There is strong talk that the NCAA would like to eliminate early-season exempted tournaments. In fact, it is going to be discussed in the future. After witnessing what took place in New York at the Coaches vs. Cancer event, it is obvious that these tournaments add so much to college basketball.

	Duke forward Shane Battier was a slam-dunk choice as a preseason All-American.

Not only did schools get the opportunity to play the best instead of beating up on Cupcake City, they raised over $1.3 million for cancer research. If that is just a little touch of what is ahead this season, it will be a great one for college hoop fans!

Now we have the Preseason NIT, when 16 teams battle for a trip to Madison Square Garden. And we're down to four, with the semifinals slated for Wednesday: Temple vs. Indiana (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) and Texas vs. Duke (9 p.m. ET on ESPN2). Meanwhile, the Maui Invitational title game airs Wednesday at 9 p.m. on ESPN.

Everyone is chasing the Dukies, the preseason No. 1 team in my magazine, baby! The Blue Devils should arrive in New York City as the favorite.

The return of all-everything Shane Battier plus the inside play of Carlos Boozer makes Coach K's team the one to beat. The combination of Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy, with a year of experience, will make them that much better.

The versatile veteran Nate James will be a factor too. And another Duke star is being unveiled in the Preseason NIT as America finds out about Chris Duhon. He's a pure shooter, ballhandler, a flat out all-everything guard.

This tournament will give us a quick analysis of a Duke team which will miss Chris Carrawell. He was the ACC tourney MVP. The Blue Devils can make up for his absence. Duke also will get help off the bench from Casey Sanders and Nick Horvath.

This is not a one-team event, and there are a number of additional story lines.

Indiana won its debut under new coach Mike Davis, defeating a Pepperdine squad which sent the Hoosiers to the sidelines in the NCAAs last season. There is Temple, and John Chaney is happy to have Quincy Wadley back for another season. Texas has Maurice Evans, the All-Marco Polo from Wichita State. California, coached by Ben Braun, is a dangerous team.

I did the Princeton-Duke game last week, and I'm also looking forward to working the Preseason NIT semifinals and finals at the Garden. MSG should be rocking and rolling, baby, and Duke is clearly the team to beat!