College hoops kicks off in style -- finally

One of the primary issues for college basketball is the lack of a true start date. Usually, it's been a couple of preliminary one-sided tournament games that don't mean a thing, other than the fact they serve as the official kickoff to the campaign.

This year is different -- and much of the reason can be attributed to Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis. A year ago, he spearheaded the game in San Diego on an aircraft carrier between the Spartans and North Carolina. This year, two aircraft carrier games have popped up on Friday, Veteran's Day. There's Florida vs. Georgetown in Jacksonville and Ohio State against Marquette in Charleston.

Then you've got the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats against Maryland at the brand-new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn, a battle of two of the elite mid-major players in the nation with Creighton's Doug McDermott hosting Tony Mitchell and North Texas; and a dangerous Lehigh team led by C.J. McCollum playing at Baylor. That doesn't even include the newest innovation from Hollis, which is a contest on an Air Force base in Germany between Michigan State and UConn.

Jeff Goodman