Things are heating up across the country — oh, yes, and a controversial basketball season also starts today.

It takes perhaps the most important mid-term election in recent history to overshadow college basketball season tipping off in these parts. But the Tar Heels and much of the rest of the nation open tonight with almost as much controversy swirling around the sport as whether the Democrats can flip the U.S. House.

Still in the cross hairs of a pay-for-play scandal that erupted last year, a number of high-profile college teams begin play with apparent blinders on that their seasons could irreparably be derailed before the NCAA tournament, and some are being accused of simply ignoring whatever perils might lie ahead, according to Yahoo Sports.

Among those programs said to be implicated in the ongoing Federal wire-tap investigation that could lead to suspensions of coaches and players and perhaps NCAA sanctions are some of the top dogs, including top-ranked Kansas and No. 3-ranked Duke, which play in the Champions Classic tonight in Indianapolis, while the Tar Heels seek revenge from last year’s stunning home loss to Wofford. UNC is not mentioned anywhere, for a change.

Kansas head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend will be on the bench when the Jayhawks open against Michigan State, even though one of the KU players is behind held out because he might be deemed ineligible at some point. Self and Townsend have been cited in Federal testimony for talking to athletic shoe company executives about payments for recruits, one of them being Zion Williamson, who went to Duke. The Blue Devils play top-ranked Kentucky in the second game in Indy.

The transcript of one wiretap had the stepfather of Williamson, the 6-7 phenom, asking about money, a job and housing from the Kansas coaches, and the implication is that he was doing it with all of the schools recruiting his stepson. Regardless of what Zion did or didn’t get, a relative shopping him for money would jeopardize his eligibility. Duke says it vetted him carefully before signing him.

Arizona, LSU and even Cal-Northridge, where former NC State coach Mark Gottfried now works, are also playing on despite their names being reported. Like the mid-terms, results are far from in.

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