It’s called the preseason, but make no mistake – these college basketball games count. And there’s some pretty good tilts out there worth your handicapping homework.

Wednesday features a potential first-round Tournament delight when Davidson and No. 1 North Carolina play on ESPN. This Davidson squad delighted handicappers last year at 21-9-1 ATS, second only to Southern Mississippi (16-4-2) in profitability. And the Wildcats have everyone of significance coming back for 2007-08.

Things get really interesting with Thursday’s bout between Michigan and No. 5 Georgetown. Have the Hoyas taken a step back with Jeff Green’s decision to turn pro? We’ll soon find out.

This should be one hell of a college basketball season. There is no clear favorite to win the national championship – Memphis has taken over the top spot on the odds list at 9-2, edging North Carolina at 5-1 and UCLA at 6-1.

The fact that a team outside the major conferences could win it all is intriguing enough; the last to do so was UNLV, coming out of the Big West in 1990. But the Tigers also have one of this year’s hot freshmen: point guard Derrick Rose. Two other new names you should hear a lot about in 2007-08 are USC’s O.J. Mayo and Indiana’s Eric Gordon.

The Kentucky Wildcats (30-1) fans are looking forward to their first year under coach Billy Gillispie. Billy Donovan is back with the Gators after reversing his decision to go pro, and Kevin O’Neill is coaching Arizona while Lute Olson takes a leave of absence. Buckle your seat belts.

Josh Heytvelt is back with the Gonzaga Bulldogs after February’s arrest for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms. Teammate Theo Davis was with Heytvelt at the time; he was arrested for possession of marijuana. Just two more college basketball players busted for drug use. Is this a problem?

That depends on who you are. If you’re Gonzaga, a tiny Jesuit college in Spokane, Wash. with a reputation to uphold, it certainly is. If you’re the NCAA, struggling to burnish the public image of the “student-athlete,” is certainly is. And breaking the law is always problematic. But what about the players themselves?

According to a medical study published this past March in The Lancet, cannabis is both less harmful and less addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. That appears to be the common finding these days. Perhaps there would be no problem at all if the law were changed to reflect modern science. Just sayin’.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Kelvin Sampson has run up one of the most expensive phone bills you’ll ever see: $500,000. That’s the salary raise Sampson is forfeiting after an IU investigation found over 100 improper phone calls were made by Hoosier coaches, with 35 of those tabbed as possible NCAA violations. Indiana will also lose one of its scholarships next season.

Sampson is no stranger to improper phone calls, having been reprimanded during his previous tenure at Oklahoma. The NCAA has very strict rules about which team personnel are allowed to call students, when, and how often. There are similar rules for recruiting off-campus via other correspondence methods, or in person.

Remember that these students do not have agents. Imagine how many phone calls and visits high-school prospects already receive. Now imagine how worse it would be if the rules were dropped. And you thought your kid spent all day on the phone.

Mavs, Suns, Spurs. Are you getting tired of this yet? Help may be on the way.

The NBA’s Western Conference has been monopolized by its own version of the “Big Three” for the past three seasons – ever since Steve Nash arrived in Phoenix. The odds suggest much the same in 2007-08. The NBA’s defending champions from San Antonio are favored to win the West at 11-5, while Nash’s Suns are tied with Dallas at 9-4.

Here comes the cavalry. The Houston Rockets are 9-2 to win the West and gaining plenty of support from basketball statheads like John Hollinger. The idea is that new coach Rick Adelman and returning point guard Steve Francis, plus the arrival of star Euro forward Luis Scola from the Spurs, will propel Houston into the Western elite. As usual, it all depends on how healthy Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady will be. The bigger they are…

We’re getting closer to the start of men’s college basketball. But the March Madness futures market remains pretty quiet: North Carolina is still the top favorite at 5-1, while likely preseason No. 1 Memphis is 10-1.

A lot of ink will be spilled over both these teams as this year’s season previews are cranked out. Suffice to say that the Tigers have value, coming out of the lower-profile Conference USA and presenting one of the top freshmen prospects in the nation, guard Derrick Rose. The betting public should be exposed in a big way to Rose and the Tigers once the preseason rankings come out.

Still, 10-1 may not be enough of a payout for some handicappers to play the futures market. There is no runaway “Tiger Woods” favorite in this field, leaving longer shots like Michigan State (25-1) and Washington State (30-1) and even Marquette (35-1) well worth a look.