College basketball season gets underway

There'll be lots of time for Oliver Purnell and his staff to teach all of the schemes that made Clemson one of the nation's most harrowing defenses year after year.

After all, he has 31 days until DePaul's opener and seven years on his contract.

As Purnell prepares to introduce his first DePaul team to the masses Friday night at Blue Madness, he's been focusing on the basics.

“Part of what we're doing is, we're establishing a culture, Purnell said. “ ‘Here's what DePaul basketball is all about: It's about work ethic and earning things. It's establishing ourselves as a defensive force.'

And it's going to give three freshmen as much experience as they can stand.

Point guard Brandon Young, shooting guard Moses Morgan and forward Cleveland Melvin represent 30 percent of the scholarship players on the Blue Demons' active roster.

DePaul dropped to 10 when jumping-jack junior forward Eric Wallace broke his left tibia and fibula last week. He underwent surgery and will miss the season.

“It's a big loss for us, but a bigger loss for him, Purnell said. “He's a tremendous athlete and our system loves athletes. It's going to be another opportunity for somebody to step up and play.

Purnell isn't the only coach in Chicago putting his stamp on a new program.

After spending five years as Bo Ryan's assistant at Wisconsin, 37-year-old Howard Moore has no qualms about teaching Illinois-Chicago Ryan's swing offense and his commitment to man-to-man defense.

That's not where his mentor's influence ends. At all of Ryan's coaching stops in Wisconsin, he found a hill for his players to do preseason conditioning.

Moore had to hunt in the city to find a hill for the Flames to call their own, but finally discovered one between the south end of Soldier Field and the old Meigs Field.

“(Wednesday) was our last day running the hills, Moore said. “We started (the preseason) doing 10. We finished up with 20. That was a key part of our mental conditioning, too.

While there's a shiny and new feeling at DePaul and UIC, that's certainly not the case at Northwestern.

Well, there is the Friday Night Hoops event at SPAC on the north campus, but fans will recognize almost of the players introduced.

Not only do the Wildcats welcome back all but two players from last year's active roster, they've essentially been together since mid-August.

Thanks to 17 boosters who combined to kick in $140,000, the Wildcats spent 10 days in Italy before the fall quarter began. Not only did they win four exhibition games overseas, the NCAA allowed them 10 days of practice to prepare for the tour.

That head start allows coach Bill Carmody to try more things during official practice. Defense, for example. Ordinarily, he prefers to focus on the team's intricate offense.

“We'll spend some time early on defense, said Carmody, whose team played man-to-man almost exclusively in Italy. “We'll do a lot of different things, but I think we're capable of playing some man.

Illinois, which has played nothing but man-to-man since Bruce Weber arrived in 2003, kicks off practice with its highest preseason rankings since the 2004-05 squad that played in the NCAA title game.

Weber has the enviable task of blending five returning starters (and improved sophomores Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey) with three premier freshmen who comprise the nation's No. 7 class, according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index.

That depth not only allows Weber to withhold playing time if guys don't defend, but the Illini ought to be able to play at a much faster tempo. Weber and his staff recently reviewed Illinois' NIT quarterfinal loss to Dayton as a reminder of how the Illini should want to play.

“They didn't dribble the ball. They just passed it ahead, Weber said. “They ran like crazy. That's where our guys got to get that mindset.

“Guard. Create stops. Get transition. Run like crazy. Beat 'em down the court. Use your athleticism. And then, hopefully, that's a good formula for success, especially early.

To a certain extent, that sounds like Loyola's plan.

Like the Illini, the Ramblers welcome back five starters (as well as the Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year in Walt Gibler) and believe they'll have much more depth than last season.

Junior guard Jordan Hicks, who missed a chunk of last season with an Achilles' tendon problem and never really regained his form, will be a barometer for Loyola's fortunes.

“He's one of the guys who can be an X-factor for us, said Ramblers coach Jim Whitesell. “Jordan has the ability to be a double-figure scorer in the Horizon League, which is something we could use.

After four veterans left the program during the off-season, including two double-figure scorers, Northern Illinois has more questions than most.

Fourth-year coach Ricardo Patton hopes his six new players, particularly freshman point guard Kyree Jones, can make an immediate difference. Jones is the son of former Chicago State coach Kevin Jones.

“He's got a lot of maturity for a freshman because he's been around the game, Patton said. “He has a learning curve that he's still got to go through, but as a coach once told me, the good ones catch on a lot quicker. The coach who told me that was talking about Chauncey Billups.