UAA
LOCATION: Anchorage
LAST SEASON: 15-14 (9-7 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference)
POSTSEASON: None
COACH: Rusty Osborne (5th season, 93-57).
GO-TO PLAYER: Malcolm Campbell played only 25 minutes at Division I Hartford last year before transferring to UAA, but the 6-9, 250-pound sophomore center has made an immediate impact with the Seawolves. He leads the team in scoring through three games, including 17 points in a win at Hawaii Pacific University.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: The 2007-08 Seawolves won the most games in school history (29) and lost only three times to Division II teams. The squad won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and the NCAA West Regional, advancing to the national semifinals before falling 56-50 to Augusta State, the team's best result since a runner-up finish in the national tournament in 1988. The Seawolves were 18-0 at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex.
FAMOUS FACES: Rep. Don Young (Law, 1985), former Sen. Ted Stevens (Law, 1975), former Gov. Jay Hammond (Law, Humanities) and author James A. Michener (Law, 1973) have received honorary degrees from UAA.
FUN FACT: The original version of the Great Alaska Shootout was called the Sea Wolf Classic and was first played in 1978. The women's tournament began in 1980.
WASHINGTON STATE
LOCATION: Pullman, Wash.
MOTTO: World Class. Face to Face.
LAST SEASON: 17-16 (8-10 in the Pac-10)
POSTSEASON: Lost in the first round of the NIT
COACH: Ken Bone (1st season at Washington State -- 335-167 career mark)
GO-TO PLAYER: Sophomore Klay Thompson, son of former NBA standout Mychal Thompson, averaged 12.2 points as a freshman and was named to the Pac-10's All-Freshman squad. He is among 13 freshmen and sophomores on a roster that includes just one upperclassman.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: On March 1, 2007, the Cougars were awarded a banner from the NCAA for their championship in 1917, when the team went 18-1. There was no national tournament until 1939, and prior to that, champions were selected by a panel of experts at the Los Angeles-based Helms Athletic Foundation, which selected Washington State as the 1917 champions. The championship was only recently recognized by the NCAA.
ALASKA CONNECTIONS: Ken Bone practically qualifies for the Permanent Fund dividend, he's spent so much time in Alaska -- first as the longtime coach of UAA conference rival Seattle Pacific, then last year when he brought Portland State to the Shootout. He's back again, this time with the Cougars, who also played in the 1981 Shootout, beating UAA 83-66 in the first round.
FAMILIAR FACES: Famed CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow graduated with a degree in communications from Washington State, which bestowed his name on its communications building. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and cartoonist Gary Larson are WSU grads.
FUN FACTS: The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 left the campus covered in a half-inch of volcanic ash.
NICHOLLS STATE
LOCATION: Thibodaux, La.
MOTTO: Learn. Live. Lead.
LAST SEASON: 20-11 (12-4 in the Southland Conference East Division)
POSTSEASON PLAY: Lost 57-55 to Texas-San Antonio in conference semifinals
COACH: J.P. Piper (6th year, 53-93)
With a senior-less squad, the Colonels will look to junior Anatoly Bose, who led the Colonels in 3-point field goal percentage (72 of 172 for .419) and rebounds (5.4 per game) and was second on the team in scoring (15 ppg).
ONE SHINING MOMENT: Last year, Nicholls State had only its second 20-win season since moving to Division I in 1980-81. The other time was 1994-95, when the Colonels went 24-6 and had a 12-game winning streak before falling to Virginia 96-72 in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the team's only NCAA appearance.
ALASKA CONNECTIONS: Nicholls State played in the 1980 shootout when Mike Ferrara of Colgate set a tournament record by scoring 37 points in a 94-77 win over the Colonels in the seventh-place game. Ferrara's record was later eclipsed by Purdue's Glenn Robinson, who scored 41 points against Portland in 1993.
FAMOUS FACES: If you want to know more about beer, and who doesn't, a Nicholls grad is your guide. Ken Wells, a former writer for the Miami Herald and Wall Street Journal, wrote Travels with Barley, a first-person account of the search for the perfect beer joint.
FUN FACTS: Nicholls State has at least one thing in common with UAA: Australians. The Colonels feature three Australians, all of them 6-6 or taller -- Bose, Dominic Friend and Cameron McCallum.
HOUSTON
LOCATION: Houston, Texas
MOTTO: In Tempore (In Time)
LAST SEASON: 21-12 (10-6 in Conference USA)
POSTEASON: Lost 49-45 to Oregon State in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational tournament.
COACH: Tom Penders (6th season at Houston, 102-62; 629-422 overall)
GO-TO PLAYER: Senior guard Aubrey Coleman was the Conference USA Newcomer of the Year and a first-team All-Conference pick after averaging 19.4 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: The Cougars were known as Phi Slama Jama from 1982 to 1984. The team included Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler and made it to the Final Four each season.
ALASKA CONNECTION: Drexler coached Houston in 1999 and brought his team to the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, where among other things, the Cougars went mushing.
FAMILIAR FACES: Kenneth Lay, the disgraced former Enron CEO, graduated from the University of Houston. Lay was convicted in the Enron scandal but died before his sentencing date. At least one other famous Houston alum has done time -- Lil' Wayne, who was once arrested three times in six months and gave Blender Magazine some advice on what to do when spending a weekend in jail: "One tip is: If you only gonna be in there a few days, even if it's a whole week, don't eat."
FUN FACTS: Kevin Costner and Don Johnson played former teammates on the Houston golf squad in the 1996 film "Tin Cup." In 1999, Jamie Foxx portrayed a former Houston football player in "Any Given Sunday."
OKLAHOMA
LOCATION: Norman, Okla.
MOTTO: Civi et reipublicae (For the citizens and for the state)
LAST SEASON: 30-6 (13-3 in the Big 12 Conference)
POSTSEASON: NCAA Elite Eight, lost to eventual national champion North Carolina 72-60 in South Region Final
COACH: Jeff Capel (4th season, 69-33)
GO-TO PLAYER: Sophomore Willie Warren was named the Sporting News' Preseason National Player of the Year. The 6-4, 203-pound guard averaged 14.6 points and 3.1 assists and was the unanimous pick for Big 12 Freshman of the Year.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: Capel's 2008-09 Sooners started 25-1 and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation. The team finished second in the Big 12 and featured eventual NBA No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin.
ALASKA CONNECTION: Capel played on the Duke team that beat Iowa 88-81 for the 1995 Shootout championship. He was named to the all-tournament team. The Sooners have made three trips to Alaska, playing in the 1983 and 2004 Shootouts and winning the 1999 Top of The World Classic.
FAMILIAR FACES: Who is that tall dark stranger in Norman? It's a 10-foot tall bronze statue of University of Oklahoma graduate James Garner. "The Rockford Files" star is a big supporter of Sooners sports and the school's drama program.
FUN FACTS: The university existed before the state did. The University of Oklahoma was in Oklahoma Territory for 17 years before the area became a state.
SAN DIEGO
LOCATION: San Diego, Calif.
MOTTO: Emitte Spiritum Tuum (Send forth thy spirit)
LAST SEASON: 16-16 (6-8 in the West Coast Conference)
POSTSEASON: None
HEAD COACH: Bill Grier (3rd season, 38-30)
GO-TO PLAYER: Brandon Johnson tore his Achilles' tendon eight games into the 2008-09 season, but was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA. Johnson set a single-season school record with 590 points in 2007-08 and is fifth on the school's all-time scoring list (1,385 points) and second on the all-time assists list (425). He was first-team All-West Coast Conference in 2007-08 and the WCC Tournament MVP.
ONE SHINING MOMENT: The 13th-seeded Toreros upset Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2002, the first time San Diego had advanced to the second round of the tournament.
ALASKA CONNECTIONS: Matt Thomson, a junior middle reliever for the San Diego baseball team, played for the Peninsula Oilers in 2007. Thomson was drafted in the 22nd round of the 2007 Major League Baseball draft.
FAMILIAR FACES: The university has a strong history of turning out people capable of giving good financial advice including: James D. Power VI, the senior vice president and general manager of J.D. Power and Associates; Liam E. McGee, the chairman and CEO of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.; and Tom Barrack, the CEO of Colony Capital, called "the best real estate investor on the planet today" by Fortune magazine.
FUN FACTS: The San Diego basketball teams play at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, named after the diet maven. Its nickname: the Slim Gym.
-- Compiled by Richard Larson