Tournament: Jimmy V Classic Presented by Corona

When and where: Dec. 8, Madison Square Garden, New York

Teams involved: West Virginia vs. Virginia, Maryland vs. UConn

Initial thoughts: Some fans' idea of the college basketball viewing experience begins and ends with the NCAA tournament. But any grognard will tell you that the rhythms of the regular season -- Big Mondays, Super Tuesdays, catching that 11 p.m. ET West Coast start after the prime-time doubleheader -- are what they miss most in late April. The Jimmy V Classic feels like one of those nights. There is no tournament format to be found here, no entry rounds or multiple venues, no early-season tropical flavor. It doesn't feel intentionally epic like, say, the Champions Classic. It doesn't feel unique.

It just feels like hoops season. This is extremely high praise.

Melo Trimble leads a loaded Maryland roster expected to contend for the national title. AP Photo

Of course, the Jimmy V Classic is literally unique: It serves as the official culmination of ESPN's Jimmy V Week for Cancer Research, an initiative that has for a decade turned the lofty message of Jim Valvano's famous 1993 ESPYS speech into tangible human good. In the past eight years, ESPN has raised $10.2 million, including a record $2.2 million in 2014, through Jimmy V Week programming and donation drives. The quality of the actual basketball is kind of beside the point.

Still, in sheer basketball terms, the 2015 edition stands out. It's a chance to see two top-five contenders (Maryland, Virginia) face two tourney-bound-at-worst teams (West Virginia and UConn) in a one-night doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. Save the neutral court and the charitable context, Virginia vs. West Virginia and Maryland vs. UConn is the kind of hoops night you see on a random weeknight in, say, mid-January, when you can casually glance at the schedule and savor the minor rush of realization: There are some really good games on this night. Awesome.

In conclusion: We really miss college basketball.

Why you'll want to watch: Because Maryland might be the best team in the country.

Emphasis on "might." The 2015-16 season is shaping up to be unusually wide-open, with perhaps 10 or more conceivable national title contenders, each with their own indistinguishable sets of strengths and flaws. There is no 2014-15 Kentucky in the mix. Or Wisconsin. Or pre-Justin Anderson-injury Virginia. Or Arizona. Gird yourself to hear the words "no great teams" a couple thousand times in the next calendar year.

In lieu of a massive preseason rankings tie, someone has to be No. 1, and our Wednesday preseason top 25 cast its lot with the Terrapins. On paper, at least, it's hard to find any roster better. Sophomore point guard and noted free throw magnet Melo Trimble will be a national player of the year candidate after his breakout freshman season. Jake Layman is a versatile wing who shoots like a guard and rebounds like a big man. Georgia Tech transfer Robert Carter is eligible. Freshman center Diamond Stone is one of the country's best prospects. Jared Nickens looks ready for a leap after a great spot-shooting rookie campaign. Mark Turgeon can employ rare frontcourt depth (Damonte Dodd, Michal Cekovsky) at a moment's notice. This was a loaded, beautifully balanced roster before the May arrival of Duke castoff Rasheed Sulaimon, who gave the Terps yet another blue-chip perimeter scorer -- not to mention an ambitious dude eager to reclaim his career after it fizzled, on the court and off, in Durham.

If there are concerns here, they lie in the Terrapins' 2014-15 Big Ten efficiency margin, which was the lowest of any 14-4 major-conference team in the past four seasons. Despite Trimble's brilliance, Maryland finished with the Big Ten's 10th-best per-possession offense. Its sterling record was built at least in some part on luck. This will be a different, better team, that much is certain. But if some of the dozen close games Maryland won last season go the other way this time around, there's a reasonable chance the Terps don't seem quite so impressive in early December.

In any case, they should get an interesting look from UConn. Despite a star turn from senior guard Ryan Boatright, the Huskies followed 2013-14's surprise national title run with a thoroughly disappointing 2014-15. This team will look different. Sterling Gibbs (who was playing great before Seton Hall self-combusted in February) will take over for Boatright. Four-star guard Jalen Adams should start ahead of Rodney Purvis, who actually regressed as a sophomore after his transfer from NC State. Rising sophomore Daniel Hamilton showed flashes of his NBA potential a year ago. Center Amidah Brimah is the nation's best shot-blocker.

Virginia, meanwhile, might be every bit the national title favorite as Maryland, even if it lacks the Terps' elite talent suite. The Cavaliers (and not Kentucky) ranked No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency a year ago, a status they maintained even after Justin Anderson's fateful February injury. The post-Anderson offense slipped, and replacing forward Darion Atkins will be difficult on the defensive end. But Tony Bennett -- which, as a reminder, fielded a legitimate 1b to UK's 1a for almost all of the 2014-15 season -- has too many pieces back to assume anything but success moving forward. Whether that means a return to the heady early-2015 days of top-five offense and defense or, ho-hum, the nation's best defense, remains to be seen.

The Cavaliers are sure to get all they can handle from their Appalachian counterparts to the west. The Mountaineers lost starting guards Juwan Staten and Gary Browne this spring, but forwards Devin Williams and Jonathan Holton return, as do 11 players from last year's team. Most played significant minutes last season. All are now steeped in Huggins' 2014-15 hybrid of hard-nosed rebounding and unrelenting press, and will present a fascinating and edgy contrast to the careful Cavaliers, inside and out.