David Fox

With all but two exceptions, the head-coaching changes for the 2011-12 basketball season are finished. A handful of assistant positions still need to be filled, but the bulk of coaching staffs have been assembled, too.

While coaches receive most of the attention, assistants are crucial pieces of a program as well. Some assistants are ace recruiters or master tacticians. This offseason, several top recruiters have changed teams and some former head coaches have become assistants -- either voluntarily or involuntarily.

Here is our look at some of the most intriguing assistant hires this offseason:

Don't worry, we won't tell anyone if your eyes glaze over at the sight of this season's bracket. We won't tell anyone if you haven't watched a college basketball game since the Duke-Butler thriller last season.

At this point, the first four games of the tournament must look like alphabet soup -- UTSA, UAB, USC, VCU, UALR. It can be quite intimidating.

At the same time, we won't tell anyone if you're an avid college hoops fan looking for last-minute reassurance on your tournament picks.

Only in college sports can 12 institutions of higher learning call themselves the Big Ten or 10 universities call themselves the Big 12.

Conference realignment was one of the major storylines of the offseason a year ago. Now that Auburn has beaten Oregon for the 2010 national title, it's time to take a look at next season.

All the changes in conference alignment can get confusing (for example, is Indiana a Big Ten Leader or a Big Ten Legend?). As you prepare for next season, here's a refresher of all the conference changes in college football:

If Ohio State needed Evan Turner to play a role -- any role -- on the basketball court, he could. Naturally, Turner's name showed up among team and conference leaders in just about every statistical category last season.

MAACO BOWL LAS VEGAS

BYU (10-2) vs. Oregon State (8-4)

WHEN: 6 p.m. MST, Tuesday.