Unfortunately Fox?s Skin—cancelled after only three episodes—is not one of the seasons on the brink we?ll be discussing. (If only they?d had a larger advertising budget). Or Fox?s The Next Joe Millionaire, cut from two weekly episodes to one after losing two-thirds of last season?s audience. Instead we turn all of our attention today to college hoops as Marathon Oil, Athletes in Action and the apparently underrated EA Sports All-Stars are coming soon to a Division I campus near you. Meaning the exhibition season is under way and indeed it is ?Game On!?. For those of you that aren?t college hoop junkies, I?ve graciously added a couple of gratuitous Britney pics to make the visit to the link worth your while.

St. Bonaventure and Baylor are both lucky to even have teams to roster for the 2003-4 season, but because those programs are traditionally average more often than good, and don?t look to be great any time soon, this year can?t exactly be referred to as ?on the brink? of anything other than existence.

It?s no secret that I follow, or at least root for, Duke and Mizzou a little more closely then the rest of the NCAA, and am therefore very familiar with their ACC and Big 12 rivals. Those two conferences alone contain some of this year?s most compelling storylines—the biggest of which were set in motion when good ol? Roy decided to go home to Carolina.

It was a logical assumption that Matt Doherty would translate his one year of success at Notre Dame to a long and successful career at his alma mater. But an inept A.D. with a quick trigger finger and a sympathetic ear to crybaby parents pulled the plug on the frosty haired young guy, knowing that there was no way in hell Roy Williams would turn down a second offer/plea to return to Chapel Hill. Even if that meant turning his back on a touted incoming recruiting class and a team coming off consecutive Final Four appearances and one Hakim Warrick blocked shot (and a couple of missed free throws) away from a National Championship. Roy inherits an undersized, underachieving (though talented) roster that is once again one significant injury away from mediocrity. UNC apologists, including one misguided coach who gave a first place vote to the Tar Heels in the ESPN/USA Today Coach?s Poll, are assuming that Roy?s presence alone is worth a handful of wins. Granted they?ll be more competitive then the malcontents that gave up on Coach Doh?, but it?s the guys in crimson and blue (and not baby blue) that Roy turned his back on that have the better shot at a Final Four this year. Speaking of?

On Tuesday night, Bill Self and Lucas Johnson were reunited. This time as opponents, as Lucas has inexplicably found a way to earn dollars hooping after his college years. Joined by former Wake Forest scoring machine Robert O?Kelly, the EA Sports All-Stars nearly left Allen Fieldhouse with a victory. The All-Stars shot 50% from three (16 of 32), while the Jayhawks were a meager 2 of 10. They were however finally able to secure a lead for good after only 36 minutes of play—but even then a 91-87 win over Lucas, Robert, and a bunch of scrubs, I?ll bet isn?t quite the debut in front of the home crowd he had expected. Keith Langford sat out with a sore knee, Wayne Simien got in early foul trouble, and Bill?s obviously still trying to determine what he?s working with as 13 different players logged minutes. Of the supposedly stud recruiting class, David Padgett will be good in time, but I?m not sure he knows where the weight room is yet and he?ll get effectively pushed around by the big bodies of the Big 12 (OU?s Bookout, MU?s Johnson, CU?s Harrison, etc.). J.R. Giddens is good now, and he may often times find himself as the only legitimate 3-point threat on the floor. He should start and join Jeff Graves, Aaron Miles, Simien and hopefully a healthy Keith Langford to form one of the better starting fives in the nation.

Though not quite as good as the starting five two and a half hours to the east. When you talk about true seasons on the brink, you need look no further then Quin Snyders embattled Tigers. After finally ridding the team of ATV-lovin?, transcript-fixin?, girlfriend-chokin?, badshot-takin? Ricky Clemons from the team, they now find themselves in the middle of an NCAA investigation that may or may not leave M.U. ineligible for postseason play this year. The year in which they?re best positioned for the school?s first ever, yes ever, Final Four. In my mind they are the deepest team in the nation. Seniors and All-American candidates Ricky Paulding and Arthur Johnson will provide the leadership and scoring. Sophomore Jimmy McKinney will ideally move to shooting guard full time should the JuCo point guard (via Barton County Community College) experiment work out in Randy Pulley. Pulley is a pass-first-don?t-care-if-I-don?t-score player, and that will take plenty of getting used to by the coaching staff and Mizzou faithful, as they?ve all grown accustomed to their point guards shooting them in to and out of games. Though hard to believe Travon Bryant is still on the roster, and he is still a former McDonald?s All-American. But most notably, is the addition of two freshmen and one transfer who look to be immediate difference-makers. Linas Kleiza is a big-bodied Lithuanian that was also recruited heavily by Duke and Maryland. Thomas Gardner is already showing flashes of brilliance out of Portland, Oregon. And VMI transfer Jason Conley comes off the bench even though he led the nation in scoring as a freshman. Now if only the meddling NCAA would give Quin and his guys a slap on the wrist and get out of the way?

Illinois is another team that probably belongs on this list, but even they don?t possess the ?season on the brink? status as the upcoming one in my very own household. During the regular season for the last several years I?ve averaged a minimum of eight college games viewed per week. That number increases during rivalry, championship weeks, and the post-season, but you hopefully get the idea that it?s an aggressive and above average schedule. That was before an eight week old baby girl was demanding of my attention. Surprisingly the weekends have been great and Cameron seems to dig both Saturday College GameDay and Sunday?s NFL offerings. But we?ve got a real problem on our hands between 6:00 and 6:30p.m. (or what would be the first tip for weeknight games) and again between 8:30 and 9:00p.m. (or what would be the final minutes of the weeknight evenings first games). During those times she becomes loud enough to drown out the T.V. and nothing seems to pacify her. That means tensions rise, and the Franchise (hereafter referred to as My Baby?s Momma or ?MBM? out of respect to Mr. Mark Prior) expects my full attention devoted to the source of the fussing and crying, rather than keeping an eye on the screen and my finger on the remote?s volume button. We?re gonna be alright for the Pac-10 and West Coast games, but we?ve got some major prime-time issues to work out during the preseason.

Without further ado, and only after many sleepless nights and hand-wringing I present you with the Desipio Pre-Season Top 28.

28. Maryland – (Last seen lucky to get out of round one on the heroics of Drew Nicholas? shot over NC-Wilm.) Steve Blake and Drew are gone and Gary thinks he?s got the personnel to duplicate a 40 minutes-of-hell style gameplan. He?ll have to do it largely with freshmen and sophomores, including one Darryl Strawberry, Jr. Other then that it?s about as blank a slate as one can get when your leading returning scorer (Caner-Medley) didn?t even average 6 points per game.

27. Utah – (Last seen getting pummelled by Kentucky in the 2nd Round) Why is it that Utah always runs in to Kentucky in the NCAAs anyway? What?s to say here that you don?t already know, Rick Majerus likes to reside in hotels, eat a lot, and coach a no-name roster in to respectability year after year after year?Nick Jacobsen and Tim Frost will be providing the majority of the Utes? points this season.

26. California – (Last seen admirably keeping within single digits of Oklahoma in OK City in the second round) Joe Shipp and Brian Weathers are gone from last season, leaving Amit Tamir with leadership duties. He?ll have a willing prot駩 in freshman Leon Powe, leaving the Bears in better hands than most folks think.

25. Cincinatti – (Last seen making yet another early exit—this time in the first round to Gonzaga) If you?re Bob Huggins and charged with cleaning up your program, what do you do in the off-season? Tell everyone to screw themselves and bring in a kid with stauatory on his rap sheet (Robert Whaley) and another who proved a malcontent (James White) at his previous school. Should those moves not pan out, he?s still got Tony Bobbitt and Jason Maxiell under scholarship, and a ho-hum 17-12 season to improve upon.

24. Oklahoma State ? (Giving up a 17-point lead to the Orangemen) Eddie Sutton is apparently still alive, and is without four seniors from last season. He returns Tony Allen and Ivan McFarlin and is taking the JuCo and transfer route to rebuild on the fly. But he only needs a top 6 finish in the league to dance yet again—-shouldn?t prove that difficult.

23. N.C. State ? (Last seen losing a two-point heart breaker to Cal in the first round) Junior Julius Hodge is the Wolfpack?s leading returning scorer, rebounder, assist man, shot blocker, pocket picker, and field goal percentage. That pretty much makes him the man. Unfortunately it pretty much makes Herb Sendek?s squad awfully one-dimensional, not unlike the T-Wolves with Kevin Garnett the last couple of years. He may find help with the return of a healthy Ilian Evtimov, but not enough for anything higher then a 4th place finish in the ACC—at best.

22. Pittsburgh ? (Last seen only 3 points away—lost to Marquette—from an Elite Eight appearance) If the Panthers aren?t careful they?ll find themselves in sixth place in the Big East. Pitt will look to Julius Page for stability with Coach Ben Howland off to UCLA, and Brandin Knight out of eligibility. Chevy Troutman offers balance in the frontcourt, but I?m guessing the Sweet 16 run is over.

21. Xavier ? (Last seen laying down for Maryland in a 13 point 2nd round loss, and blowing up my bracket) David West is gone but all is not lost. Romain Santo and Lionel Chalmers will find only St. Joseph?s in their way during the Atlantic 10 regular season, earning them plenty of wins for another tourney appearance.

20. Oklahoma ? (Last seen relying on two home games to land them in the Sweet 16 and a humbling loss to Syracuse) The Sooner will be, and are always good, but you don?t just install a new backcourt in the Big 12 without a few bumps in the road. Even if they?re little bumps, caused by little 5?6 Drew Lavender who has huge shoes to fill with Hollis Price gone. Kelvin Sampson has plenty of guys to expect to pick up the slack in Kevin Bookout, Jabahri Brown, DeAngelo Alexander, and Johnnie Gilbert. If nothing else he can kick his own kid Bob and Pat Knight style with young Kellen Sampson on the bench.

19. Notre Dame ? (Last seen enjoying the Arizona shootaround in the Sweet 16) Chris Thomas wisely chose to stay in school, and will be rewarded by plenty of finished assists to big men Torin Francis and Jordan Cornette. Frosh Colin Falls is the odd-on favorite to replace the scoring void Matt Carroll left after graduation.

18. St. Joseph?s ? (Last seen almost getting by Auburn in Round One) For some reason Jameer Nelson felt like there was enough unfinished business to bypass the NBA draft after his junior year. He?s joined by three starters from last season?s 23 win team, to dominate an Atlantic 10 with no David West.

17. Marquette ? (Last seen riding Dwyane Wade to the Final Four before the Kansas onslaught) The Eagles will have only one more year to bask in the glow of the 2003 Final Four, and recent dominance of Conference USA before lacing it up in the Big East. Travis Diener and Steve Novak will have a much tougher time finding their own shots without Wade drawing attention from multiple defenders, but Tom Crean?s a bright guy—-he?ll figure out something.

16. Wake Forest ? (Last seen dropping by six to Auburn in Round two) Josh Howard was an outstanding ACC performer and is irreplacable. But Skip Prosser landed an absolute stud point guard in frosh Chris Paul. He?ll team with tough Justin Gray who played a portion of last season with a broken jaw, and look for increased production down low from Vytas Danelius and Eric Williams.

15. Kentucky ? (Last seen underachieving at the hands of Marquette in the Elite Eight) Keith Bogans is gone, and I?m not entirely sure that?s a bad thing. Tubby will have to rely on the tone being set early by senior backcourt mates Gerald Fitch and Cliff Hawkins, while he tries to fill Jules Camara and Marques Estill?s shoes in the frontcourt. If freshman big man Shagari Alleyne (7?2) is mobile, that may prove to be a pretty easy task.

14. Illinois ? (Last seen ineffectively begging Bill to stay) Bruce Weber may not have Bill Self?s wink or stutter, but he does have his own hair. He?s also scared a lot of teams in March with mid-major talent. There?s nothing mid-major about Dee Brown. Replacing Brian Cook down low and his ability to bring his man way from the basket will be Bruce?s biggest challenge, hopefully he?s got something better in mind than Nick “the Stick/Stiff” Smith. Like maybe James Augustine, yeah that?s the ticket.

13. Stanford ? (Last seen running in to a much more talented Uconn team in Round two) Chris Hernandez? left foot is healed and he inherits the point duties from graduate Julius Barnes. He?s surrounded by four returning starters, including my darkhorse for Pac-10 Player of the Year—Josh Childress. And don?t sleep on Illinois native Matt Lottich, who does not miss open shots.

12. Texas ? (Last seen satisfied with a Final Four appearance before stepping aside for Syracuse) Even though T.J. Ford is now a Buck, Rick Barnes still returns four very talented starters from last year?s team in seniors James Thomas, Royal Ivey, Brandon Mouton and Brian Boddicker. Most coaches would commit any number of secondary recruiting violations to boast that quality of leadership. Ivey will get the first crack at running the offense, otherwise they?ll have to look Edgar Moreno, a JuCo transfer—and then things could get dicey in an ultra-competitive Big 12 conference.

11. Wisconsin ? (Last seen nearly upsetting Kentucky in the Sweet 16) I believe it?s the Badgers and not the Illini? that will be giving Tom Izzo fits while chasing the Big 10 title. Losing Kirk Penney to graduation should free up this roster, especially the exciting backcourt of Devin Harris and Freddie Owens, to not have to rely on keeping scores in the un-exciting 50?s and 60?s. Down low, 7-footer McDonald?s All-American Brian Butch turned down Carolina to be a Badger. No, really!

10. Syracuse ? (Last seen ineffectively begging Carmelo to stay) I?ve seen them ranked higher and while I love sophomore guard Gerry Mcnamara, you can?t ignore the fact that last year?s championship squad lost the odds-on favorite for NBA rookie of the year honors. They?ll have to settle for Hakim Warrick and hope he?s capable of a little more offensive production than was required last year.

9. North Carolina ? (Last seen, say it with me, N-I-T) There?ll be some early growing pains as guys like Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Jawad Williams learn what it is to actually be coached by someone that demands their respect and quality shot selection. Roy does not have the depth to get out and run as he prefers, and besides Felton he has no one on the roster with any former point guard experience. That could be a very big problem.

8. Kansas ? (Last seen ineffectively begging Roy to stay after getting oh so very close to ending the season with a win) Seriously, Self?s going to have to find someone to replace Kirk Hinrich?s timely 3-point shooting. Giddens? Without that, Kansas fans are in store for a handful of frustratingly close defeats in the Big 12 keeping them away from a #1 or #2 tourney seed. Or worse if the current roster is not mature enough to transition from Roy?s my-way-or-the-dadgum-highway approach to Self?s player-friendly one.

7. Arizona ? (Last seen almost pulling the upset over K.U. in the Elite 8) Pretty high ranking for a team that graduated three starters (Luke Walton, Jason Gardner, Rick Anderson). But Lute?s proven an ability to reload, this time in the form of frosh point guard Mustafa Shakur. He joins Salim, Channing, and Hassan to form the Pac-10 roster with the most unusal names, and talent.

6. Michigan State ? (Last seen dropping to Texas in the Elite 8) So, they?re 0-1, but they won?t face Magic and Bird (and the Globetrotters) again so they should be alright. Aloysius Anagonye has graduated leaving the bruising interior duties to Paul Davis—who should be up for the task. This team is absolutely loaded at the guard position and Izzo?s toughest challenge will be finding a way for Chris Hill, Kelvin Torbert to co-exist with the diaper dandies Shannon Brown and Brandon Cotton.

5. Florida ? (Last seen once again underachieving in the tourney with an embarrassing 2nd round loss to Michigan State) Anthony Roberson, Matt Walsh and Christian Drejer are back and as sophomores should be primed to fill the void of graduates Matt Bonner, Justin Hamilton and Brett Nelson. But this is really David Lee?s team, and with him moving primarily to the #4 this year, and with another solid recruiting class in tow, the SEC is the Gators to lose. Which likely means they will, and that I?ve got Kentucky rated way too low.

4. Gonzaga ? (Last seen playing the game of the tournament before finally getting edged by Arizona in Round two) That?s right, I said #4. Blake Stepp and Ronny Turiaf can each give you 20 on any given night, and Cory Violette is still ably patrolling the post. And since they?ve proven year after year after year that the ?Zags ain?t no fluke, they?re now able to recruit, land and play talented freshmen—like Sean Mallon and Adam Morrison this year. You?re likely not going to be staying up late enough to catch the Gonzaga-Pepperdine regular season conference games, but you won?t want to miss their December 13 game with #3?

3. Missouri ? (Last seen shooting themselves out of the Marquette game in the 2nd round) If Quin can get the point guard position resolved, and keep everyone not named Ricky or Arthur content with their minutes, this really could be the year.

2. Duke ? (Last seen getting manhandled by Nick Collison, and cringing after every J.J. Redick brick in the Sweet 16) Shavlik Randolph spent the summer in the weight room, Chris Duhon supposedly got faster and Coach K replaces his only roster loss (Dahntay Jones) with this year?s version of Carmelo Anthony in Luol Deng. (2004-5 Note: It sounds like Coach K is going to get a verbal commitment from 6’7 p.g. Shaun Livingston—over Illini/Arizona/UNC).

1. Connecticut ? (Last seen competing favorably with Texas in a Sweet 16 loss) As much as I?d like to see either Mizzou or Duke win it all, Emeka Okafor is the best player in the nation. Ben Gordon?s not too far behind. And point guard Taliek Brown will now have Charlie Villanueva (assuming he?s cleared to play) to drop dimes to as well, and if he?s half as good as advertised, they?ll be awfully hard to beat after cake-walking through a ho-hum Big East.

There you have it, the Maui Invitational and Great Alaskan Shootout are right around the corner, and now you?ve been sufficiently primed.

More importantly, Britney is feeling a little under the weather, so much so that she had to cancel the European leg of her current tour. I?m sure you?ll all join me in urging Miss Spears to slip into something comfortable and curl up in her bed for some much needed rest, but only after a long, hot shower?