OUR OWN SPECIAL TOP 25.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

Like Bobby Knight, we're just trying to pick your head up. Unlike Bobby Knight, we're going keep our mitts off your stubbly chin. College basketball is here and we'd like a little attention for our preseason Top 25. Everybody else makes Florida, North Carolina and Kansas the main attractions. So we'll shake it up a bit.

1. Freshmen on the rise: The biggest force in the sport is the wave of talented kids forced into college by the NBA's new age limit. Four years ago (a generation in college athletics), The Sporting News' preseason top 10 teams had four freshmen and 23 seniors among their projected starters. This year, the magazine's top 10 is expected to start 10 freshmen and six seniors.

2. North Carolina: The Tar Heels will go as far as their tricycles take them, and it should be far. Two freshmen and two sophomores, including Tyler Hansbrough, are in the nation's most gifted first-string.

3. Knight's record bid: Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight needs only six more wins to pass Adolph Rupp for second all-time, and only nine to pass Dean Smith for the record. Hard to say what could possibly go wrong now.

4. Florida: Joakim Noah is back, as is the rest of the starters from the team that beat UCLA in the NCAA final.

5. Pitt: How do you not root for North Hollywood native Jamie Dixon, the Pitt coach who takes seriously his role in carrying on the memory of his sister Maggie, who died in April after coaching Army's women's team to the tournament?

6. Wisconsin: If experience still counts, the Badgers have more than anybody, tipping off the season with a lineup of three seniors, Alando Tucker among them, and two juniors.

7. Deja vu at Georgetown: John Thompson III coaches Patrick Ewing Jr., and you know there's magic in a son following his father's footsteps to Washington.

8. Knight's future: Relax, Monday night's incident, in which he gave Red Raiders player Michael Prince a firm chuck under the chin during a timeout in a victory over Gardner-Webb, isn't going to cost Knight his job. The kid isn't upset, his parents aren't upset, the athletic director isn't upset.

9. Kansas: Last year's three freshman starters, among them Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright, become grizzled sophomores.

10. UCLA: If they keep their March momentum, are healthier than last year, still play good defense, get a Jordan Farmar performance from Darren Collison, and get what's expected from Arron Afflalo, the Bruins are a threat again.

11. The Glen Davis Diet: The LSU center is leaner. Maybe his Tigers are meaner.

12. Little guys we'll root for: Thanks to USA Today for putting too fine a point on it, breaking down the shortest guard (5-foot-7 Drew Lavender, Xavier), forward (5-foot-10 Keithan Hancock, Northwestern State) and center (6-foot-4 Tristan Rogers, Murray State).

13. John Grotberg: Never heard of him? The Grinnell College sophomore is the nation's top returning scorer after averaging 31.4 points for the Division III school in Iowa.

14. Ohio State: Center Greg Oden, the nation's top freshman, won't make his Buckeyes debut until January. He's getting over a wrist operation.

15. Then again, there's this on Bobby Knight: So the kid and his parents aren't upset. In the absence of blood, would you expect a player to speak up and get his coach fired?

16. Texas A&M: The Dec. 9 game at the John Wooden Classic in Anaheim is a highlight of UCLA's pre-conference schedule.

17. Arizona: Lute Olson's well-seasoned team can scare UCLA in the Pac-10 if the defense improves.

18. Bobby Braswell's contract: The Cal State Northridge coach faces the final year of his deal, and the judgment of new athletic director Rick Mazzuto, after going 11-17.

19. The Waves: The Matadors say thank goodness for Pepperdine (7-20) and UC Riverside (5-23), who saved Northridge from having the worst season in the L.A. area.

20. This year's George Mason: Whoever it is. The NCAA Tournament thrives on the upstarts -- if only because that's the only way TV seems to think it can sell the thing.

21. Duke: USA Today ratingsmeister Jeff Sagarin has the Blue Devils at No. 1 in his preseason rankings.

22. Names in the news: Washington State's new coach is Tony Bennett. Montana's new coach is Wayne Tinkle. Xavier has guard Stanley Burrell, no relation to MC Hammer. Fullerton has guard Bobby Brown, no relation to Bobby Brown. Long Beach has (Kejuan) Johnson and (Aaron) Nixon.

23. Women: With Ivory Latta leading the women's team, North Carolina could sweep the men's and women's national titles next spring. UConn did it in 2004.

24. Bottom line on Knight: It comes down to whether you think a coach crosses a line when he puts his hands on a player, as he did the other night. Or, maybe, whether you think Knight should even be allowed to tiptoe up to a line, since he's so prone to go over it.

25. USC: You'll go for the Galen Center. Someday soon, maybe you'll stay for the Trojans.

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Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon will lead the Panthers while trying to get over the death of his sister Maggie, who died of a heart condition in April.

Brian Bahr/Getty Images