10 burning questions (Cont.)

6. How spicy will the Crosstown Shootout be?

I have long maintained that Cincinnati-Xavier was the most underrated rivalry in sports. The two teams have played annually since the 1927-28 season. The neighborhood brawl took on the name of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout 23 years ago, long before the whole corporate sponsorship thing jumped the shark. Perhaps more people would be attuned to the intensity of this rivalry if the schools were in the same conference, but it also hasn't helped lately that Cincinnati has been going through an extended down period in the wake of Bob Huggins' firing.

However, when the two teams meet at Xavier's Cintas Center on Dec. 10, it could mark the first time in 19 years that both teams are entering the game ranked in the AP's top 25. If that's the case, it will truly be must-see TV. This rivalry has always been spicy, but it looks to me like it's about to get extra hot.

7. Which underachieving big man will make a giant leap?

I wouldn't quite call it a trend, but as I scan the college hoops landscape, I see an awful lot of tall young men who played rather small last season. That's not surprising considering big guys usually have a harder time adjusting to college because they are not used to going against players their size. There are not many quality big men in college hoops to begin with, so a rapidly improving center can make a huge difference.

Duke junior Mason Plumlee looked like a lottery pick early last season, but he disappeared after point guard Kyrie Irving got hurt. Michigan State sophomore Adreian Payne never fully recovered from the shoulder injury that prevented him from lifting weights until January. Gonzaga junior Elias Harris regressed thanks to a host of nagging injuries and a conspicuous lack of toughness. UCLA center Josh Smith showed promise as a freshman but struggled with conditioning and foul trouble. Villanova's Mouphtao Yarou started every game as a sophomore and got plenty of rebounds, but he played stiff on offense.

Then there's the enigmatic (to put it kindly) Renardo Sidney of Mississippi State. When he wasn't missing practice, getting into fights with teammates or wheezing in pain from being so out of shape, Sidney actually showed flashes of brilliance. He surprised me by declining to turn pro last spring, but just when it appeared he might be coming into his own, Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury left him home from the team's summer exhibition trip to Europe. Sidney is talented, but would you wager your net worth that he has finally gotten his act together? Neither would I.

So that leaves Fab Melo, Syracuse's 7-foot sophomore center. If you had seen this kid play in the big high school showcases, you would have thought he was a can't-miss prospect. The Big East coaches thought so, too, which is why they tabbed the Fab One as the league's preseason freshman of the year. Once the games started, however, Melo looked dazed and confused, especially on defense. What little confidence he had was shattered by Jim Boeheim's inexplicable habit of keeping Melo in the starting lineup and then yanking him a few minutes after the tap.

I will be very curious to see whether Melo makes the textbook frosh-to-soph leap this season because a) he's good enough to do it, and b) it would exponentially increase Syracuse's chances of winning a national championship. So this isn't just a burning question, but a big one as well.

8. Just how impenetrable is the top tier?

Every preseason ranking I've seen has North Carolina and Kentucky in the top two. Most every list also has Ohio State, UConn and Duke in the top five. So that's the consensus top tier, and forgive me if I stifle a yawn. If the 2011-12 season were a movie, we'd have to call it "The Usual Suspects."

I'm all for the blue bloods, but college basketball needs a variety of flavors. We like our sport to taste like ice cream, not bread. Remember how much fun those San Diego State-BYU games were last year? Isn't it cool when Butler or Gonzaga creeps into the conversation for a high seed? Even a power conference team that exceeds expectations can provide a nice jolt of excitement. Remember, in last year's preseason rankings UConn was picked to finish 10th -- in the Big East.

Who are the potential party crashers this year? Baylor and Memphis are on a lot of top-10 lists, and for good reason. Scott Drew and Josh Pastner have been recruiting way above their heads, and they both got lucky last spring when their top underclassmen decided to return to school. It would be pretty cool if Michigan was able to enter late February still in position to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten title. Mike Montgomery is also going to have a nice team at Cal, thanks to the presence of ready-to-be-discovered swingman Allen Crabbe.

But the team that is both good and intriguing enough to break up the blue blood club is Vanderbilt. Over the past few years the Commodores have been a respectable but nonthreatening bunch. This year, however, they will excel in every category. They have size, depth, athleticism, experience and quality point guard play, and Jenkins is arguably the best pure shooter in America. Kevin Stallings is an excellent coach and a good guy, and Vanderbilt is one of the finest academic schools in the country. This will be a fun team to watch and an easy team to root for. Now all they have to do is knock off Kentucky and Florida.

9. Speaking of Florida, how many basketballs do the Gators plan on using?

I don't know the answer, but I hope it's more than one. The Gators return their backcourt tandem of Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton from the squad that reached the Elite Eight last season. To that mix they are adding Beal as well as 6-3 Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario. It's nice to have talent, but if you have too many guys who play alike, it doesn't work. In this case, those four guys have one thing in common: They all need the ball in their hands.

That's not to say that they're selfish. It's just that they are all true scorers, and none of them excels at spot-up shooting or coming off screens. Rosario, in particular, could have a hard time adjusting. He averaged more than 16 points per game during his two years at Rutgers, but he was the team's first, second and third option, and he often appeared allergic to moving without the ball. Rosario left New Jersey because he wanted a chance to win, but that means blending in with players who are as good, if not better than him. Easier said than done.

Even though Florida graduated senior forwards Alex Tyus, Chandler Parsons and Vernon Macklin, I expect them to be strong up front because they have Patric Young, the 6-9 sophomore who excelled for Team USA over the summer at the Under-19 world championships. The question, then, is whether the Gators will find the right chemistry among their little guys. Short of playing with an extra ball or two, that is going to be one tall task.

10. Will Wild Bill ride again?

Regular visitors to this space know all about the legend of Wild Bill, aka Bill Sproat, the literally-larger-than-life senior at Utah State who dons hilarious outfits at home games in an effort to distract opposing foul shooters. The Aggies lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament last year, so Sproat did not get to unveil the blockbuster costume he promised at the Final Four. Sproat just turned 28, but he is still a couple of semesters from earning his bachelor's degree. So he'll be ready to break out his Wild Bill act again this winter, right?

Well, maybe. I caught up with Sproat this week, and he told me he believed it was time to hang up his teapot hat. "Wild Bill is done," he said. "I don't want to be that guy that's just kind of holding on while nobody likes it anymore. I had two solid years of it. I might as well go out like Barry Sanders and not like Brett Favre."

On the other hand, Sproat unleashed Wild Bill at the Utah State-Wyoming football game last week, when he dressed up as Braveheart and rode a unimog onto the field. So he's not completely closing the door on a cameo during hoops season. "I definitely won't do it every game, but maybe I'll do a couple of outfits sometime," he said. "I have endless ideas of costumes I want to do. It really is addicting. It's so much fun."

The same could be said for college basketball right now. It's addicting. It's fun. It's hot. And it will be the only game in town to ward off the chill of a long, hard winter.