The First 68: 30 days until Midnight Madness

We have exactly 30 days until the first helping of Midnight Madness festivities, which means you can almost hear the sounds of squeaking sneakers, bouncing balls and third-tier West Coast announcers calling games at 1 a.m. through grainy Internet feeds.

I can’t wait, and because I can’t wait, it’s time for the 2014-15 debut of The First 68.

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The season officially tips off on Friday, Nov. 15, but for most fans, the unofficial start of every college basketball season has become the ESPN tip-off marathon. With that event now exactly two months away, let’s take a quick look at the 10 best games on this year’s slate:

1. Kansas vs. Kentucky

Since its inception, the Champion’s Classic has become the tip-off marathon’s main event, and this year’s final act is no different. There’s a very strong chance that this winds up being a battle of two top five teams, and that one of them (Kentucky) is the No. 1 team in the country.

2. Duke vs. Michigan State

The undercard of the event will feature a Duke team that should also start the season with more than a handful of No. 1 votes, and a Michigan State squad that will likely be rebuilding ... at least as much as Tom Izzo ever “rebuilds.”

3. Wichita State vs. Memphis

The Shockers figure to start 2014-15 with another pretty lofty national ranking, and they’ll be putting their nation’s best regular season winning streak on the line against Josh Pastner and the Tigers inside the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.

4. SMU at Gonzaga

The game loses a little bit of intrigue with Emmanuel Mudiay’s college career being over before it ever got started, but not much. The Mustangs still look like a legitimate top 25 team, and Gonzaga should work its way back into the conversation of being a Final Four threat after something of a down year for the program.

5. Miami at Florida

The two in-state rivals will be meeting for the first time since the 2009 NIT, and for the first time in the regular season since 2005.

6. Marquette at Ohio State

7. Utah at San Diego State

SDSU has emerged to fill the role of the unexpected West Coast power that Utah laid claim to in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Now, the Utes feel like they’re in a position to take back that title, which makes this early season clash even more interesting than it would have been otherwise.

8. Auburn at Colorado

Bruce Pearl after 1 a.m. Justification over.

9. Toledo at VCU

10. Manhattan at UMass

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No team has had a worse September than UCLA, which is down to nine eligible scholarship players after the events of the past month.

The most recent blow for Steve Alford’s team is the news that Colorado State transfer Jon Octeus has been denied admission to UCLA. The hope in Westwood was that Octeus, who averaged 13.4 ppg for the Rams last season, would step in and be the Bruins’ new starting point guard from day one. Now, with this news coupled with top 75 recruit Jonah Bolden being ruled a partial qualifier last week, Bryce Alford is the lone scholarship point guard on the UCLA roster, and he is far more suited to play the two spot.

UCLA still might have the best frontcourt in the Pac-12 with Tony Parker, Kevon Looney and Thomas Welsh, but that’s not going to make much of a difference if they can’t find a couple of guys capable of consistently getting the ball across midcourt.

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We stay out West for the runner-up for the previous award, which goes to Dana Altman and Oregon. The Ducks were already heading into this season with just four returning scholarship players thanks to the dismissals of Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis in May. Now, it looks as though their most-prized freshman might not be around for the 2014-15 campaign either.

JaQuan Lyle was mysteriously removed from the Oregon roster earlier this week, a move which would seem to hint that Lyle has not been cleared by the NCAA. If true, the news would be especially hard to take for a program which already saw 6’9 freshman Ray Kasongo denied admission just weeks ago. Kasongo, for what it’s worth, elected to transfer to Southern Idaho. Lyle, a consensus top 30 recruit, has been expected to shoulder a significant portion of the scoring in his first season as a Duck.

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Good, Indiana.

Debatable, Indiana.

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If you ever wanted to get wild with your preseason All-American picks and not have people question you, this is the season to do it.

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Just how severe is the cold recruiting streak that Illinois hoops is in the midst of? Ricky O’Donnell has an exhaustive breakdown of the brutal run of futility that the Illini have been on.

That’s your read of the week, by the way. You have to click on the link and read the post before you can move ahead with this one. If you don’t, God Shamgod will see you scroll.

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Your court of the week comes from UC Irvine, where Anteater Nation (Is that a thing? I’m just assuming it’s at least kind of a thing) is excited about its squad’s chances of making a run to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

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Here are five guys I can almost guarantee you’ll see on every “breakout players” list between now and the start of the season:

Terry Rozier, Louisville -- There were more than a few NBA scouts who believed Rozier was the best pro prospect on U of L’s roster last year. He turned plenty of heads at the Adidas Nations camp over the summer, and will have a chance to turn plenty more as he attempts to help fill the scoring void left behind by Russ Smith.

Kasey Hill, Florida -- People already know too much about Chris Walker for him to be a true “breakout” star, so we’ll go with the former blue chip recruit who will now be running the show in Gainesville this winter.

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Good news out of Charlotte, where 49ers head coach Alan Major has returned to the team after taking a leave of absence following two eye surgeries and a heart procedure over the last couple of months.

“I’m very thankful to God to be back with the team,” Major said in a release. “I want to thank my family, our players and coaches, Athletic Director Judy Rose, Chancellor Phil Dubois and the UNC Charlotte administration. I would also like to thank a great team of doctors: Steve Eyler, Joseph Krug and Robert McSwain. Finally, thanks to Niner Nation for their support and prayers. We are excited to begin another journey.”

Charlotte went 17-14 a season ago and saw its season end with a loss to top-seeded Louisiana Tech in the quarterfinals of the C-USA Tournament.

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Returning scoring leader rankings:

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One of my new favorite September traditions is watching the Kentucky freshmen react to the hoards of UK fans camping out for tickets to “Big Blue Madness.”

Your move, DePaul.

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A little less than three months after the first allegations of player abuse came out, the Doug Wojcik era (and Charleston’s pathetic handling of the situation) is finally over. In the end, Wojcik -- who wasn’t particularly well-liked at COC before all of this -- is walking way from the entire situation $400,000 richer. The Cougars were also finally able to land a new head coach in former Clemson assistant Earl Grant.

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Who would have thought that the best headline of the offseason would belong to a Longwood player, and that said headline would include zero sexual innuendo?

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How excited are they about the upcoming season in Wisconsin? Well, student tickets for the Badgers’ 2014-15 home slate went on sale this week, and they sold out in five minutes.

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Angry at everyone you “love,” and looking to ostracize them all this New Year’s Eve? The AAC has you covered.

What’s so bad about this? You got Dick Clark - tradition. You got Mallomars, the greatest cookie of all time. You got Tulane/East Carolina - two teams that haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament in two decades.

That’s a preseason When Harry Met Sally First 68 reference. Yeah, it’s gonna be a good year.

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Richard Pitino’s second season at Minnesota is going to begin with a showdown against his father’s Louisville team on Nov. 14, and the younger Pitino is already warning Gopher fans to be wary of any passive aggressive shots fired from the other side.

Hoops season is just around the corner and we need to be ready. Not too many programs open up their season vs. a top-five team on national TV. Gopher fans, I must warn you. Ignore anything and everything that comes out of my father’s mouth leading up to this game. He does it on the golf course all the time and will start playing mind games with all of us soon enough! Pay no attention to him. He will say they are young and inexperienced. They are talented, athletic and obviously well-coached. He will tell everyone we are the overwhelming favorite. Prepare yourselves. He tried to coach my team last year during the NIT championship. I am looking forward to watching him try to coach both teams at once on November 14th! Haha.

The game, which will be this season’s Armed Forces Classic, will be played at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico.

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And finally, your first Creepy Mascot Photo of the Week for 2014-15.

Photo credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports

Thanks for starting us off on a high-note, Smokey.