Ah, the bubbles of anticipation as the NCAA season approaches. The WNIT pre-season teams have been announced. Stanford, NC State, Purdue and Baylor may be the most recognized particpants, but Hartford and St. John's are two up-and-coming programs making a lot of noise. The first game will be on November 9th.

Over at the WBCA, preseason coaches polls for Division 2 and Division 3 have been released. While the top Division I teams seem to get the lions' share of attention and glory, there is some really good, competitive basketball being played at the top levels in the other Divisions. Grand Valley State (Michigan), University of North Dakota and Emporia State University (Kansas) top the D-2 poll, while the University of Scranton, Hope College (Michigan) and the University of Southern Maine top out the D-3 poll.