The major college basketball season begins a week from today with one of those made-for-TV events that should excite everyone who's long loved the sport.
That's when the State Farm Champions Classic will tip off at 7 p.m. on ESPN inside Indianapolis's Bankers Life Field House with top-ranked Kansas facing No. 10 Michigan State followed by No. 4 Duke versus No. 2 Kentucky around 9:30.
As Kentucky coach John Calipari noted in a news release for the event: "The Champions Classic has been the gold standard for college basketball's regular-season events for the last seven years, but I love what we're doing to use it to tip off the basketball season."
Trouble is, among those four schools, Kentucky is the only one that hasn't found itself dubiously tied to one scandal or another over the past 10 months, and when the Wildcats - whose Hall of Fame coach has had two Final Four appearances erased due to NCAA wrongs at previous employers UMass and Memphis - are your choirboys, you know all you need to know about the current state of college hoops.
To be fair to Duke, its only tie to the current pay-for-play mess regarding shoe giant Adidas is that its most talked-about freshman - 6-foot-6, 270-pound forward Zion Williamson - has been linked to a Kansas assistant inquiring about what financial deals would have to be worked out to sign him.
And while it's certainly reasonable to ask why he would go to Duke for nothing if plenty of other schools apparently were more than happy to pay a family member for his services, there is no evidence directly linking the Blue Devils to any wrongdoing.
But there is plenty of troubling stuff regarding Kansas on any number of fronts, including current forward Silvio De Sousa, who's being held out of action by KU as it investigates claims that representatives of Adidas coughed up $20,000 to get him out of an earlier deal with Under Armour that would have sent him to Maryland so that he could sign with the Jayhawks.
There are also FBI wiretaps that reportedly show Jayhawks assistant Kurtis Townsend discussing Williamson, as well as the troublesome story that the mother of former KU signee Billy Preston was paid $90,000 through a deal allegedly brokered by Adidas for her son to become a Jayhawk.
As for Michigan State, well, the Spartans and coach Tom Izzo spent much of the offseason defending themselves against sexual assault charges. This isn't the same despicable scandal that blessedly put former MSU employee Larry Nassar behind bars for 150 years. But in investigating that monster's deplorable acts regarding USA Gymnastics, less-than-thorough investigations into sexual assault charges involving Spartans athletes were uncovered, including one or two involving Izzo's basketball players.
Other than Izzo admitting that athletic department protocol has changed in that area, nothing much seriously tarnished the longtime coach's otherwise admirable image, but it did raise some troubling questions regarding how much the school listened to the alleged victims as opposed to its star athletes.
But regardless of any past indiscretions involving these four, as well as multiple more at schools such as Arizona, Creighton and Louisville, if you can ignore the pay-for-play scandal, the never-ending debate over whether any of these guys are real students so much as one-year hired guns on their way to the NBA, it could be one of the best on-court seasons in recent memory.
Duke, for instance, signed the top three rated high school players from last year in Williamson, Canadian native RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, as well as point guard Tre Jones, whose older brother Tyus quarterbacked the Dookies to the 2015 NCAA title.
Kansas may have off-court issues, but Bill Self has assembled a deep, talented team that may have zero weaknesses among the first seven players.
As for Kentucky - which will have not only its usual stable of thoroughbred freshmen but also grad transfer Reid Travis and the sophomore trio of Nick Richards, PJ Washington and Quade Green - merely consider this quote from South Carolina coach Frank Martin: "Every time John's had experienced guys coming back, they've been a problem for everybody. And he's got experience coming back."
But No. 3 Gonzaga also looks loaded, as well as North Carolina. Syracuse will be dangerous. Defending national champ Villanova, despite numerous departures, could shock everyone.
And no one should sleep on Tennessee, which returns everybody from last year's SEC regular-season champion squad, is ranked sixth in the Associated Press preseason poll and is a serious threat to reach the program's first-ever Final Four.
But it all starts a week from today in Indianapolis with four schools that have won 18 national titles among them, as well as reaching 56 Final Fours.
"Our four great programs, the capacity crowds and the media attention provide a spotlight on our game that's much needed during an otherwise crowded time in the sports calendar," Izzo said regarding the Champions Classic. "I can't think of a better way to tip off the season."
Especially if you can make yourself forget all the horrible headlines the sport has made during its offseason.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com