Boys basketball

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Boys basketball

Players to watch

Garrius Adams

Middle Creek

Girls basketball

Teams to watch

Athens Drive Coach Chris Danehower has four starters returning from a 22-7 club. The Jaguars have good size with 6-foot-4 Keisha Gatling (13 ppg., 8 rpg., 3.5 bpg.). Rachel Collins averaged 12 points and Lainey Childrey added 8. Childrey and Brittany Joyner each had more than 70 assists a year ago. The Jags have had three straight 20-win seasons.

Enloe Four starters return from a 16-11 club, including Elena Frac (10 rpg.) and Dana Brown (11 ppg.).

UL-Monroe (0-0) at L-S-U (0-0)

GAME NOTES: The Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge is the site of tonight's season opener between the hometown LSU Tigers and the visiting UL- Monroe Warhawks.

UL-Monroe welcomes back all five starters from last season's team, and Orlando Early is entering his fifth season as head coach of the program. Still, Early's 48-73 overall record is far from impressive, and his team has been picked to finish a lowly fifth in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference this year.

Meanwhile, LSU hopes to equal last season's success, as the team finished 27-8 overall, including a stellar 13-3 in SEC action. That was the first season for Trent Johnson as head coach of the program, and he helped his club reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament. A great deal of talent was lost from that team unfortunately, and the Tigers were chosen to finish fourth in the six- team SEC West.

Florida Gulf Coast (0-0) at (2) Michigan State (0-0)

GAME NOTES: The Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast swoop into the Breslin Center to challenge the second-ranked Michigan State Spartans in the 2009-10 season opener for both teams.

FGCU is coached by Dave Balza, and the Eagles went 11-20 last season, which included a 7-13 mark in Atlantic Sun Conference play. Expectations are a bit higher this season, although Balza's club is clearly overmatched in this contest. The second-ranked Spartans are the highest ranked opponent Florida Gulf Coast has ever faced.

Tom Izzo's Michigan State squad is coming off a year in which it won its first Big Ten title since taking four straight from 1998-2001, and the Spartans reached their fifth Final Four in 11 seasons by combining efficient offensive production with stellar defensive play. The campaign ended on a down note as MSU fell to North Carolina in the National Championship Game, but it was certainly a banner year for the Spartans and their frenzied fan base. Michigan State, which enters this campaign with its highest preseason

Columbia (0-0) at DePaul (0-0)

GAME NOTES: The Columbia Lions and DePaul Blue Demons will open their respective seasons this evening in non-conference action from Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

For the third straight year, the Lions finished a mediocre 7-7 in Ivy League play in 2008-09. Three starters and some key reserves are back, giving head coach Joe Jones a chance to lead Columbia to a winning record. Eleven letterwinners in all and 63 percent of the scoring returns, leaving the fanbase cautiously optimistic.

As for DePaul, it is led by Jeff Wainwright, who enters his fifth season as head coach. Wainwright is fortunate to still have his job after the Blue Demons came up winless in 18 regular-season conference games a year ago. The program has finished no better than seventh in the Big East during Wainwright's tenure, and the best player from a year ago is gone. For those reasons, another last-place finish in the Big East is possible.