Also from Voepel (does she sleep?) a nifty preview of Sunday's national-TV State Farm Tipoff, with Baylor, Georgia, Texas Tech, and LSU.

All these teams might contend for a national title-- but among injuries, transfers and graduation, all have lost at least one important player; Georgia appears to have lost about four.

UConn's season starts tonight. So, apparently, does Renee Montgomery, the frosh who may solve Geno's mystery at point guard.

Geno himself counsels optimism: "When we look really good, we look a lot better than any time last year. That's a good sign. Last year, when we looked the best we could look, we hadn't reached the same level that we're at now."