Yes, basketball season has arrived. Our annual high school preview will be released Tuesday.

There are a few things different with this year's preview, which I want to address; two in particular:

1) Teams will be organized by Division. With all the conferences these days -- 10, plus independents, for the 29 area teams -- we decided to change the format and organize teams by the four Divisions. This is more of a direct shot at the schools, if I can be critical, because there's just way too many conferences and not enough local teams.

This year, we tie the Divisions together with a road to regionals theme. If you know me, you know I put an emphasis on conference play with many stories -- particularly in the preview. This year, it's more about how teams stack up in their postseason district. If the schools get their act together and consolidate league affiliations, we'll go back. Unless that happens, I hope everyone likes this new format. It beats having only two or three area teams grouped together because they play so many out-of-area schools.

2) Wrestling is absent from this preview. It's strictly a basketball preview. Mathematics worked in this, too, and I don't want wrestling to get pushed to the back of this special section as it usually is. The section, for the last two years, has been broken into two parts. It makes sense for those two parts to be boys and girls basketball.

Now, if you like wrestling -- and wrestling around here is as good as it gets -- keep an eye out for the daily sports section later this week. We will run a series of previews, starting with Division I on Thanksgiving, Division II Friday and Division III Saturday. I hope everyone who follows wrestling will enjoy this. More information can be included, and it can be presented in cleaner format; not being crammed with basketball.