With practice in session and the Blue-Gold Scrimmage on Friday night, college basketball season… With practice in session and the Blue-Gold Scrimmage on Friday night, college basketball season has arrived. With college football, the NFL and baseball playoffs in full swing, college basketball might go unnoticed by some. But it won’t go unnoticed by me and — I have a feeling —  many students on this campus.

For me, college basketball means the arrival of my favorite time of the year. It means last second game-winning shots, upsets, underdogs and, eventually, March Madness.

For people at Pitt, at least, college basketball season means Big East basketball season. As opposed to football in the Big East, the idea of conference play in basketball doesn’t make people cringe.

The Big East is the best conference in the country year in and year out, and although this year is considered a down year for the conference, who doesn’t get excited at the prospect of playing West Virginia, Villanova and Connecticut?

The Big East should enter the season with five teams in or around the Top 25, including Pitt, Villanova and Syracuse around the top 10.

And if the Panthers happen to fall in an early game, here’s the best part: It doesn’t mean their season is over. Even better, all those mid-majors and underdogs that everyone loves to root for actually get the chance to play for a national championship.

The Boise States of the basketball world get the same opportunity to win it all as the Oklahomas. Yes, I’m still bitter that Oklahoma jumped Boise State in the BCS standings, but I think I’ve ranted enough about the BCS system in my column enough to let it pass with just one insult.

That might be what I love most about college basketball: Everyone gets a chance. If you have a good season, odds are you are going to be rewarded with a berth in the NCAA Tournament. If you’re a conference champion, you’re getting into it. If you go undefeated, you better believe that you’re getting the same opportunity to take home the hardware as another undefeated team from a better conference.

Okay, so that was two shots at the BCS.

There’s parity in men’s college basketball that doesn’t exist in many other sports. Sure, football will have the occasional eyebrow-raising upset, but it happens several times a year in basketball. It happened a lot in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Who’s going to forget Northern Iowa defeating No. 1 seed and tournament favorite Kansas last season? You can’t make this stuff up.

If college basketball was college football, Butler wouldn’t have gotten the chance to play for the national title last season. In college basketball, the ability to perform is all that matters, despite whether your jersey says Duke or South Carolina Upstate. Yes, that’s a real school; I’ve always wanted to use it in a column. Sports don’t get any better than basketball.

And here on this campus, the Blue-Gold Scrimmage is offering something new this year. Over the years, I’ve been envious of schools that have Midnight Madness. But not this year. We might not have Midnight Madness, but we’re getting a slam dunk contest.

I know I’m looking forward to seeing Gilbert Brown, Nasir Robinson, J.J. Moore and Cam Wright throw down.

If you’re a Pitt fan, get yourself up to the Pete on Friday. Not only is the Blue-Gold Scrimmage the first chance for you to see this year’s Panthers in action, but you also get the added bonus of watching the newly implemented dunk contest after the game.

Thousands of fans packed their arenas this past weekend for Midnight Madness. I, for one, would love to see thousands of fans in the Pete this Friday to welcome the start of college basketball season to Pittsburgh, where Pitt has the same chance as every other school to win it all.