College basketball got a rare dose of offseason good news Monday night when an Ohio federal judge rescinded the NCAA's 2-in-4 rule.

That means tournaments such as the Maui Invitational, Great Alaska Shootout, Preseason NIT, Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and any other in-season exempted events are more likely to include at least one to two major-name teams.

In a 38-page ruling, Judge Edmund A. Sargus ruled in favor of the plaintiffs (Gazelle Group, Inc., Worldwide Basketball and Sport Tours, Inc., Sports Tours International, and Sports Promotions, LLC). The lawsuit by the plaintiffs started on Dec. 21, 2000, against the NCAA's 2-in-4 rule that restricted teams to two exempted events in a four-year cycle.

Some schools were grandfathered into the rule and were allowed to play three such events in a four-year cycle. An exempted event is a tournament that counts as only one game on the maximum 28-game schedule for Division I teams.

Sargus said the 2-in-4 rule was in violation of Sections One and Two of the Sherman Act. Sargus said in his ruling that, "The NCAA is hereby permanently enjoined from enforcing the 'two-in-four' rule.'' This means that teams are eligible to play in a certified event on an annual basis, like they were prior to the 2-in-4 rule in 2000. But the NCAA rule limiting teams to one of these events a season is still in place. Teams cannot play in an exempted event in the same season that they go on a foreign trip.

Sargus put off a ruling on this case in July, 2002 to see how the rule would affect the tournaments in Year Three of the legislation.

"Last season was the turning point,'' said Bill Markovits, attorney for the plaintiffs. "The judge was looking to see what would happen and he saw what we predicted, and that was a decrease in output and quality of events.''

Markovits said the NCAA certified 28 events but only 17 were able to go forward because the other 11 couldn't fill their fields with eligible teams. There were 25 events the previous season. The number of exempt games decreased from 251 to 144.

Markovits said the NCAA told the judge that the tournaments wouldn't have a problem moving forward. But, he said, that wasn't the case. Calls to the NCAA's attorney, Greg Curtner, were not returned.

The NCAA could ask for a stay of the injunction while they appeal but NCAA representatives weren't available late Monday night.

"I have no idea one way or another what they will do,'' Markovits said. The tournament organizers are going ahead and planning on filling events as of late Monday night. But the problem is a number of teams are committed to foreign tours and others don't have an open date on their 2003-04 schedules.

Alabama already is practicing for a trip to the Bahamas next month and Illinois is going to Europe in two weeks. Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Drake, Siena, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Mississippi State are going on foreign trips, according to Sport Tours International. Michigan, Portland, New Mexico, Oral Roberts and SMU are going on foreign trips set up by Basketball Travelers.

But Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, Cincinnati, Memphis, Stanford and Louisville are all teams that are now suddenly eligible to look at an exempted event this fall.

The Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which is the opening tournament in New York on Nov. 13-14, will convert from an eight-team, one-game-per-team format over two days, to a four-team, multiple game format with a tournament winner like it had two years ago. There is some talk about some on-campus games with the four winners advancing to New York, but four of the likely candidates for a spot in New York are Syracuse, Missouri, Wake Forest and Gonzaga.

Kentucky is a possibility to host the BCA Invitational. Xavier was already set to host the BCA Classic. The Guardians Classic, which had Missouri, Iowa, Alabama and Memphis in a final four in Kansas City in 2001, was reduced to an eight-team field with a final of Notre Dame and Creighton in Kansas City last season. But it will go back to being a 16-team field with four teams meeting in Kansas City around Thanksgiving. South Carolina, Southwest Missouri State and possibly Kansas are three of the teams being discussed as host sites for this event.

Chris Spencer, who ran three tournaments in Las Vegas two seasons ago, couldn't field one in 2002. He's working the phones to get at least one tournament in Las Vegas in 2003.

Meanwhile, there is a chance that the Maui Invitational (Ohio State, Santa Clara, Villanova, Central Michigan, Chaminade, Hawaii, San Diego State and Dayton) and Great Alaska Shootout (Duke, Seton Hall, Purdue, Alaska, Pacific, Liberty, Southwest Texas State, Houston) fields might not be safe. Both tournaments could upgrade their fields if they wanted to attract more marquee teams and possibly put off a team for a future tournament. San Diego State and Villanova might be interested in switching because of injuries and eligibility issues, respectively, that could hamper them from producing competitive teams in the event.

The Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands has two open spots for marquee teams. The tournament in November has six committed (Boston College, Appalachian State, Hampton, LaSalle, Monmouth and Wichita State) teams but would add two more for an eight-team field.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.