60 things we’re looking forward to this season

It’s finally here!

As of noon on Friday, college basketball season will have officially begun, which more or less means that November 9th is Christmas morning for everyone that writes (and, hopefully, reads) this site.

So without further ado, here are the 60 things that we’re looking forward to the most this season. Feel free to add any and everything you’re looking forward to in the comments. We’ll be reading them!

1. Kentucky vs. Louisville. (Each and every one of us)
2. The bewildered look on the faces of Missouri superfans when they get a load of Big Blue Nation. (EA)
3. The Interlude Dance. (RD)
4. The carrot cake at Madison Square Garden. (TM)
5. The Pac-12 fighting for national respect. (RJ)
6. Utah State fans proving that they deserve to be rescued from the wreckage of the USS WAC. (EA)
7. KFC Yum! full of dead-eyed, staring Cardinal masks. (EA)
8. The Mark Turgeon-John Calipari postgame handshake on Nov. 9 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Will the Harrison twins be watching? (DM)
9. Jeff Withey going for the especially elusive points/rebounds/blocks triple double. (EA)
10. Chris Mack getting so desperate for bench depth that he holds sack races on consecutive Thursdays for two roster spots for Xavier students. (DH)
11. Rick Pitino announcing he will be cryogenicly frozen after death and will remain on the Louisville sideline, posthumously. (DH)
12. RUSS. FREAKIN’. SMITH. (RD)
13. College pep band battles. Sometimes they’re better than the games themselves. (DH)
14. Gameday at NC State, who is looking for its first ACC regular season title since 1989. (EA)
15. Vegas in March. WCC, Mountain West, Pac-12 and WAC all having their conference tournaments there. (RJ)
16. Pouring out some liquor for the WAC on the Vegas strip. (RD)
17. Indiana fans NOT storming the floor because they’re receiving external validation again. (EA)
18. The sights and sounds at the arena 30 minutes before tip-off. (TM)
19. Late-night West Coast tip-offs. Nothing better on a Thursday night than some 11:45PM WCC action. (TM)
20. Small conference postseason tournaments. One bid, no mercy. (DH)
21. Multi-screen Saturday afternoons. (TM)
22. Is it out of the question for WKU’s Big Red and Syracuse’s Otto the Orange to have a no-holds-barred MMA fight? Because I’d be really, really excited to see that. (EA)
23. The top five of the Mountain West (SDSU, UNLV, New Mexico, Colorado State, Nevada). (RJ)
24. The top six in the Atlantic 10 (St. Joe’s, VCU, Butler, UMass, Temple, St. Louis). (RD)
25. All of us tweeting pics of our snacks and energy drinks for the 24-hour college hoops marathon. (RJ)
26. Richmond vs. VCU twice and possibly three times this season. (EA)
27. Lehigh vs. Bucknell. Two times guaranteed, and probably a third meeting in the Patriot League title game. (RJ)
28. Isaiah Canaan and Murray State vs. Kerron Johnson and Belmont. (RJ)
29. Jim Boeheim and Rick Pitino both said the other was “full of s—“ at Big East media day. They’ll settle the score on Jan. 19. (DM)
30. What will Seton Hall do without the theatrics of Mr. Peter Dill? (DM)
31. The ridiculous colors that apparel companies can come up for specialty uniforms. (RD)
32. The chronic hand pains associated with remote control over-usage. (TM)
33. The melodious tones of ESPN’s College Hoops intro music. (TM)
34. Bill Raftery’s jibberish. (RD)
35. The Programming: Big Monday, Holiday Hoops Week, Rivalry Week, Campus Connection Week, Gutcheck Saturday, BracketBusters, Championship Week. (TM)
36. The feeling you get when you peruse a Summit League box score. (TM)
37. Mike Wilder and his All-Conference afro. Best.Afro.Ever. (TM)
38. Rotnei Clarke’s impeccably manicured faux-hawk . (RD)
39. The throbbing veins in Frank Martin’s neck. (EA)
40. Gyratin’ Jimmy Patsos. (EA)
41. Buzz Williams’ sideline antics. You know he’s good for a handful of entertaining moments. (TM)
42. San Diego State’s attempt to cement itself as the best team in SoCal when they get USC and UCLA the same week. (RJ)
43. Steve Masiello’s quest to lead Manhattan to the NCAA tournament. (RJ)
44. Minnesota’s potential to be a factor in the Big Ten race, provided everyone stays out of trouble. (RJ)
45. How Saint Louis responds without Rick Majerus on the sidelines and with PG Kwamain Mitchell missing time. (DM)
46. The visible frustration experienced by an offensive player trying to escape Aaron Craft. (EA)
47. Can Michigan regain this swagger? (DM)
48. The mini-NCAA Tournament….I mean, The Battle for Atlantis. (DH)
49. The resurrection of the complete Tobacco Road Rivalry. (DH)
50. Can Drexel finally win the CAA? Haven’t gone dancing since Malik Rose was running things in Philadelphia. (RJ)
51. Kevin Ollie’s quest to “take the stairs” when his AD put him a situation that’s tough. (RJ)
52. Shaka Smart unleashing “havoc” on the A-10. (DM)
53. The Big Sky debut of the North Dakota Human Beings. (EA)
54. Larry Brown is in his first year at SMU. He helped changed their image on the recruiting front, but can he win in year one? (DM)
55. The St. Joe’s hawk flapping and flapping and flapping in the limelight again. (EA)
56. Nate Wolters ability to fill up a stat sheet. (DH)
57. The evolution of Ryan Harrow. (DH)
58. How all those transfers blend in at Missouri. (DH)
59. Old school Big 12 fans screaming in terror when the WVU mountain man fires his flintlock
    indoors. (EA)
60. Bo Ryan slowing things down even more at Wisconsin while breaking in a couple of inexperienced point guards. (EA)