Top Stars Missing From Big Picture : National outlook: Biggest names have left early for NBA, but enough remain to stir up many questions this season.

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Nov. 24, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Weary of political hucksters, pigskin pollsters, Steve Spurrier?

Well, take a break from bowl alliance bingo and consider college basketball, the sport in which the end always justifies the means.

You want a champion?

From November through March, 305 Division I schools will play nearly 4,000 games, promote the top 64 to a loser-goes-home tournament until one team cuts down a net next April 1, at East Rutherford, N.J.

There, was that so difficult?

A few updates since UCLA claimed its 11th--count ‘em Kentucky--NCAA title in Seattle last March:

That whooshing sound you heard was the college game getting the once-over from the NBA Super Vac, as four super sophomores--Joe Smith of Maryland, Antonio McDyess of Alabama, and Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace of North Carolina all turned pro.

It was a tough hit.

“You probably have 30 real good teams, but no dominant team because of hardship,” says George Raveling, the former coach turned TV analyst.

Be advised: don’t get too attached to your favorite player.

This year, Chicago prep phenom Kevin Garnett skipped college and went straight to the pros. Hotshot guard Stephon Marbury, the Georgia Tech freshman, will probably flee after his one season.

Note the trend.

Not everyone is leaving, though. Making comebacks in 1995-96 are Coach Jerry Tarkanian, trying to rewrite a career ending at Fresno State after a three-year hiatus, and

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski, who returns to the bench after missing the last 20 games of last season because of back surgery.

Tim Duncan, the nation’s best big man, spurned a chance to be an NBA lottery pick and returns for his junior season at Wake Forest.

There is a new league, Conference USA, and one taking a final bow, the Southwest.

The Big East is back, big time, with three new schools, Notre Dame, Rutgers and West Virginia, but three old ones, Georgetown, Villanova and Connecticut, figure to compete for the national title.

Kentucky and Kansas loom as the teams to beat, and Missouri Coach Norm Stewart as the coach to loathe.

Until the Final Four answer, here are the questions:

PACIFIC 10

Is UCLA the defending NCAA champion, but Stanford the team to beat?

Will the Bruins miss rock-solid center George Zidek more than they ever imagined?

Can point guard Cameron Dollar, who saved the Bruins’ bacon against the Arkansas Razorbacks in the NCAA title game, imitate Tyus Edney all season?

Does the loss of Tremaine Fowlkes to NCAA suspension mean curtains for California?

Can Arizona State’s Bill Frieder win in this league with three guys who have never played Division I and with out Super Mario Bennett, now in the NBA?

Will USC’s Avondre Jones, back after a year of junior college seasoning, respond better to Coach Charlie Parker than he did to former coach Raveling?

Is Washington State, with second-year Coach Kevin Eastman, the team to watch?

Will three first-round NCAA exits in four years crank up the heat on Arizona’s Lute Olson?

Can Cal win a fourth consecutive game at Pauley Pavilion?

BIG EAST

Will this 1980s warhorse put a team in the Final Four for the first time since Seton Hall in 1989?

Does any conference boast three bigger stars than Allen Iverson of Georgetown, Kerry Kittles of Villanova and Ray Allen of Connecticut?

Can Iverson give up the ball enough to become a truly great point guard?

Does St. John’s Coach Brian Mahoney have to deliver an NCAA bid with super sophs Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton, or else?

Will Georgetown center Othella Harrington ever reach his potential?

Can UConn’s Kirk King fill the shoes of power forward Donny Marshall?

ATLANTIC COAST

Can the ACC survive the loss of 11 of its top 15 players, eight of whom were first-round NBA picks?

Is Maryland just another John Doe without Joe Smith?

Can Dean Smith survive the defections of Stackhouse and Wallace and post his 26th consecutive, 20-victory season?

Is Duncan the best player in the country?

Will Coach K’s return to Duke mean glory days again after last season’s 13-18 debacle?

Can Georgia Tech freshman phenom Marbury possibly play up to the hype?

Will North Carolina State Coach Les Robinson keep his promise and resign if the Wolfpack posts a fifth consecutive losing season?

Has Don King bought the pay-per-view rights for Tobacco Road II, the battle royal, ACC tournament rematch between Dean Smith and Clemson Coach Rick Barnes?

SOUTHEASTERN

Does any team this side of the Nebraska backfield have more top-to-bottom depth than Kentucky? Are there enough minutes in a game to keep everyone happy? Could the Wildcat second team win the SEC title? Is it fair the Wildcats get to add top prep recruit Ron Mercer to this mix?

Will Kentucky Coach Rick Pitino stop tap-dancing around the national title and actually win one?

Can Mississippi State return to the Sweet 16 with future lottery pick, junior center Erick Dampier, and sharpshooter Darryl Wilson?

Has Arkansas recovered from the “Nightmare on Toby Bailey Lane” in the NCAA title game? Can the Razorbacks be a factor with no returning starters? Will Nolan Richardson spare us those glow-in-the-dark suits?

Can first-year Georgia Coach Tubby Smith get any respect with that first name?

Is Vanderbilt guard Frank Seckar the SEC’s most underrated player?

Can Alabama recover from the NBA defection of McDyess when its only returner starter, Marvin Orange, shot 31.7% last year?

If not, can we talk spring football?

BIG TEN

Can this egg-faced conference recover from last year’s NCAA flop, when six teams made the tournament but only one, Purdue, advanced to the second round?

Is this the year Coach Tom Davis has all the goods at Iowa? Can the Hawkeyes keep junior forward Jess Settles sound?

Has any coach assembled more young talent than Michigan’s Steve Fisher? Again? Will 290-pound freshman center Robert Traylor accidentally squish somebody? Is it too early to nickname him “Tractor” Traylor? Will this group of Fisher recruits become the most over-hyped bunch since the Fab Five not to win the NCAA title?

Is Indiana’s Bob Knight a great enough coach to fill the hole left by Alan Henderson’s graduation? With eight sophomores, will Knight go without at least a share of the Big Ten title for a record third consecutive year? Will Knight make the world pay when his team grows up next season?

Is the country not respecting Purdue, which has eight of its top 10 players back?

Is first-year Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo in for a long, cold winter without Shawn Respert?

CONFERENCE USA

Is this melding of the Great Midwest, Metro and a dash of Southwest--Houston, next year--conferences the worst thing since the Dallas Cowboys nominated themselves America’s Team?

Can you name the teams in each division? Did you say Tulane, Alabama Birmingham, South Florida, Southern Mississippi in the Red; Memphis, Louisville, UNC Charlotte in the White; Marquette, Cincinnati, St. Louis and DePaul in the Blue?

Can this star-spangled conference be ignored when it can boast six teams that played in the NCAA tournament last year?

Does any team in the country have a better pair of forwards than Tulane’s Jerald Honeycutt and Rayshard Allen?

If you’re St. Louis, are you gearing up for that trip to Hattiesburg, Miss?

Does anyone realize that if Conference USA had been in existence last season, it would have ranked third in the Rating Percentage Index standings?

Can Marquette post its fourth consecutive 20-plus victory season?

Will Louisville tie UCLA’s record with its 47th consecutive winning season?

BIG EIGHT

Does anyone doubt that Kansas’ Jacque Vaughn and Jerod Haase form the best backcourt in the nation? Are the Jayhawks only a shooter away from handing Roy Williams’ his first national title?

Can Ryan Minor, returning Big Eight player of the year, carry the major load at Oklahoma?

Will forwards Jerome Lambert, a transfer from Baylor, and Maurice Robinson make up for the loss of Bryant (Big Country) Reeves at Oklahoma State?

Will it take Missouri Coach Stewart until Christmas to say something he’ll regret?

Should Colorado’s Joe Harrington check his collar if he doesn’t get the Buffaloes to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1969?

ATLANTIC 10

With a dozen schools now, shouldn’t it be called the Atlantic 12?

Is Massachusetts Coach John Calipari glad center Marcus Camby skipped the NBA lottery and returned for his junior year? Do Bostonians like chowder?

Is NIT champion Virginia Tech ready to wake up the Western Division after bolting from the Metro Conference?

Does the rest of the conference realize it now has two teams in the league, Rhode Island and Fordham, nicknamed the Rams?

WESTERN ATHLETIC

Will losing guard Brandon Jessie to NCAA suspension for seven games throw Utah off course? Can Coach Rick Majerus recover from the loss of forward Alex Jensen, who took off on a Mormon mission?

Will Jerry Tarkanian’s late hiring at Fresno State have his team playing catch-up all season?

Does the NCAA mean it when it says Tarkanian doesn’t have to watch his back?

Does Texas El Paso Coach Don Haskins remember that when he started coaching 35 years ago, the school was called Texas Western?

Are WAC coaches sincere when they say they welcome Tark the Shark into the league with open nets?

Is it sacrilege to note that Haskins won his 665th game last season and moved past John Wooden into seventh place on the all-time NCAA list?

Can BYU Coach Roger Reid keep on losing a son to a Mormon missions--point guard Robbie, last season--and replacing him with another--Randy?

OTHER CONFERENCES

Missouri Valley: Can Tulsa make a third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance?

Big West: Is UC Irvine guard Raimonds Miglinieks the most unheralded and most creative passer in the West?

Mid-American: Can it possibly improve on last season, when four teams made postseason tournaments and one, Miami of Ohio, knocked Arizona out in the NCAA first round?

Southwest: Can Texas Tech make the most of a swan-song season with senior forward Jason Sasser?

Metro Atlantic: Will the NCAA tournament once again take Manhattan?

Sun Belt: Is that the Bill Musselman coaching at South Alabama?

Colonial: Is former Loyola Marymount coach Paul Westhead on the outs at George Mason after winning seven conference games in two seasons?

West Coast: Is Santa Clara guard Steve Nash the best player no one has ever heard of?

Big Sky: Can ‘Sky top last season, when it boasted three teams, Weber State, Montana and Montana State, with at least 20 victories?

Midwestern Collegiate: Is Northern Illinois forward Jamal Robinson a future first-round NBA pick?

Ohio Valley: Will Murray State Coach Mark Gottfried, the former UCLA assistant, play giant killer against the Bruins in the NCAA tournament?

Southern: Is Marshall, coached by former Providence point guard Billy Donovan, the team to beat?

North Atlantic: Is there a more anonymous star than Vermont guard Eddie Benton, one of three players ever to score 1,000 points before his 19th birthday? (The others were Duke’s Mike Gminski and LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal.)

Trans America Athletic: Is UCLA headed for another first-round rematch with that Trans Am, Florida International?

Southwestern Athletic: Is it safe to say Prairie View’s basketball team will post more victories than the football team?

Southland: Can Northeast Louisiana rebound from only its second losing season in 34 years?

Big South: Will it step up to the plate now that it has met criteria to have an automatic qualifier for the NCAA tournament?

Northeast: Is it true that the second-winningest active coach, Jim Phelan, resides in this conference at Mount St. Mary’s?

Ivy: Can favorite Dartmouth prevail, despite not having won a league title in 26 years?

Mid-Continent: Did Craig Hodges, the former Long Beach State and Chicago Bull sharpshooter, have a gun to his head when he signed on to coach sad-sack Chicago State?

Patriot: Can Colgate’s 6-foot-10 sophomore Adonal Foyle do for this league what Wilt Chamberlain did for the Big Eight in the 1950s, as Navy Coach Don DeVoe suggests?

Mid-Eastern Athletic: Is there a better name on the planet than Florida A&M;’s Scientific Mapp, a high school teammate of St. John’s Felipe Lopez?

American West: Is there a point to this four-team conference?

Independents: Is it true that there are only two left, Oral Roberts and Wofford of South Carolina? And that the schools have jokingly asked to play one another at the end of the year for an automatic NCAA bid?

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Star-Spangled Conference

Twelve schools in 12 different states playing in three divisions. That’s the eventual lineup for Conference USA, which makes its college basketball debut this season and will feature many of the nation’s top coaches, players and teams. This season, the conference will be comprised of former members of the Great Midwest and Metro . Houston will come aboard from the Southwest Conference next season. The names of the Conference USA divisions? Red, White and Blue, of course. Here’s the breakdown:

RED DIVISION

Team: Alabama Birmingham

‘94-95 Record (Postseason): 14-16 (No postseason)

Coach (Record at School): Gene Bartow (349-190)

Former Conf.: Great Midwest

Team: South Florida

‘94-95 Record (Postseason): 18-12 (NIT, 3rd Round)

Coach (Record at School): Bobby Paschal (115-143)

Former Conf.: Metro

Team: Southern Mississippi

‘94-95 Record (Postseason): 17-13 (NIT, 1st Round)

Coach (Record at School): M.K. Turk (288-252)