Bob Huggins is building a football team at West Virginia.

Dunkin’ Donuts oughta sponsor Drexel’s game on Tuesday.
And a team from the Big 12 will claim the crown ... but not the team everybody else is predicting.
Strike up the band and good luck getting to the Palestra with all of that University City construction going on. Here are 50 things to know about the college hoops season:
1. Kansas is the consensus No. 1 team and had an offseason worthy of an NBA team. The Jayhawks acquired some key free agents, er, freshmen, and had a couple of incidents that included a fight with the university’s football team and a few DUI arrests.
2. Xavier Henry is the Jayhawks’ top freshman and Philadelphia natives Marcus and Markieff Morris lead the sophomore class as KU hunts for its second title in three years. “That team (2008) didn’t rely on newcomers,” coach Bill Self said. “This team will have to rely on some newcomers. There are some unproven pieces.”
3. Speaking of unknown commodities, North Carolina lost four starters, yet is still ranked sixth in the Associated Press’ preseason poll. John Henson, a 6-10 freshman forward, is a fascinating talent.
4. Duke’s strength is up front, which is atypical of most of Mike Krzyzewski’s teams. In addition to Lance Thomas and Haddonfield (N.J.) High’s Brian Zoubek, the Blue Devils also will use McDonald’s All-Americans Mason Plumee and Ryan Kelly. If the Blue Devils jell, they will be dangerous. Small forward Kyle Singler is the ACC preseason player of the year.
5. If Duke doesn’t make it to Indianapolis, it will be the sixth season in a row the Blue Devils have missed the Final Four, and it would establish the longest drought since Mike Krzyzewski took over in Durham in 1980.
6. New Seattle coach Cameron Dollar, the former top assistant at Washington, has a unique No. 1 guy on the bench: his father, Donald, a high school coaching legend in Georgia. The Redhawks are entering year two of a five-year transition process from Division II to Division I.
7. Bob Huggins has beefed up the West Virginia frontcourt and might be able to give the football team a good game. “You look at, for instance, Pitt a year ago with their front line,” the coach said. “We’re going to be like that now.” Pennsbury’s Dalton Pepper, a thick, 6-5, 225-pound shooting guard, will come off the bench.
8. The hypocrisy of one-and-done freshmen in college hoops can have a bright side. Just look at the $19 million Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center that opened this year at Syracuse. So what if Memphis had to vacate its 2008 season after Derrick Rose was accused of cheating on his SATs.
9. Jonny Flynn’s move to the NBA opens up time for former Neumann-Goretti star Scoop Jardine to get back on the floor at Syracuse. Jardine missed all of last season with a leg injury and will share time at the point with Brandon Triche. Fellow N-G product Rick Jackson continues to improve as the Orange’s power forward.
10. Texas forward Damion James on what he learned from informal workouts before last June’s draft: “It’s not like I wasn’t going to play in the NBA, but it showed me what it will take to be in the NBA (for) 15 years instead of just two.”
11. Texas, ranked third, is playing sixth-ranked North Carolina at the Dallas Cowboys’ new stadium on Saturday, Dec. 19. Three days later, the Longhorns host No. 2 Michigan State.
12. Memphis coach Josh Pastner, 32, is the youngest coach in major D-I hoops. The Tigers are rebuilding following coach John Calipari’s bolt to Kentucky and Chester native Tyreke Evans’ dash for the NBA.
13. Figure on an end sometime this season to Memphis’ 61-game Conference USA winning streak. Tulsa, led by Jerome Jordan, could be the class of the league.
14. Tulsa is at Duke on Feb. 25 in an interesting tilt just before the madness of March.
15. John Calipari says that hardworking freshman guard John Wall, the prize of Kentucky’s recruiting class, has skills that could be superior to Tyreke Evans and Derrick Rose.
16. Former Kentucky coach Joe B. Hall, on what the hiring of John Calipari has done for the Wildcats’ program: “Coach Cal is like magic. And what he has done, I don’t know what you’d compare it to. Maybe if Bear Bryant came back to life.”
17. The frosty relationship between John Calipari and Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun dates back to when Coach Cal was at UMass. Might be worth the train ride up to New York when these teams play on Dec. 9; not that tickets will be easy.
18. On the other hand, Louisville coach Rick Pitino’s sex scandal contributed to him and his program keeping an unusually low profile. “Kentucky is all you hear about,” said Cardinals guard Edgar Sosa. “I’m from New York and all my people back home, they just want to know about Kentucky, what’s going on with Kentucky.” Louisville visits Rupp Arena Jan. 2.
19. Xavier guard Jordan Crawford, the Indiana transfer who forever will be known as the kid who dunked on LeBron James at a summer camp, makes two visits to Philadelphia (Jan. 7 at La Salle; Jan. 20 at Temple). Isn’t it funny that the kid’s first name is Jordan?
20. Big East preseason rookie of the year Lance Stephenson, of Cincinnati, is the all-time scoring leader in New York City history and darn lucky to have his college eligibility. He pleaded down a sexual-abuse misdemeanor (for allegedly groping a 17-year-old girl) to disorderly conduct over the summer and recently escaped the NCAA’s wrath for his involvement in an online documentary.
21. Missouri guard J.T. Tiller is among the best defensive players in the country and also has been cited for his work with the Special Olympics and the UM Children’s Hospital. (Just wanted to give proper time to those who weren’t tangled up in legal issues.)
22. ESPN’s basketball marathon next Tuesday includes a 6 a.m. tip for Monmouth at Saint Peter’s and an 8 a.m. start for Drexel at Niagara. Temple is at Georgetown at 4 p.m.
23. “We’re starting from the bottom,” said Isiah Thomas, the new coach at Florida International. “And the journey, the ride along the way is the most important thing ... This is the fun part. It starts now.”
24. FIU hung tough in an 88-72 loss at North Carolina on Monday, but did lose an exhibition game to Northwood, the NAIA team coached by Rollie Massimino.
25. Before this season, Isiah Thomas’ last appearance in a college game was at the doomed Spectrum when he helped Indiana win the 1981 NCAA Tournament.
26. Villanova transfer Malcolm Grant is among the new pieces trying to fit together at Miami. Remember that ridiculous 21-point comeback by Villanova against LSU two years ago? It was Grant who led the way with 13 points in the final three minutes.
27. Gonzaga is absent from the preseason Top 25, but with games against Michigan State, Duke, Oklahoma and Illinois could climb into the mix at some point. The Zags must replace four starters if they want to continue their run of nine consecutive West Coast Conference titles. Portland and Saint Mary’s appear to be their biggest challengers.
28. Notre Dame forward Luke Harangody has a good chance to end his career as the all-time leading scorer and rebounder in Big East history. He needs 370 points to break Lawrence Moten’s scoring record (of 1,405) and 162 boards to pass Derrick Coleman (701).
29. Just three of last year’s top 20 scoring leaders are returning. Harangody (23.3) is one, along with Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell (22.7) and Mercer’s James Florence (20.8).
30. Mercer has recorded upsets the last two years, stinging Alabama and Auburn last year and USC the season before. Florida State, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt and Alabama are among those on the Bears’ non-conference schedule.
31. Ben Hansbrough, a transfer from Mississippi State and the younger brother of Tyler, will be hoisting threes for Notre Dame. Ben Hansbrough is a guard and some six inches shorter than his All-America brother.
32. “I’ll always be in his shadow,” Ben Hansbrough said. “Who wouldn’t be in the shadow of what he’s done? He’s one of the all-time leading scorers in NCAA history.”
33. Arizona’s chances of extending its streak of consecutive NCAA Tournaments to 26 are slim to moderate. The Wildcats, led by former Xavier coach Sean Miller, got a break when point guard Nic Wise decided to return for his senior season.
34. Miller’s arrival means Wise will have played for four head coaches in his collegiate career. Lute Olson, Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell were the others. It’s believed that the only other D-I players in history with four coaches are David Martin of Texas A&M (1989-93) and Darren Kent of Kansas State (2005-09).
35. Michigan State returns seven of its top nine scorers from last year’s Final Four team. Reigning Big Ten player of the year Kalin Lucas provides experience at the point, but the Spartans hope the severe ankle injury suffered by forward Raymar Morgan doesn’t linger.
36. The Spartans’ biggest challenger in the Big Ten likely is Purdue, a team looking to dance longer in March. “We’ve been to the Sweet 16,” said junior forward Robbie Hummel. “It’s great to get there. (But) at this point, we feel we want to take the next step and go to the Final Four.”
37. Pittsburgh, which was a Scottie Reynolds buzzer-beater away from the Final Four, will do well just to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Freshman Dante Taylor is the first McDonald’s All-American to attend Pitt since Brian Shorter and Bobby Martin in 1987. (Shorter attended Simon Gratz before moving on to Oak Hill (Va.) Academy, then to Pitt.)
38. Justin Holiday is among the key ingredients for Washington, the defending Pac-10 champ pegged for second this season. Holiday, the brother of Sixers’ first-round pick Jrue Holiday, had hernia surgery in the offseason after playing in all 35 games off the bench last year.
39. Abington Friends product Jason Love is the only senior for Xavier, which has won the last three Atlantic 10 titles. Dayton is the league’s favorite, but the Musketeers also should challenge for an NCAA berth.
40. Locally, La Salle was picked fourth, Temple fifth and Saint Joseph’s 10th in the A-10 preseason poll.
41. Cornell is the unanimous choice to win its third consecutive Ivy League crown, with Princeton and Penn selected second and third, respectively.
42. Old Dominion is favored to win the Colonial Athletic Association. Drexel was tabbed to finish seventh.
43. ODU’s Gerald Lee, the Monarchs’ leading returning scorer and the CAA preseason co-player of the year, is the son of Gerald Lee Sr., the leading scorer in Finland pro basketball history.
44. Hofstra’s Charles Jenkins is the other CAA co-player of the year. His father may not have been a star in Europe, but he did teach the Pride star the fundamentals of basketball.
45. Best of luck to former Temple star Mark Macon, who is charged with cleaning up the colossal mess as the new (and interim) head coach at Binghamton. Macon takes over for Kevin Broadus, who was suspended indefinitely after admitting a recruiting violation, and the dismissal of six players.
46. Like in the NBA, defenders will no longer be allowed to draw charges under their opponents’ offensive basket. But unlike the NBA, that area of the floor will not be marked and instead left to the interpretation of officials. One intent is to end violent collisions, though many coaches worry this will make refs’ jobs even harder.
47. Selection Sunday is March 14.
48. Syracuse and Salt Lake City will host Thursday/Saturday regional finals on March 25 and 27 with St. Louis and Houston hosting Friday/Sunday games on March 26 and 28. The Final Four is in Indianapolis on April 3 and 5.
49. Future sites of the Final Four: Houston (2011), New Orleans (2012), Atlanta (2013), Cowboys Stadium/Arlington (2014), Indianapolis (2015) and back to Houston (2016).
50. Texas is the pick for the national championship. The Longhorns have a star and experienced leader in Damion James, an improving big man in Dexter Pittman and a deep backcourt, especially if freshman Avery Bradley is as good as advertised. Joining the Longhorns in Indianapolis will be Villanova, Michigan State and, throwing in a dark horse, Washington.