When the Final Four convenes on April 5 and 7 at San Antonio’s Alamodome, it could produce some unforgettable basketball.

Will anyone remember how it started?

* Monday night – Tennessee-Martin at Memphis.

* Tuesday night – Central Arkansas at Kentucky.

* Wednesday night – Morgan State at Connecticut.

* Thursday night – San Francisco at Oklahoma.

It’s the opening round of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, an 16-team event that will ultimately whittle its field down to four finalists at Madison Square Garden.

Also in November: the College Basketball Experience Classic, the NIT Season Tip-Off, the Legends Classic, the ESPNU Puerto Rico Tip-Off, the Top of the World Classic, the Paradise Jam, the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout, just to name a few.

It’s the silly season in men’s basketball, a parade of non-conference games that fly way under the radar for mainstream sports fans. For the hoops junkies? That’s another matter. It’s heaven. Nothing quite like watching Coach K and Bruce Weber in Hawaiian shirts, as Duke and Illinois battle for the Maui title on Thanksgiving weekend.

Anyway, we’ll periodically be trying to make sense of this month’s results, along with a long look forward to when the real season opens up, conference play in January. Then the weeks will fly until March Madness, Selection Sunday and our little slice of the pie, the eight-team soiree on March 21 and 23 at the St. Pete Times Forum when the NCAA Tournament’s opening round makes another Tampa visit.

There will be no trouble attracting interest then.

But what about now?

Even the direhards have trouble navigating the flood of early season tournaments.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the men had an annual tip-off event, a start to the season that could really be celebrated? Could we get the previous season’s Final Four together for a season opening event?

The First Four?

Florida, Ohio State, UCLA and Georgetown – reunited (and it feels so good).

Baseball has always done well with its Opening Day. The NFL has made its opening Thursday night game into an event. The NBA and NHL seasons make a big deal out of their first games.

Why can’t the same thing happen in college men’s basketball?

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