The Drexel Dragons kicked off their basketball season with a personalized Midnight Madness celebration, featuring player introductions, music, and a few promises from head coach Bruiser Flint.

Can you find a way to come up with a single number that would represent a player's contribution to a win or loss in a basketball game? We look inside the numbers and take a stab at adjusting HOOPWAR to give us a starting point.

If you have been looking into the computer rankings released this week, Wichita State's marks might have stood out to you. We are leaning toward the lower end of the projections, but a lot depends on how you look at transfers.

If you need a good refresher on all that is happening outside of the big leagues, then Myron Medcalf has assembled one for you at ESPN. If you are looking to be wowed with a few upset picks heading into the year, you have come to the wrong place.

Three of the sure candidates for the Ivy League top 10 list are sitting out the season, leaving the level of talent down a notch. But it helps to unveil a lot of young talent coming up in the conference. And at the front of the pack, a senior Tiger.

We sit down to discuss the upcoming season with Casey Alexander, entering his second season as head coach of the Stetson University Hatters after a long run on Rick Byrd's staff at Belmont.

The new Ken Pomeroy ratings are out and there is a cluster of mid-major talent within the top 50 teams. Of note: highly touted Creighton comes in outside the top 25, and the upstart Ivy League starts as the No. 12 conference. We comb the numbers.

Basketball Prospectus' Dan Hanner has released a set of tempo-free computer ratings that help to show how wide open the race for the NCAA title is. But how do the mid-majors that we have been touting fare? They could just be the ultimate sleepers.

Wichita State was one of the best mid-major teams last season, but the bulk of that team has moved on. Packed with transfer and young players, can the remaining pieces of last year's squad combine to make the Shockers a contender again in the MVC?

New Mexico State was a silent force in the mid-major ranks last season. The loss of its top three players should have changed that, but a ever-shifting WAC could have the Aggies riding high again this season. A lot depends on guard Daniel Mullings.