Under normal circumstances, an upper-level college basketball coach would sooner give up his shoe contract than start a freshman at point guard, but circumstances aren’t so normal these days. No less than three Top 25 teams are starting a freshman point, with impressive results.

There’s a good reason for this rash of rookies starting at the most demanding position in the game. In the case of Texas, Alabama, and Virginia, there was an urgent need. Likewise at Memphis, which began the year in the Top 25 and will doubtless find its way back there again with Darius Washington running the show. Kentucky also starts a freshman, Rajon Rondo, who might as well be labeled a point.

The fact that so many elite programs needed lead guards underscores a problem that has become increasingly apparent in college basketball. With so many talented players heading straight to the NBA out of high school or leaving college after a season or two, a leadership void has been created. True point guards, the kind that make players around them better, are a commodity as coaches seek that coach-on-the-floor type to offset an absence of senior leadership. In that regard, it’s not so surprising to see so many top teams leaning on freshmen point guards.

Of the trio starting for Top 25 teams, Texas’s Daniel Gibson has received the most attention. Asked to run the team, Gibson has provided much more – he’s leading the Longhorns in scoring and shooting 44% from three-point range.

Few teams in the country needed a point guard more than Virginia, where Sean Singletary has filled a void that had existed in coach Pete Gillen’s seven-season tenure. Underachievers the last couple of years, the Cavaliers have raced out to a 7-1 start. An obvious catalyst has been Singletary, who leads the team in assists and steals.

Alabama, which returned nearly every key player from an Elite Eight team, needed only a point guard and hoped Ronald Steele could fill that role. So far, he hasn’t disappointed. Steele has handed out 49 assists to just 18 turnovers while averaging nearly 10 points in 34 minutes a game. As an added bonus, he’s shot the ball off the charts for a freshman with so many other responsibilities – 56% from the field, 44% from three-point range, and 81% from the free-throw line.

“Sometimes it’s a little scary to think you’re going to have to turn a kid loose at the point,” Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. “But Ronald’s a winner and a leader. It takes that kind of mentality to succeed at point guard.”

***

File this one under the category of “local boy makes good.” When Kentucky signed Bronx native Shagari Alleyne in the spring of 2003, it made for good copy. At 7-foot-3, Alleyne would become the tallest player in the school’s storied hoops history, but insiders knew that he was a project, basketball parlance for a big guy in need of considerable seasoning.

Alleyne did nothing last season to shed that dreaded “project” label, playing 59 minutes in 18 games. He looked tentative at best, awkward at his worst. When Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and his assistants were asked about Alleyne before this season began, they were optimistic about the big man’s chances, but chose their words carefully.

“Shagari has to learn and progress,” associate head coach David Hobbs said. “But it’s very difficult for him to get a lot of playing time. We don’t play a schedule that allows you to get playing time early.”

Alleyne spent some time in the weight room over the summer, adding 10 pounds of muscle and apparently picking up some attitude along the way.

In five games, he has already played more minutes than a year ago (71), and he’s become a menace in the paint; with his height, long arms, and huge hands, there aren’t many players in the world who can shoot over him. On Wednesday night, Alleyne notched career highs in points (11), rebounds (eight), and blocked shots (six) against Morehead State. OK, so it was Morehead State, but Kentucky fans who watched the Wildcats lose to North Carolina last Saturday had to be encouraged that Alleyne was a factor in that game as well, blocking four shots and grabbing three boards.

So far, Alleyne has blocked 14 shots, second in the SEC, and he’s altered numerous others.

***

Speaking of the SEC, it was a dark couple of days for that power conference last weekend. Did we say power conference? The league’s 1-10 record would suggest otherwise. The lower-echelon Southern Conference dealt a couple of blows on the same day when Tennessee-Chattanooga defeated its big brother, Tennessee, for the first time in 75 years and Wofford beat Auburn last Sunday.

Florida’s home court loss to Miami, which snapped the Gators’ 26-game winning streak against in-state competition, was puzzling as well. In fairness to the SEC, the schedule was rough, sending league schools on the road to play Oregon, Florida State, and North Carolina. The weekend carnage left some conference coaches searching for answers.

“Certainly a lot of teams played against top five teams,” Florida’s Billy Donovan said. “There is a lot of parity and balance in college basketball. It happens all the time. When you start league play, you don’t play those teams. It’s indicative of what happens in the NCAA Tournament, even some teams this year that have won against teams from inferior conferences, the scores have been close. Due to the NBA, the power conferences aren’t keeping guys. The trick is trying to find out who you think is going to develop.”

“This phenomenon of players quickly moving on to the NBA or bypassing college altogether, it is the BCS conferences that are hurt the most,” Georgia’s Dennis Felton said. “Without those players, the talent gap is much smaller and the experience gap is showing too. It’s getting harder to maintain the standard of excellence for even the traditional powers. The parity is like it has never been before.”

Mr. Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball yearbook.