I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but college basketball season really doesn’t get going until around Christmas — and I really like and prefer the round ball over the oblong one. It’s just that at that time college football that matters is on a hiatus and you start to see some very good nonconference games and tournaments on the hardwood. The 12-man rotation gives way to the eight- or nine-man rotation and coaches and players start to get a good idea of who they are and who they might be.

As such, I just can’t get excited about preseason stories, though, to be fair, the same goes for football. And, of course, rifle.

I can’t be specific about things now. I’m far more superficial. Why is Alex Ruoff working on a hook shot? Have these NYC freshmen played at Rucker? Is Wellington Smith allergic to bees … and was he stung by a bee recently? Oh, and why is Joe Mazzulla wearing 21?

“Ebanks asked if he could have 3,” Mazzulla said.

Uh-huh. So you gave it up? What about the kids?

“I told him the only way I’d give it up was if I got my high school number.”

Which was?

“Twenty-one. Bird had that.”

“Bird” being Josh Sowards, who is now No. 20 and perhaps deserving of a superficial story about why he is called “Bird.” So Devin Ebanks wants your No. 3. You’re a junior, perhaps the face of this team. And Ebanks is a freshman. There had to be some deal on the side. What’d you get out of this?

“My high school number.”

Clearly, but what about, say, Ebanks does your laundry for a month? Or  —

“Even if I did get something, I couldn’t tell you.”

Ebanks wasn’t budging, either.

“Joe was cool about it. It just shows what type of teammate he is,” Ebanks said.

Turns out Ebanks was 3 in high school and for as long as he can remember before that.

“I guess you get in a routine. You get used to something for so long that it becomes a part of you.”

Mazzulla was the same way with his 21 before arriving at WVU, where the number was claimed by Frank Young.

“He wasn’t giving that up,” Mazzulla said.

Like many players, Ebanks wears his number because someone in the NBA wore it before him — 44 for West, 34 for Barkley, 23 for LeBron, 21 for Dominique, 45 for Jordan. Ebanks picked 3 for … John Starks!

“He’s my favorite player of all-time.”

John Starks? Really? Why?

“Oh yeah, he was hard-nosed, a hard-worker. He did everything for the Knicks. Play defense, score, be a leader, be an all-star. He was their X-factor.”