Season Starts With a Lot of Questions

College basketball is off to a quick start. North Carolina has already lost a game but won a tournament in Hawaii. Virginia whipped Arizona and the Cavaliers are expected to be no more than middle of the pack in the Atlantic Coast Conference while Arizona has been picked to win the Pacific 10 Conference.

But everyone still has some questions, right? How about the answers?

The question: Won’t the Final Four in St. Louis come from these teams? Wake Forest (best player in the country with guard Chris Paul); Kansas (best senior threesome in Wayne Simien, Aaron Miles and Keith Langford); North Carolina (Rashad McCants will be great if Coach Roy Williams doesn’t kick him off the team first); Georgia Tech (made it last year, have five players returning who played substantial minutes on that team); Illinois (perhaps the best guard duo in the country with Deron Williams and Dee Brown); and Syracuse (Hakim Warrick, Gerry McNamara and Billy Edelin played on 2002 national championship team).

The answer: Not all of them. Wake Forest ranked 235th in field-goal defense last year and defense wins championships; Kansas’ stalwarts tend to struggle with their free throws -- (Langford, 66.9%; Miles 69.9%); North Carolina’s McCants whines more than he stars; Georgia Tech didn’t rebound much a year ago; Illinois’ Brown is still recovering from a stress fracture in his leg; Syracuse doesn’t have much depth.

The question: So who might be surprise Final Four participants?

The answer: How about Louisville? The Cardinals will be helped immensely by a healthy Ellis Myles, who sat out last year because of a knee injury. He takes pressure off silky Francisco Garcia.

Or George Washington, with four starters back from last year’s 18-12 team and its sixth man with the coolest name in the game -- Pops Mensah-Bonsu. He’s 6-9, can run the floor, shoot and score.

The question: Who’s worth watching before he’s gone?

The answer: Purdue Coach Gene Keady. He’s getting a farewell tour after announcing he’ll step down after the season. Keady’s teams mostly overachieved for the emotive coach and maybe in March he’ll tell us how he kept that perpetual tan in West Lafayette, Ind.

The question: What’s up with the Big East and Conference USA?

The answer: One more year and then they’re all mixed up. The Big East built a rich history since its invention in 1979. It has given the NCAA five national champions and built furious rivalries through its close-knit smaller schools. Next year Boston College will be gone, and Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida will arrive from Conference USA. Conference USA will add Southern Methodist, Marshall, Rice, Central Florida, Tulsa and Texas El Paso. Not a fair trade.

The question: Once and for all, is Gonzaga a mid-major or a major player?

The answer: Must be a major player. The NCAA is investigating transfer J.P. Batista, who spent time at three junior colleges before arriving in Spokane, and there’s a brand new arena with 2,000 more seats that is already sold out. It’s big time.

The question: So who are the really Cinderella mid-majors?

The answer: Manhattan maybe, just by keeping Coach Bobby Gonzalez from leaving after a 25-6 season a year ago. Pacific, maybe, with 10 players back from last year’s 25-8 team, including intriguing 6-8 center Guillaume Yango, who led Pacific to an upset win over Providence in the NCAA tournament, then scored 22 points in the next round against Kansas.

The question: Any new coaches at big programs?

The answer: Always. Jeff Lebo at Auburn; John Thompson III at Georgetown; Lon Kruger at UNLV; Thad Matta at Ohio State; Ray Giacolleti at Utah.

The question: Any disgraced coaches getting second chances?

The answer: Of course. After a stint in alcohol rehab, Larry Eustachy hopes to erase from memories the photo of himself, drunk and kissing a coed. Now he’s at Southern Mississippi. And Tom Penders is at Houston. Penders was fired by Texas in 1998 after his staff allegedly released the grades of Luke Axtell when he transferred. Then, after two seasons at George Washington, Penders resigned after revelations players had used his son’s telephone account. Welcome back, Tom.

The question: Who has the hardest job this season?

The answer: La Salle’s new coach, John Giannini, who was hired in August after former Maryland assistant Billy Hahn was forced to resign along with women’s coach John Miller amid allegations from a former female basketball player that a male player had raped her. Three men’s players left the team as a result of the alleged incident and this once-proud program that produced NBA veterans such as Lionel Simmons and Tim Legler has nine scholarship players left.

The question: Who had the hardest job a year ago and what happened?

The answer: Scott Drew, who took over a Baylor program ravaged by the fallout of the alleged murder of one player by another player and the ensuing cover-up from ex-coach Dave Bliss. Drew has turned to Europe for recruiting and brought in a top-20 class. So things can get better, Coach Giannini.

The question: If you’re a senior and still in college, are you any good?

The answer: Julius Hodge (North Carolina State), Lawrence Roberts (Mississippi State), Wayne Simien (Kansas), Hakim Warrick (Syracuse), Ryan Gomes (Providence), Joey Graham (Oklahoma State), Travis Diener (Marquette), John Lucas (Oklahoma State), Ronny Turiaf (Gonzaga), Chuck Hayes (Kentucky) and Taylor Coppenrath (Vermont) would tell you yes.

The question: What freshmen probably won’t see their senior year

The answer: Oregon forward Malik Hairston; Kentucky guard Joe Crawford; Kentucky center Randolph Morris.

The question: Which team has something to prove?

The answer: Florida. The Gators were trendy picks to win a national title last year then got whipped in the first round by Manhattan. Florida, under Coach Billy Donovan, has gotten a reputation of having lots of talent but no team.

The question: Can Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski still flourish?

The answer: Really, it’s not a silly question. Krzyzewski wasn’t happy watching Chris Duhon and freshman Luol Deng leave early for the pros. Duke players are supposed to love Coach K and stay a little longer. Krzyzewski was annoyed enough to talk to the Lakers. But not annoyed enough to leave.

The question: Why does new Xavier Coach Sean Miller look familiar?

The answer: Because his precocious ball-handling skills landed Miller on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” when Miller was 12. Now he has to try to handle the expectations he’ll be as good as former Xavier coaches Skip Prosser and Thad Matta.

The question: Does anybody remember the Pac-10?

The answer: The Pac-10 was easy to forget last year, what with only three teams making it to the NCAA tournament and all of them gone by the second week.

Conference coaches bravely speak of having four or five NCAA tournament teams this year. But if Arizona is still the best, that seems unlikely. Washington is on a big upswing. But Stanford lost coach Mike Montgomery and two games already and everybody else is young, young, young.

The question: What would be the coolest thing to see?

The answer: If Kansas plays North Carolina for the national championship.

Kansas seniors Simien, Miles and Langford have made no secret about missing coach Roy Williams, who is at North Carolina. And Williams makes no secret of his love for those guys. It could happen.

The question: What would amp the feelings another notch?

The answer: If Illinois joined Kansas and North Carolina in the Final Four. Kansas Coach Bill Self recruited and mentored the best Illini players.

The question: But really, who will be in the Final Four?

The answer: Kansas, Wake Forest, Kentucky and Washington.

The question: Wanna bet?

The answer: No.

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They’re the Ones to Watch

College basketball’s best from everywhere, not by their position or by team or by conference. Just good players:

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CHRIS PAUL, 6-foot sophomore guard, Wake Forest: Everything to like, nothing to criticize about this quick, strong, savvy young man with the instincts of old-time point guards. As a freshman, Paul averaged 14.8 points and 5.9 assists. Even when he doesn’t score a lot of points, he can take over games with his passing.

FRANCISCO GARCIA, 6-7 junior forward, Louisville: At 190 pounds, Garcia seems to be trend-dieting all the time, but he’s too quick to catch and is creative in inventing shots. The tougher the game, the more unstoppable Garcia becomes. When he was injured last season, Louisville’s offense screeched to a halt.

WAYNE SIMIEN, 6-9 senior center, Kansas: Neither flashy nor selfish, Simien averaged 17.8 points and 9.3 rebounds last season and raised those numbers during Kansas’ run to the Elite Eight (18.0 points and 10.3 rebounds in the NCAA tournament). He is prone to injury and can be harassed into turnovers, but he pounds to the basket to score on layups.

IKE DIOGU, 6-8 junior center, Arizona State: Playing for a team picked to finish last in the Pacific 10 and with a weak supporting cast, it was a surprise when Diogu chose to return to college. Diogu is a monster in the low post, a ferocious defender who averaged 22.8 points and 8.9 rebounds while being double- and triple-teamed all game.

JULIUS HODGE, 6-7 senior guard, North Carolina State: Hodge was the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year last season because no one could take their eyes off him. He scored 18.2 points and had 6.4 rebounds a game. His teammates love him and Hodge took the Wolfpack back to the NCAA tournament after it had been missing for a decade.

LAWRENCE ROBERTS, 6-9 senior forward, Mississippi State: Roberts left Baylor after the alleged murder of one player by another and quietly became, in one season, the best player in the Southeastern Conference. He averaged a double-double (16.9 points, 10.1 rebounds), was an efficient defender and a powerful shot blocker.

HASSAN ADAMS, 6-4 junior swingman, Arizona: Last season, Adams, from Westchester, had to play power forward and still averaged 17.2 points while battling bigger, stronger men. Now he’ll stay on the wing, where he is clever at creating his shot and, on defense, causing turnovers. With the departure of Andre Iguodala, more of the shots in Lute Olson’s offense will be available for Adams.

JOEY GRAHAM, 6-7 senior forward, Oklahoma State: Graham is physical while posting up, but he can shoot the three (48.3% last season). As a junior college transfer, Graham was voted Big 12 newcomer of the year last season.

CHUCK HAYES, 6-6 senior forward, Kentucky: Hayes does all that other stuff well -- rebounding, passing, defending -- so is overlooked for not posting huge scoring numbers. He will almost always be stopping the top-scoring opponent, not letting ego trump good, sound basketball skills.

HAKIM WARRICK, 6-8 senior forward, Syracuse: Warrick averaged nearly 20 points and nine rebounds a game last season and would like to pair with fellow senior Gerry McNamara to prove that the national title the Orangemen won in 2003 wasn’t all because of Carmelo Anthony.

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-- Diane Pucin