With the onset of the college basketball season, storylines abound. Some local programs are trying to put last season’s disappointing endings in the rearview mirror, while others are trying to build on successful campaigns. Let’s take a tour around Massachusetts as the regular season tips off tonight:

Boston College: Junior Jerome Robinson and sophomore Ky Bowman make up what some believe to be the best backcourt in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the Eagles will need more contributions elsewhere if they’re going to rise from the basement of the league. Fifth-year senior forward Deontae Hawkins should help that cause. The transfer from Illinois State arrives after nearly leading the Redbirds to an NCAA tournament bid last season. He gives BC a dimension in the frontcourt that coach Jim Christian has yet to have.

Jordan Chatman should also be a big contributor after showing flashes last year. Beyond those four, there’s a lot of youth. European freshman Luka Kraljevic could make an early impact, and freshman Vin Baker Jr. — the son of the former NBA All-Star — is an intriguing prospect.

Boston University: The Terriers were selected second in the Patriot League preseason poll, but it might take some time for them to click. They’ve been banged up in the preseason, and coach Joe Jones said the full team has practiced together for about one week.

“It’s been a little chaotic,” Jones said. “It’s been hard to try to piece it together.”

BU is fully healthy for tonight’s opener, and when the Terriers jell, they have the talent to make a run at a league title. Fifth-year senior Cedric Hankerson will carry much of the load, and the Terriers will need to figure out how to operate at point guard after the departure of Kyle Foreman. Freshman forward Walter Whyte figures to make some immediate contributions.

Harvard: The Crimson are the best team in Massachusetts, and the preseason Ivy League favorite has a strong chance to return to the postseason after coming up short in the inaugural Ivy tournament last year.

Program pillars Siyani Chambers and Zena Edosomwan are gone, but Harvard has loads of talent. Bryce Aiken, the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, will run the show, and classmates Seth Towns and Chris Lewis are coming off strong freshman seasons themselves. Coach Tommy Amaker again has a deep roster and trying to put together the right combinations will be his greatest challenge. He’s looking for junior sharpshooter Corey Johnson to rebound after a disappointing end to last season, and how sophomores like Justin Bassey, Robert Baker and Henry Welsh grow in bigger roles this season will be a big key.

Holy Cross: These aren’t exactly the same Crusaders who made that unexpected run to the Patriot League championship two seasons ago. Just two players remain who appeared in that tournament championship game and the young Crusaders have no seniors. Junior Karl Charles, who’s the only player remaining that played significant minutes two years ago, is the star, but it’ll be hard for him to carry the load by himself with so much youth around him. A five-man junior class that includes Wellesley’s Patrick Benzan will be asked to do a lot.

In all, there are six newcomers who will be looked at to contribute right away. Guards Austin Butler and Kyle Copeland are the gems of that class.

Northeastern: After a promising season was derailed by injuries, the Huskies are happy to be fully healthy and deep going into this season. And those injuries had something of a silver lining: Northeastern may still be young, but it has experienced youth. Point guard Devon Begley is the only senior on the roster, and he’ll have to try to fill the shoes of T.J. Williams, last year’s Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year. The Huskies have good guard depth alongside him, including sophomores Bolden Brace and Shawn Occeus, who earned valuable experience last season.

Newcomers Vasa Pusica and Tomas Murphy figure to contribute right away. Pusica is a transfer shooting guard who had to sit out last season, so he knows the system. Murphy, the younger brother of Alex Murphy, who played a graduate year with the Huskies last season, is a freshman forward who’s played against elite talent at the high school and AAU levels, so he shouldn’t have much of a learning curve.

UMass: It's the first season for new coach Matt McCall, who had a wild start to his tenure this spring. Steve Hewitt has a full feature story exploring how the Minutemen will fare in McCall's first season. Read it here.

UMass-Lowell: After a four-year transition from Division 2 to Div. 1, the River Hawks are finally eligible for postseason play this season, but it still may be a few years before they can realistically dream about winning America East. The River Hawks haven’t won more than 12 games in any of coach Pat Duquette’s first four seasons, but they’re older and should be better this season. Fifth-year senior Jahad Thomas is the team’s rock, a do-it-all forward that makes them go. Matt Harris and Ryan Jones are returning starters who should contribute.

The key to UML’s success this year will be its defense. The River Hawks have proven they can get it done offensively — they’ve finished second in points per game in the America East the last two years. Now they need to replicate that on defense.