The regular season is upon us... though it sort of snuck by, didn't it?

Opening night in the NFL features Bon Jovi in Central Park. Opening Day for Major League Baseball usually means the president is throwing the first pitch.

The first night of the college basketball season, on the other hand, is Duke beating the hell out of Presbyterian... and then complaining about how poorly they played.

The college hoops season... it ends with a bang, but it starts with a whimper, eh?

The final score notwithstanding, Duke has looked very shaky in their first three games. The Devils had 23 turnovers in the win over Presbyterian, shot very poorly against Georgia Southern, and just barely squeaked by Rhode Island. Mike Krzyzewski, clearly unhappy with what he's getting from the team, has been juggling his lineup -- freshman Miles Plumlee started one game, and ex-starters Greg Paulus and Lance Thomas have been coming off the bench.

Seems I wasn't the only observer unimpressed by the Dookies' early efforts... they dropped five places in the latest AP poll, from fifth to tenth.

In the About.com College Basketball Top 25 -- which, curiously, does not factor into the AP rankings -- they dropped from ninth to twelfth... and honestly, I feel like that's still a bit too high.

Other First Week Observations:

• Speaking of polls, Carolina's win over Penn was enough to keep the Heels atop the Coaches Poll, but it's no longer unanimous. Connecticut got one vote.
• Speaking of North Carolina, it seems they'll be without Tyler Hansbrough for at least one more game. Hansbrough is out for Tuesday's matchup with Kentucky in Chapel Hill. After Tuesday, UNC's next game is Friday at UC Santa Barbara.
• All college basketball fans should take a few minutes and read Luke Winn's Hoops Ideology Report over on SI.com. SI staffers took a poll of over 300 Division I teams, getting a sense of which teams will play the Princeton Offense vs. the Dribble Drive vs. the Flex... or Man vs. Zone defense... or which teams are recruiting overseas and which teams are filling rosters with juco transfers. Interesting stuff.

Did you know it's possible to rent UCLA cheerleaders?

No, I don't mean "rent" in the Charlie Sheen sense -- get your mind out of the gutter.

Apparently the UCLA pep team -- complete with mascot -- is available to perform at events, like this wedding. You ask me, it beats the hell out of a DJ who hands out inflatable parrots while playing Jimmy Buffet songs, or waiters dancing around the bride and groom carrying flaming plates of penne alla vodka.

But that's just me.

Note to Billy Gillespie:

Looks like you're going to have to try a little harder when finding a patsy for your Wildcats to beat up early next season. If you like, I can put in a good word with Holy Trinity High School.

For the second straight season, a non-conference opponent has dealt Gillespie's Wildcats an embarrassing loss in Lexington. Last year, it was Gardner-Webb. This year? Virginia Military Institute, who dropped Kentucky 111-103.

The Keydets beat the Wildcats with three-point shooting (14-31 from three) and a frenetic pace... rolling up more points than any Kentucky opponent since North Carolina in 1989.

Funny... three point shooting and a frenetic pace used to be Kentucky's trademarks.

Gillespie and company don't have much time to rebound from this setback. Their next game is in Chapel Hill on Tuesday night, as part of ESPN's Tip-Off Marathon. The top-ranked Tar Heels beat Penn in their opener, 86-71, and did so without last season's player of the year, Tyler Hansbrough, who was out with a stress reaction in his leg.

The preseason polls have been an early coronation of the Carolina Tar Heels, with Roy Williams' squad picked unanimously as the number one team in the AP and Coaches Polls.

The oddsmakers concur.

Betonline.com has installed the Heels as their overwhelming favorite to win the 2009 NCAA Tournament, with 9/4 odds. Duke (10/1) and UCLA (12/1) are next in the oddsmakers' rankings, followed by Connecticut, Louisville and Michigan State, all at 20/1.

Betonline.com also published odds for several conference champions, including, curiously, the Ivy League. (Cornell is their pick to repeat... but if you're really considering a bet on the Ivy League's regular season basketball championship... get help.)

The Carolina Tar Heels received more number one votes last week than anyone but Barack Obama... but the real honor comes today, with UNC listed atop About.com's College Basketball Top 25.

Our panel of experts -- and by "panel of experts" I mean "me" -- selected the Tar Heels as our preseason number one unanimously.

Louisville, Connecticut, UCLA and Texas round out the preseason top five.

• Discuss the list in the College Basketball Forum

Ever wonder what happened to North Carolina's Jackie Manuel? Michigan State's NCAA Tournament hero Mateen Cleaves? Or guys who just weren't good enough to make the NBA cut... like Connecticut's Denham Brown or St. John's Aaron Spears?

The Ridiculous Upside blog has your answers -- as part of a remarkably detailed recap of the 2008 NBA Developmental League draft.

Arizona freshman center Jeff Withey looked at all the turmoil that's hit the Arizona program since Lute Olson returned, then stepped down.

He looked at a team that is losing top recruits left and right, that will play this season under an interim coach, and decided he'd rather spend his college years somewhere other than Tucson. So he went to the administration and announced his intention to transfer.

And Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood said no.

Livengood explained the decision -- sort of -- to the Tucson Citizen, saying:

Simply put that's all there is; I've just denied the release... it's in the best interest of the University of Arizona to have Jeff complete an academic year here. That's what the letter of intent states."

Uh, Jim? You sure about that?

Let's review... your program is a mess. You know it. I know it. The whole country knows it. It's not your fault that Coach Olson got sick and couldn't come back, and it's always difficult to replace a hall of famer.

But look what you're doing here. How does it benefit Arizona to keep this kid hostage for a year? He's gone when his letter of intent expires. In the meantime, you've sent a clear signal to recruits nationwide: "Come to Arizona... but if you don't like it, you're stuck."

That's not exactly the sort of slogan you want to print on next year's recruiting letters.

I was truly sympathetic to your situation when the explanation for Olson's sudden retirement was revealed. Now?

I hope the Wildcats finish dead last in the Pac 10.

The "visit to the White House" is a traditional perk associated with winning a championship. But new Oregon State coach Craig Robinson won't have to wait for his Beavers to win it all -- come January, visiting the White House will be just like visiting his sister's place.

See, the White House will be his sister's place.

Robinson is the older brother to Michelle Obama and brother-in-law to president-elect Barack Obama.

It will be interesting to see how much of a benefit that relationship will be to Robinson and OSU. Clearly, it has gained the relatively unknown coach a great deal of exposure in the last few months -- Robinson was featured at this summer's Democratic National Convention, where he introduced "little sis" before her much-anticipated speech.

That said, President Obama will still be subject to the same NCAA regulations as any other booster... he won't be allowed to make recruiting calls on Robinson's behalf.

I suspect he'll have other issues on his mind anyway.

The least surprising news of the week: North Carolina tops both preseason polls. The Tar Heels received all 72 votes in the AP Poll, the first unanimous number one in the history of the poll.

Carolina was also a unanimous number one in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.

The real upset would have been if Carolina didn't top the polls. The Heels are just loaded this season -- returning all the key players from the team that was the top overall seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, including Wooden Award winner Tyler Hansbrough -- and adding a recruiting class that features three McDonald's All Americans. Roy Williams' squad seems well-positioned to deal with injuries to Hansbrough and Marcus Ginyard.

The Connecticut Huskies are ranked second in both polls -- which is tremendous respect for a team that has a point guard -- A.J. Price -- coming off an ACL injury and lost top recruit to expulsion and Stanley Robinson -- for the first semester, at least -- to academic/personal problems.

It seems unreasonable to expect any Big East team to hang on to such a lofty spot in the polls once that conference's schedule tips off. The Big East is going to be brutal this year -- there are seven Big East teams in the AP's preseason top 25:

1. (2) Connecticut
2. (3) Louisville
3. (5) Pittsburgh
4. (9) Notre Dame
5. (16) Marquette
6. (22) Georgetown
7. (23) Villanova

And Syracuse and West Virginia are looming in the "others receiving votes" category.

Women's Preseason Poll

A familiar name tops the women's preseason poll, as Geno Auriemma's Connecticut Huskies top the AP's preseason poll for the sixth time in school history.

Last year's champs, Tennessee, are ranked seventh after losing their entire starting five to graduation.

Lute Olson's sudden departure from Arizona makes a lot more sense now.

Olson's doctor revealed this week that the legendary Wildcats coach suffered a stroke some time in the past year, which has led to "depression and changes in judgment," the Arizona Daily Star reports. Olson was cleared to return to the bench and had every intention of doing so, but as the season approached, he found himself struggling to keep up with the daily grind.

We wish the coach the very best in his recovery.