Attention hoopheads: 20 pressing questions as madness tips off

Time to get busy, Hoopheads.

Midnight Madnesshas arrived, and I know you are brimming with optimism. Your favorite team is undefeated. You're convinced that every returning vet will be vastly improved from last year, and every newcomer will be that impact player you've been waiting for. Midnight Madness, of course, means the start of practice and yeah, we're talking about practice. We are college basketball fans, after all. We still believe in a place called Hoop.

Coaches, however, are a more realistic lot. They know there is much work to be done. Even the best teams begin each season with nagging questions. Thus, as your resident Hoop Thinker, I am here to provide my annual public service of identifying the most pressing questions facing 20 programs as the new season gets underway.

(For more Hoop Thoughts, click here for Seth Davis' new blog)

Arizona has made 25 straight NCAA tournament appearances. When you think about it, that is one of the great achievements in sports. That streak is in serious jeopardy due to the tumult this program has undergone since Lute Olson's sudden retirement, but it is not dead yet. Last spring's coaching search resulted in a slam-dunk hire in Sean Miller, who immediately proved his worth by luring five top-100 recruits to Tucson. Add in point guard Nic Wise's decision to forego the NBA draft and Arizona has a chance -- a chance -- to make the tournament for the 26th straight year.

Assuming the Wildcats don't have a bid locked up by the middle of February, you can expect the streak to be a mighty weight on this young team's shoulders. The players will be mentally and physically exhausted as is, and they will be asked about the streak every day. Miller will do his best to give his one-day-and-one-game-at-a-time spiel, but that's easier said than done. It will be hard enough for this team to make the tournament without having to play for a quarter-century's worth of history.

It's not uncommon for mid-major teams to creep to the top of the rankings, but most of the time they are unable to sustain that kind of success over time. Gonzaga has been the lone exception over the last 15 years, but now Butler is getting ready to match, and possibly surpass, what Gonzaga has done.

Last year at this time, Butler was beginning practice after losing four starters from a team that had won 30 games and took Tennessee to the wire in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Yet, the Bulldogs still went 26-6 and earned their eighth NCAA bid in 13 years. Now, the Bulldogs return four starters, only one of whom is a senior.

How good is Butler? Matt Howard, a 6-8 junior forward, was last year's Horizon League Player of the Year, and he might only be the second-best player on this team. That's because 6-8 sophomore Gordon Hayward returns after excelling for Team USA at the 19-and-under championships last summer. Hayward is a prodigious scorer who last season sank seven threes in a game on two occasions (including against Ohio State). The other players who started last season as freshmen, Shelvin Mack and Ronald Nored, will also benefit from having a year under their belts.

A tough preseason schedule that includes the 76 Classic should help determine if they're that good.