwin wrote Wednesday, it's "Shoulder shrugs To the haters" [sic].

Asked whether his team knew what they were in for, Mike Anderson laughed.

It wasn’t exactly maniacal or evil, but there certainly was a hint of mad scientist around the edges.

“I gave them a little sample when we got here with some workouts,’’ the first-year Arkansas coach said. “And then I told them there’s much more to come.’’

Gentlemen, start your sneakers.

In his first few months on the job, Anderson has managed to re-recruit John Pelphrey’s ninth-ranked class and weather the transfers of three players, including leading-scorer Rotnei Clarke.

Now for the truly hard part. If Anderson is going to do what fans are counting on -- namely return the Razorbacks to the glory days of Nolan Richardson -- he’s going to have to turn some tortoises into hares.

The Hogs ranked 122nd nationally in scoring last season, averaging a pedestrian 70.7 points per game. Anderson’s Missouri team sprinted in at ninth, pouring in 81.4 ppg.

As critical as the offseason has been for the Hogs' future, the preseason will be every bit as important. Yes, he has good players, but how will those players adapt to a style they weren’t necessarily recruited to play?

“People talk about my style of play but to me, it’s basketball,’’ Anderson said. “It’s fundamentals. I like to speed it up. I like guys who can make basketball plays. I think we have guys with potential here, but we have to see if we can put it together. That’s the big chore.’’

It would be a big chore anywhere but it will be especially tricky for Anderson at Arkansas. This man represents the best of times to Razorback fans, back when the Hogs were among the most feared programs in the country. He stood alongside Richardson for three Final Fours, two national championship game appearances and one memorable title in 1994.

Anderson’s hiring, greeted by giddy calls of "Whoo Pig Sooie," has brought new hope to a state that universally adores its college team like few others.

And so there is little room for growing pains or awkward pauses, not here where Anderson wants to win for the fans just as desperately as they want him to win.

“There’s hope again,’’ Anderson said. “But with that said, the fans here aren’t just looking forward to seeing a style of play that is exciting. They want to see a style of play that is winning basketball. You always feel a responsibility as a coach, but when you spend 17 years in a place, I think that’s even bigger.’’

Until now, Anderson has played good cop, spending time getting to know his players and sowing the seeds of trust he hopes will pay dividends on the court. It hasn’t all worked. After an awkward tug of war, Clarke finally received his release from Anderson and took his 15 points per game to Butler.

It’s certainly a blow to the new coach, who now has just two returners (Julysses Nobles and Marshawn Powell) with any significant experience to help out those talented freshmen. But Anderson was philosophical about the split.

“As a coach, you want the guys who are going to be committed with both feet in,’’ he said. “You can’t worry about what you don’t have.’’

Now it’s time for Anderson to take the gloves off. He admits to being "demanding," which is a little like calling Bill Belichick demanding.

But Anderson is also a realist. As much as he and the fans might crave success right now, he knows it can’t happen instantaneously.

“I think you have to develop as the season goes on,’’ he said. “These guys have to learn. I like guys who can make decisions and they can all do that. I just like my guys to make their decisions a little quicker.’’

On your mark …

Our friends at The Mag are previewing one high-profile school per day for their Summer Buzz series. For the sake of all that is synergistic, yours truly will be attempting the same, complementing each comprehensive Insider preview with some analytic fun. Today's subject: the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Arkansas got its man.

That kind of phrasing often is used when new hires are revealed to the public, and it can mean anything from "wow, good hire" to "well, at least it's over." In Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long's case, though, it means exactly what it says. No school with a vacant coaching position this spring did better than Arkansas; former Missouri coach Mike Anderson -- Nolan Richardon's right-hand man throughout the Razorback glory days -- was exactly what this program needed on and off the court.

On the court, Anderson religiously runs Richardson's famed "40 Minutes of Hell" system, a pressing, fast-breaking style that Arkansas fans will immediately remember from Richardon's hugely successful run in the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s. (Arkansas, as you might remember, went to the Final Four in 1990, won the national title in 1994 and returned to the national championship game in 1995.)

Off the court, Anderson represents the healing process Arkansas fans and their former coach Nolan Richardson -- who was dismissed in 2002 amid claims that he was being mistreated because he was black -- so desperately seemed to need. Anderson is a prodigal throwback to the Richardson years, a longtime disciple who set out from Fayetteville to forge his own path at UAB and Missouri, and who now returns as his own impressive coaching entity.

Arkansas fans might be the most underrated hoops heads in the country. Or maybe, after a decade of post-Richardson malaise, they're just the most dormant. However you want to look at it, they now have every reason -- strategic and symbolic -- to make the once-raucous Bud Walton Arena rock again. Does it get any better than that?

Actually, yes: The Razorbacks could win a few basketball games. Bridging the past with the future is nice, and it gives guys like me an easy way to ruminate on the state of fandom and all that, but symbolism doesn't put points on the board. Players do. Fortunately for Anderson, he just so happens to have a few.

Before Pelphrey was fired this spring, he did his outgoing program a solid, landing the No. 9-ranked recruiting haul in 2011. It was a desperately needed infusion of talent, and though it came too late for Pelphrey -- Long decided to dispense with his coach despite the recruits, always a tricky proposition -- it came at the perfect time for Anderson, who managed to keep all of its players in place despite the coaching transition. (One of those players, small forward prospect Aaron Ross, could not qualify academically to play in 2011-12 thanks to a shaky ACT score. Instead, he'll attend prep school and hopes to join the Hogs in 2012-13.)

Those players include the No. 4-ranked point guard in the class of 2011, B.J. Young, as well as No. 11-ranked shooting guard Ky Madden and No. 8-ranked power forward Hunter Mickleson. Given the talent drain in Fayetteville in recent seasons -- which was accelerated by guard Rotnei Clarke's decision to transfer to Butler and guard Jeff Peterson's defection to Florida State in June -- all three players are likely to start and/or play big minutes for Anderson immediately.

That's because there really isn't all that much talent left over. That's what you'd expect after an 18-13 season and a coaching change, of course, but still. Junior guard Julysses Nobles has one of the best names in college hoops; he also has the distinction of being the only Razorbacks' backcourt starter that didn't transfer this spring. He struggled in 2011, posting a 91.9 offensive rating thanks to meager shooting and an ugly turnover rate of 25.4. Arkansas' most frequently used player, Marshawn Powell, was a slightly above-average scorer in terms of efficiency, but his conversion ability left plenty of room for improvement in what will be his third year at the school in 2011-12.

No, Anderson will be relying on those touted freshmen right away. They're recruits, so there's no Ken Pomeroy data here, nor can we scout them using Synergy Sports data. What we do know is that Anderson will play fast, pressing basketball, that he'll rely on his guards to do the heavy lifting, and that those guards are likely to be Young and Madden. Of course, there are concerns to be had about any freshman entering Anderson's system. Can said freshman adjust to the intensity 40 Minutes of Hell requires? Can he master such the quirky system? Will he be able to handle the non-stop effort over 30-plus games?

Again, we don't know. But former Razorback Ronnie Brewer seems to think so. So that's good.

In all seriousness, we can project how Anderson's first Arkansas team will play. Uptempo, pressing, all that. But we can't come anywhere close to an accurate projection of how well they'll play. That will have much to do with the development of Nobles and Powell, but it will be determined by how well Young and Madden and Mickelson adjust to life under their new coach and his unusual system. At Missouri, Anderson's teams often seemed to outperform expectations, based on the talent available, so maybe a similar expectation applies here. Or maybe it'll take a year or two before this machine really starts humming.

Either way, Arkansas fans can feel optimistic again. Its school made a pitch-perfect hire. That hire retained talent the team so desperately needs. At some point, the Razorbacks will be back.

If it happens in 2011-12, great. If it doesn't, oh well. Bottom line? Hoops fans in Fayetteville have reason to cheer again. After all, they got their man.

President Bill Clinton and his family were in the stands that day to watch Arkansas advance to the Final Four.

Fab Five members Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose didn't know it at the time, but they were playing in their final game at Michigan before declaring for the NBA draft.

In a memorable NCAA tournament regional final game between Arkansas and Michigan in 1994, it was the Razorbacks who won and ended up going all the way for the national championship.

This season, the programs hoping to one day live up to their national championship legacies will meet in January after finalizing a home-and-home series. Michigan will go to Fayetteville this season in the middle of conference play, with Arkansas making the return trip to Ann Arbor the following year.

"This a great matchup between two storied programs," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said in a statement. "Coach John Beilein has done a very good job of elevating the Michigan program back to its championship status and this will be a great game to have at Bud Walton Arena. Michigan will probably be a top 25 team and one of the top teams in the Big Ten this year, so to have a game of that caliber will be great for us and our fans."

Anderson was an Arkansas assistant during the 1994 championship run and was brought in to rejuvenate a program that hasn't gone to the NCAA tournament since 2008. He'll bring his up-tempo style, and has now scheduled a game that should give fans a trip down memory lane.

It's also a rare game that Arkansas will get at home. According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Michigan will be the first Big Ten team to play on the UA campus since the last time Michigan visited Fayetteville, in 1981.

Michigan holds a 3-2 all-time series lead after beating Arkansas in the 1997 NIT semifinals.

But the Razorbacks still have bragging rights from 1994, and that will be remembered when the two teams meet again.

Firing a coach that just landed a top 10 recruiting class is a bold step.

NC State was uninterested in doing as much with Sidney Lowe last season, instead giving him a chance to coach the best recruiting class of his tenure, and we all know how that ended.

But you can understand the hesitance. Players play for coaches just as much, if not more, than they play for schools, and you can understand why committed, high-level recruits would have second thoughts upon learning their chosen coach won't be there when they arrive on campus.

That's why new Arkansas coach Mike Anderson's first priority upon arriving in Fayetteville, Ark. was simple: Anderson had to reach out to former coach John Pelphrey's No. 8-ranked recruiting class. He had to introduce himself, his program and his style. And he had to make sure all five members were still on board for their Razorbacks debuts this fall.

How is that process going? According to Anderson himself, quite well, in fact. From the AP:

Hunter Mickelson, Ky Madden and Aaron Ross are from Arkansas, B.J. Young is from Missouri, and Devonta Abron is from Texas. All five were recruited and signed by Pelphrey, and Anderson began traveling to visit with them on his first full day on the job. He traveled to Missouri and Texas twice to visit with Young and Abron and their families.

"Right now they're all on board," Anderson said. "So far, so good."

Young is the most important retention of any of those players; he's the No. 4-ranked point guard and the No. 15-ranked overall player in the class of 2011. More than anything, Anderson's uptempo style relies on guards that can score on the break, and that just so happens to be Young's specialty.

Still, locking down the whole class remains crucial. Without it, Anderson would find himself starting from scratch with players leftover from Pelphrey's unsuccessful tenure, and the rebuilding process would likely be delayed by at least one more year. There are some decent players in that group, especially leading scorer Rotnei Clarke, who asked for a scholarship release after Pelphrey's firing but before Anderson was hired. Anderson now expects Clarke and the rest of Arkansas's nine returning players to be back in 2011-12.

Throw in that recruiting class, and the wake-up-the-echoes vibe at Arkansas might come faster than anyone would have expected.

The month-long spring signing period began Wednesday, and new Arkansas coach Mike Anderson didn't have to do a thing.

He was done with recruiting for 2011, courtesy of former coach John Pelphrey.

That qualifies as exceedingly rare for a new coach taking over a program in the spring, but the Anderson hire was unique and so too is this Razorbacks' recruiting class.

Anderson coached at Arkansas as an assistant for 17 seasons under Nolan Richardson and was the interim coach when Richardson was forced out in 2002. He had to find his own way as a head coach, going to UAB then Missouri and becoming a regular in the NCAA tournament at each spot.

Anderson has a 200-98 career record, with six tourney appearances. He was at Arkansas when the Hogs won the national championship in 1994 and made two other Final Four trips in 1990 and 1995.

The recruiting class Pelphrey and his staff put together in the fall, ranked No. 8 in the country by ESPN, had nearly as strong a connection to the state as Anderson did to the school.

Three of the five recruits -- shooting guard Ky Madden (No. 11 SG), small forward Aaron Ross (No. 24 SF) and power forward Hunter Mickelson (No. 8 PF) -- are from Arkansas, and each is ranked in top 25 of his position. The other two recruits -- point guard B.J. Young of neighboring Missouri and power forward Devonte Abron of neighboring Texas -- had already been recruited by Anderson while he was at Mizzou, so that made it easier for him to secure their commitments. Like the Arkansas threesome, Young (No. 4 PG) and Abron (No. 33 PF) are ranked high at their respective positions.

According to at least once source with knowledge of the situation, there are two players in the class -- Ross and Young -- who still have to get eligible through the normal NCAA process. Assuming they do, Arkansas will have a stellar freshman class to build Anderson's base for the next few seasons.

"The top priority was to re-recruit these players," said Anderson. "These are five different players at five different positions. It was important to meet them and their families and let them know what I'm about."

Anderson said there was a natural transition of committed recruits when he took over at UAB and Missouri. Some didn't want to come. Others did. There were holes in the recruiting process that needed to be filled. It happens almost every time there is an opening.

"Timing is everything, and these guys are coming in ready to impact the program," Anderson said. "It was important for me to want these guys to remain here."

Anderson said there were a few elite players in the state, such as current Atlanta Hawks forward Joe Johnson, when he was an assistant to Richardson. But having three top-100 players is not the norm in the state.

"What this shows is the talent level in the state and how the high school coaches are doing an outstanding job," Anderson said. "It goes in cycles, but when I was here it was once every four or five years."

Anderson is fortunate. He doesn't have to spend April and early May trying to fill the roster for next season. He can concentrate on the current roster and implementing his style of play. That's what he was doing Tuesday in Fayetteville. Anderson said the current players on the roster, including leading scorer Rotnei Clarke, are all good to return.

"Lots of things are coming together," Anderson said. "We're going to put together a product that everyone can be proud of."

Anderson didn't have to go through a rough transition -- he slid seamlessly into the job. He has a top-10 recruiting class intact that he didn't sign, but you can bet he has embraced it for its talent and its connection to Arkansas.

Nothing is guaranteed, though. The new coach said he has to change the culture in the program, look for more accountability and of course get the Razorbacks to return to the "Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball," his version of Richardson's old "40 Minutes of Hell."

"Hopefully everyone will be ready for us to have an outstanding season," Anderson said. "We're trying to do everything right on and off the floor."

Former Missouri coach Mike Anderson has spent the past three offseasons in a constant will-he-or-won't-he limbo. Those days have officially come to a close.

On Wednesday, Anderson took what for him will almost certainly be the job-to-end-all-job offers: men's basketball coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks. For Anderson, the new job represents the culmination of a coaching lifetime. For Arkansas, it represents the hiring hybrid every once-storied program seeks to emulate: a return to glories past and a step into a new future.

Anderson was the right-hand man to legendary Razorbacks coach Nolan Richardson. It might be hard for fans to remember now -- I'm a relatively younger guy, and I barely recall that group of Hogs that won the 1994 national title -- but under Richardson, Arkansas was one of the premier hoops programs in the country. From 1988 to '95, Richardson won 200 games, and made three Final Fours and two national title appearances. He punctuated that success with the 1993-94 national championship team that irrevocably entered Richardson's frantic, pressing style -- famously dubbed "40 Minutes of Hell" -- into the college hoops lexicon.

Anderson was there from the beginning. He played for Richardson at Tulsa, and when he graduated in 1982, Richardson was quick to offer him a job as a volunteer assistant. Richardson took the Arkansas job that same year, and Anderson followed him, where he remained on Richardson's staff as an assistant coach for 17 seasons.

In 2002, the duo's run ended on a sour note, and that's an understatement for the ages. Richardson told the media that he was subject to racial hostility at the school, even from then-athletic director Frank Boyles. Richardson sued, and things got incredibly ugly. The interim coach during that falling-out was, you guessed it, Mike Anderson.

The program hasn't been the same since. The Razorbacks went 151-128 in five mostly mediocre seasons under Stan Heath and four more mostly mediocre seasons under John Pelphrey. Attendance at Bud Walton Arena, which opened the same season Richardson's Razorbacks won the national title and once boasted some of the largest and loudest crowds in college hoops, has declined sharply in every season since.

In that time, Anderson's coaching star only rose. He turned UAB into an exciting C-USA force. He resurrected Missouri from the Quin Snyder mess. He made the Tigers a paragon of his mentor's up-tempo system and, if not one of the nation's elite programs, certainly something resembling it, taking Mizzou all the way to the Elite Eight in 2009.

The timing has worked out perfectly for both sides. The only obstacle could have been the school's acrimonious relationship with Anderson's mentor. But new Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long has paid homage to Richardson and his successful teams, which culminated with the former coach's emotional return to Fayetteville during a ceremony last year to honor the national title team. Long has embraced the past in much the same way Tom Crean did at Indiana (even if Bob Knight won't budge), so that obstacle now has been removed. You get the feeling, with relations now improved, that the mentor Richardson gave a nod of approval to his longtime pupil.

So now Anderson gets to return to the school where he spent his first 17 years as a coach, not to mention the city where he planted his flag and raised his family in his first year after college. He also gets the built-in advantage of Pelphrey's 2011 recruiting class, which ranks among the best in the nation.

Arkansas gets to add one of college coaching's annual hot names, move on from its lost decade under Heath and Pelphrey, harken the glories of the not-so-distant past, and give Razorback fans reason to pack The House Nolan Built anew.

The only uncertainty left comes in the wake of Anderson's departure from Missouri. Mizzou fans might not be surprised by the departure. After all, Anderson has flirted with other schools, including Oregon last summer and Georgia the year before that, for much of his tenure in Columbia. But as Andy Katz reported Wednesday night, Missouri fully expected to keep its coach this week, and now athletic director Mike Alden must seek out a coach who can keep -- and perhaps expand upon -- the momentum Anderson built in recent seasons.

Finding that candidate won't be easy, especially because Missouri will compete with Georgia Tech, Tennessee, NC State and Oklahoma (among others) for the services of the hottest coaching names in the country. Those names include VCU's Shaka Smart, Richmond's Chris Mooney, Butler's Brad Stevens and Marquette's Buzz Williams.

The Tigers will also no doubt consider Missouri State coach Cuonzo Martin, who nearly got the long-dormant Bears to the NCAA tournament this season. Whether any of those coaches will be interested in the Missouri job is up for debate. Whether that job is a better one than Arkansas (or the remaining openings) is as well.

But Arkansas and Anderson don't have to worry about that. Frankly, Hog fans couldn't ask for a much better fit. If anyone in the country knows how to win in Fayetteville, it's Anderson. If anyone knows how to bridge the glories of the past with hope for the future, it's Anderson. And for Anderson, well, he gets to go home.

What could be better than that?

Back at Big 12 Media Day, in those halcyon days when we thought Kansas State, and not Kansas, was the Big 12 favorite this season, Missouri coach Mike Anderson spent much of his day talking about his freshmen. One of those freshmen, Phil Pressey, drew more questions than most.

It's easy to see why: Pressey was the No. 9-ranked point guard in the 2010 class, was hailed as a lighting-quick player on both ends of the floor, was joining a team and a style of play that demands speed in every facet of the game. It seemed like a perfect fit. By the time Pressey's Missouri career is over, it probably will be.

In his freshman season, though, Pressey has struggled to make an impact, playing limited minutes off the bench behind veteran guards Marcus Denmon and Michael Dixon. Pressey got his chance to shine after Dixon was suspended last week for a violation of team rules, and his 15-point, 11-assist performance against Central Arkansas hinted at the sort of ability that makes him the prototypical Mizzou guard.

And ... now he's injured. Ugh. Per the AP, Pressey injured his right ring finger in practice this week and will be sidelined for at least two weeks while he recovers. The injury isn't anywhere near the extreme end of the Robbie Hummel Memorial Injury Devastato-meter -- two weeks is just two weeks, after all -- but it is poorly timed. With Dixon suspended, Pressey had a chance to make his mark on the Tigers' attack in Wednesday's huge match up with Illinois. Now he'll be on the sideline. And, depending on Dixon's status, that could leave the Tigers shorthanded.

So, yeah. Not devastating. But not exactly fun -- for Pressey, Anderson, or Mizzou fans -- either.

With all the attention foisted upon the ACC-Big Ten Challenge -- for good reason, too, because it's as compelling an early-season competition as we have in college hoops -- you could be forgiven for missing a rather big game on Tuesday night's schedule, one that has nothing to do with the Big Ten or the ACC.

That game? No. 8 Missouri vs. No. 14 Georgetown.

Yes, it's tonight, and yes, it's a big one. (And yes, thanks to this ACC-Big Ten thing everyone's talking about, it's relegated to the ESPNU airwaves; any other night this game gets top billing. Oh well.)

Any game pitting two top-15 teams is likely to be a good one, but that's not the only reason why tonight's affair is worth your attention. Primarily, that's because the matchup with Georgetown counts as Missouri's first major test of the season. The Tigers have spent their first five games mostly struggling with inferior mid-major teams. Their season opener was a tight 66-61 win over Western Illinois. The Tigers struggled mightily against Wyoming, in which Missouri led by a mere two points with 4:22 remaining before stretching and eventually maintaining their lead. Similar struggles ensued against La Salle, when the Tigers trailed by one with 14 minutes left in the second. Even the North Texas game, which looks like a blowout on paper -- final score: 96-58 -- saw Missouri allow the Ospreys to stay in the game deep into the second half, before a brilliant defensive stretch in the final eight minutes. It's early, sure, but these are not the dominant performances Final Four teams are typically made of.

In the meantime, Georgetown is also undefeated, but the Hoyas have actually beaten good teams in actual road situations. The first was a season-opening win at Old Dominion, as tough a mid-major road nonconference fixture as you'll see on any power-six school's schedule this season. The Hoyas have also topped a pesky Wofford team and a much-improved NC State (albeit one without senior forward Tracy Smith, who was still recovering from arthroscopic surgery when the two teams met) on a neutral floor.

There are stylistic things to look for here: Mike Anderson's team is one of the runningest teams in college hoops; John Thompson III's is one of the most methodical. There's also the matter of home vs. neutral court advantage. You can expect Missouri to have a rather large turnout at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, perhaps rivaling Kansas State's march of the purple people eaters at the CBE Classic last week.

But more than anything, this game is about proof. What should we, even tentatively, think about Missouri? To this point, we don't know. It'll take more than one game to find out. But if all it took was one game, this would be the one to see.

Each Wednesday, your humble college basketball hoops blogger (er, me) will respond to your questions, comments and nonsensical rants in this space. To submit, visit this page by clicking the link under my name in the upper right-hand corner of the page. You can also e-mail me or send me your entries via Twitter. Let's begin with a video response to a couple of similar questions about Colorado and Louisville:

Matt from New Jersey writes: Where is Seton Hall? It returns the best scorer in the conference, the best rebounder in the conference, two great perimeter guards that can defend, an Ole Miss transfer (6-foot-6 forward Eniel Polynice) and has Jeff Robinson for a whole season. The best part is that they finally have a sane, calm coach with a good demeanor who will preach the two most important elements: defense and rebounding.

Eamonn Brennan: Matt, I assume you're asking about Seton Hall's lack of presence in various preseason discussions of the Big East, and not actually trying to find Seton Hall geographically. But just in case, here you go.

Also, I hope you are not insinuating that former Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez was insane. What would make you think that?

Google Maps-related jokes aside, your question, vague though it may be, is valid. But there are a few reasons why Seton Hall probably isn't on most preseason prognosticators' minds, and I think they're valid too. The first is uncertainty. Kevin Willard takes over as a first-year coach in the Big East, and that's not an easy job for anyone, even a guy like Willard, who is familiar with the territory. Forward Herb Pope is key to Seton Hall's chances, and no one was really sure whether or not he was going to be able to play in 2010-11 -- or, for that matter, ever again. (Pope collapsed during a workout last spring but appears to be able to play this season.) The third is talent: Even with Pope, leading scorer Jeremy Hazell, and forward Jeff Robinson for much of last season, Gonzalez's team struggled to get to 9-9 in the Big East. Returning talent is nice, and adding Polynice gives the Pirates some depth, but is this team really that much better than last year's? And if not, do they really deserve the preseason love?

Don't get me wrong: Seton Hall could definitely surprise some people this season. Willard is inheriting a solid nucleus. If Pope is productive, an NCAA tournament bid is well within reach. But you can't blame preseason scribes from warily avoiding Seton Hall until the Pirates prove a few things on the court. That's only fair.

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Tom D. from Austin, Tex., writes: I saw that Duke hung 141 points on last year's CIAA champs in an exhibition game with no player getting more than 22 minutes. Does this mean anything at all?

Brennan: Let's see: The reigning NCAA national champs and 2010-11 preseason No. 1 beat a CIAA team (St. Augustine's) that lost six players? And they did so by a considerable margin?

Uh, yeah. This means nothing at all. It might actually mean less than nothing. If there was an "absolute nothing," this would be it. (Like absolute zero? See what I did there? Har? OK, moving on...)

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Stephen from Evansville, Ind., writes: Everyone always seems to get caught up on how many teams a conference gets into the NCAA tournament as a measure for the quality of the conference. What should the Missouri Valley expect as far as NCAA tournament teams and success year-in and year-out?

Brennan: In terms of resources and conference affiliation, it's a little unrealistic to expect the Missouri Valley to recreate its brilliant 2006 run, when the MVC got four NCAA tournament bids and saw two teams streak to Sweet 16 appearances. Like many other mid-majors, it's hard for teams in the MVC to put together strong overall résumés, because it's so hard to convince the big boys to play them. It ain't fair, but that's just life in the sub-high-major world.

I think the Valley would be pretty excited if it could consistently place three teams in the NCAA tournament every year. That means at least two or three programs are building the sort of long-term success that doesn't require a one-year flash in the MVC tourney to get in to the Big Dance. That could be the case this year, as both Wichita State and Creighton (and maybe even Northern Iowa) look like potential NCAA tournament teams. But it's a lot to expect from a conference like the Missouri Valley on a year-to-year basis.

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Tim Watts from Philadelphia, writes: Will Ohio State still be a contending team without superstar Evan Turner? And do they have a chance of winning the Big Ten over Michigan State?

Brennan: Yes and yes. Turner was a special player, but Ohio State has a coterie of experienced guards who can share Turner's ballhandling and scoring roles (William Buford, David Lighty, Jon Diebler), and could end up being much deeper and more balanced than last season's team. That's because forward Jared Sullinger could be a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate in the post, and OSU's other highly touted recruits should be able to contribute right away. Sullinger remains unproven, so you have to give Michigan State the nod, but if he pans out, the Buckeyes might be even better than last season. Hard to imagine after the year Turner had, but imagine it anyway.

(As an aside, I hope I'm not the only college hoops fan who is thoroughly disappointed with how Turner's NBA career -- thus far marred by supposed attitude problems and lack of productivity -- has begun. Philly coach Doug Collins even benched Turner for Wednesday night's season opener, instead opting for ... Jason Kapono. What a bummer.)

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Tony Waffen from Wasilla, Alaska, writes: What is your evaluation of the Saint Mary's Gaels this year? And what happened to Omar Samhan?

Brennan: Greetings from Wasilla? I promise not to make any Sarah Palin jokes. I think I can hold off.

I also think St. Mary's is clearly a notch or two below Gonzaga this season, if only because coach Randy Bennett doesn't have a clear replacement for the inside-out forward combo of Samhan and Ben Allen. But Mickey McConnell and Matthew Dellavedova are as good a guard combo as the WCC will have -- McConnell shot 51 percent from 3 last season, which is just silly -- and with a few contributions from guys like Clint Steindl and Jorden Page, I think Saint Mary's is still a factor at the top of their conference.

As for Omar? After an encouraging stint with the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA summer league, Samhan signed a contract with Zalgiris Kaunus, a club in Lithuania. There's a decent chance Samhan gets a few more NBA looks -- he definitely made an impression on a handful of GMs this summer -- but for now, he's getting paid to play hoops in Eastern Europe. There are worse fates. (And let's hope Omar has been brushing up on his Lithuanian, so he can be the funniest basketball player on two continents, and not just one.)

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Derek Rainbolt from Bloomington, Ind., writes: With Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia leading the way for the SEC, why does it seem the league is not getting national buzz?

Brennan: And let's not forget Mississippi State and Vanderbilt, both of whom are likely NCAA tournament teams. This is a good conference.

That said, I'm not sure I agree with your premise. "National buzz" is sort of hard to gauge in the first place, but from where I'm sitting (and I might not be the best judge, since I basically spend every day holed away in front of my computer reading and writing about college basketball), I'm not sure the SEC has received any less of this mythical buzz than conferences like the ACC or the Big East, both of which have their strong teams, but both of which are less deep than we're used to. In any case, if the SEC isn't getting the requisite amount of love, that will change as soon as its top five or six teams start proving themselves this winter. Until then, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

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Eric from Bethlehem, Pa., writes: Would you consider C.J. McCollum of Lehigh one of the top players in the mid-major ranks? He dominated the Patriot League and played well against Kansas in the NCAA tournament last season.

Brennan: Why yes, yes I would. McCollum won player of the year and rookie of the year awards as a freshman at Lehigh last season. That's big-time stuff no matter the conference, and his performance in the first round of the NCAA tournament -- 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block -- was very impressive. Maybe the most exciting thing about McCollum (assuming he doesn't decide to transfer at some point, in which case, sorry, Lehigh fans) is that he was only a freshman. He's already one of the better mid-major players in the country, and his ceiling remains very high.

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Armand from Springfield, Mo., writes: How much more does Mike Anderson need to do to get some respect? Look at the last two seasons: Big 12 champs in 2008 with an Elite Eight finish. Second round in 2009, with inferior talent compared to K-State, Kansas, Texas and Baylor. Despite a proven system, every fall experts predict Missouri to finish behind all these teams. Well, now we have the best junior college transfer in the country as well as a five-star recruit in Tony Mitchell (eligible in the spring sem., right when conference play begins). Mizzou will be a force to be reckoned with and Big 12 coaches realize this, but the media never seems to. #TheFastest40Minutes

Brennan: First of all, hashtag in a mailbag question gets an immediate thumbs up. You should shorten that and use it to live-tweet Missouri games. After all, like Forrest Gump said, you never know what you're going to trend.

Second, Mizzou fans are awesome. I'm not being sarcastic. Every week the mailbag has at least two or three Missouri-related questions or comments. Columbia is excited about their program.

Then again, why shouldn't they be? I have a couple of soft spots when it comes to Missouri basketball. I love uptempo play, I love a properly run full-court press, and I love a coach who is willing to buck the conventional X's-and-O's wisdom to run a chaotic, onions-to-the-wall style because he believes in it. Mike Anderson has done all three at Missouri, and there's no question it's paid off.

Last Thursday at Big 12 media day, Anderson made a comment to a reporter about his team's propensity to be ranked in the lower half of the league before the season, only to finish among the conference's leaders. I asked him if he thought his system explained the gap. He downplayed it, telling me he thought his players didn't get enough credit, that he had had some underrated talent in his tenure, and that his staff worked hard to develop his guys as the season went along.

It was a nice answer, but it's barely half-right; his system deserves a lot of the credit. Missouri puts opponents on their heels for a full 40 minutes. They shoot from anywhere on the court, they force you to rebound on every possession, they make you move the ball 80 feet to get into your offense, and they don't let up once you do. It's brilliant to watch, and I think it's better proof that undermatched teams can change the conditions of the game than anything Malcolm Gladwell cited last year.

The scary part is what happens when Missouri has the same kind of talent as Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Texas. Assuming Mitchell is able to get eligible for the spring semester, the Tigers will be a fearsome bunch. And, as always, incredibly fun to watch.

Here are five things I can't wait to see in the Big 12:

1. Jacob Pullen's final challenge

Pullen and the team he leads won't have anyone to sneak up on this year. Everyone already fears the beard and, along with it, the Wildcats. But even as Kansas State adjusts to the unique pressures of being the favorite to win the conference -- and all the we're-gunning-for-you fun that entails every night -- Pullen will have an entirely different challenge on his hands.

With senior point guard Denis Clemente gone and no clear replacement waiting in the wings, Pullen might find himself performing a strange kind of double duty in the K-State backcourt this season. He might have to be both Jacob Pullen, the lightning-quick shooting guard adept at using off-ball screens and tight angles to get his looks, and Denis Clemente, the point guard determined to push the pace at all times. Is Pullen up to that challenge? Does he lose anything in the transfer? Can he do it all? And, if not, how do the Wildcats adjust?

2. Marcus Morris and the new-look Jayhawks

It's easy to forget just how deep Kansas was last season. Bill Self's team lost three of the best players in all of college basketball (Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry) this offseason, and many still argue that Kansas, not their in-state rivals, should be the Big 12 favorite. Whether those people are right will have a lot to do with whether forward Marcus Morris takes his game to the next level.

Of course, it will also have a lot to do with whether Josh Selby, the Jayhawks' uber-talented point guard recruit who is waiting for an eligibility decision from the NCAA, is allowed to play.

Regardless of that decision, Morris will be the key. (After all, the Jayhawks did retain Tyshawn Taylor, an awfully good guard in his own right.) Morris is a skilled big man with touch out to 15 feet, but this season he won't have the looming threat of Aldrich (and all the high-low action Self ran for his interior duo last season) to free him up. Instead, for the first time in his career, he'll be every team's main defensive focus. Does Morris have enough game to succeed anyway?

3. The fate of LaceDarius Dunn (and, by extension, Baylor)

Baylor almost made it through its first truly triumphant offseason since the Dave Bliss disaster seven years ago. Scott Drew's team finished in the Elite Eight, sent forward Ekpe Udoh to the NBA draft lottery, and welcomed the biggest recruit of Drew's career in NBA lottery lock Perry Jones. And then … poof.

Just like that, Baylor guard LaceDarius Dunn -- one of Pullen's few real competitors for Big 12 Player of the Year and the heart of any success Baylor would have in 2010-11 -- was charged with assault related to a domestic incident with his girlfriend and suspended indefinitely from the team.

The vagaries of Dunn's case remain strange and as yet unsettled (his girlfriend wants the charges dropped, the authorities disagree, and so on), but if things get worse, Drew could be forced to leave Dunn out of significant action in the 2010-11 season. At the very least, Dunn's mistake throws Baylor's season into question.

4. Another test for Rick Barnes

There are no doubts about Barnes's ability to build teams. The Texas coach has been one of the most prolific and impressive recruiters in his time at Texas, and thanks to the onrush of talent arriving in Austin each year, has managed to make a football school not only care about basketball but notice when it doesn't live up to expectations. Needless to say, that happened last season. After starting 17-0 and earning the No. 1 ranking, Texas slid all the way back to the middle of the Big 12 pack. The Longhorns fizzled out in the season's final months, ending with a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament to a mediocre Wake Forest team.

The problem wasn't talent; it was chemistry, leadership and Barnes' inability to find some rotation that would maximize his players' diverse gifts. (Barnes didn't help his case when he told ESPN The Magazine that he was less concerned with winning the national title than getting his players to the NBA. That's kind of, you know, not the point.) Despite some veteran losses, the Horns are again supremely talented -- they have a top-notch batch of recruits joining last year's group -- and Barnes is again faced with the task of getting a young team, and a big group of guards, to be greater than the sum of their composite recruiting rankings.

5. Can the Tigers be ready in time?

When forward Tony Mitchell decided to take his talents to Columbia, Mo., coach Mike Anderson got the sort of recruit that ought to make most Big 12 coaches tremble. In four years at the school, Anderson has not been without talent, but his style -- the 40 Minutes of Hell hybrid he adopted from former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson -- has had more to do with Missouri's success (Anderson is 196-54 in his tenure) than any advantage in talent. Throw Mitchell, a hyper-athletic, top-15 forward, into Anderson's system, and the results could be rather frightening.

Those results, if they do happen, won't be happening this fall. Mitchell was deemed ineligible by the NCAA for the fall semester, and he's going to attempt to join the Tigers in the spring semester. That's a major blow, but if he can get ready in time, and can blend seamlessly into a young but promising Tigers team, Anderson will have one of his better teams ready to go by March. If not, the Tigers will still be good -- Mitchell's incoming classmates are likewise talented, and a returning core led by Kim English is nothing to sniff at -- but they'll have to wait on great.

First, North Carolina. Then Villanova. Now Missouri coach Mike Anderson has made the leap. Will the Twitter ban never cease?

Anderson is, like many other coaches before him, cracking down on his players' use of social networks. Once the basketball season starts, Anderson will force his players to give up their Twitter accounts, according to KCTV5.

This is not major news in and of itself. Anderson's policy is far from radical. If limiting Twitter usage keeps your players focused on the task at hand -- and, not for nothing, prevents them from making any ill-advised public comments during the midst of a grueling collegiate season -- that's probably a net positive for your team. This is not a First Amendment issue.

Still, it's a little sad, if only because it means the college hoops Internetosphere will lose out on EnglishScope24, the handle of Tigers guard Kim English. English is a thoughtful, hardworking kid (he used to live in Missouri's athletics center, so he could do individual morning workouts more easily) and one who's been outspoken about his difficult childhood (as a child, English struggled with a stutter). He's also one of, if not the best, tweeting hoopsters in the country. English's social media high point came this summer, when he tweeted a line-by-line recreation of Rudyard Kipling's classic poem "If," complete with analysis and interpretation related to being a college athlete. It was pretty cool. And, when the hoops season officially begins, it will be over.

Oh well. Life is full of trade-offs, I suppose. (For the record, if I got to play college basketball, I would happily give up the addictive blood-brain-barrier magic that is Twitter. Just to make that clear.) Farewell, Tigers tweeters. We'll see you on the other side.