Basketball season is here, as the Brown Bears travel to Cassell Coliseum to take on Virginia Tech on Sunday at 4pm. This is a game the Hokies should win easily, but nothing can be taken for granted considering the injuries and illnesses that Tech suffered during the preseason.

As of now, we aren't even sure who will be starting for Virginia Tech. At times the Hokies were practicing with just eight players during the preseason, thanks to a rash of injuries, as well as the flu bug. Jeff Allen had an injured knee, and now he has a hand injury. J.T. Thompson has missed time with a high ankle sprain. Victor Davila had to be quarantined for four days with the flu, and he lost 12 pounds in the process.

Those are just a few of the problems Seth Greenberg has faced during the preseason. Luckily the Hokies will get an Ivy League team at home, so they should be able to get a win, and Greenberg will have a chance to get a better understanding of what he has to work with this season.

Brown has some good Ivy League players in their starting lineup, but they lack depth. Here's a look at the projected starters for the Bears.

The best player on the team is center Matt Mullery. Mullery was a First Team All-Ivy League selection last year, averaging 16.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. He can do it all in the Ivy League. He also averages two assists and 2.1 blocks per game, and he led the league in field goal percentage, shooting 60.6% from the field.

Mullery blocked 59 shots last season, which led the Ivy League and is a Brown single season record. He had a rare 20-20 game against Harvard last season, posting 20 points and 20 rebounds.

Brown has other good scorers in the lineup as well. Guard Adrian Williams is capable of getting hot at any time. Last season against Quinnipiac, Williams scored 29 points on 9-of-11 shooting. He was an amazing 7-of-8 from three-point range. He's generally not that dominant of a player, but he's good enough to burn you if he gets hot.

Here's a small tidbit for you Redskins fans out there. Williams' father is Doug Williams, former Redskin quarterback and MVP of Super Bowl XXII.

Peter Sullivan is a solid wing for the Bears. He averaged 14.3 points per game last season as a sophomore. He was a Third Team All-Ivy League selection. Sullivan averaged 35.9 minutes per game, and he was one of three Brown players to average over 30 minutes per game.

The other starters for Brown are complete unknowns. Matt Sullivan is the brother of Peter Sullivan, and they'll both start on the wing for the Bears. Andrew McCarthy will start in the frontcourt alongside Matt Mullery. They are the headline recruits of what appears to be a pretty good Ivy League recruiting class.

Brown doesn't have a lot of depth. Right now it looks like they only go about eight players deep, and they don't have any major scoring threats off the bench. Expect the starters to get the majority of the minutes, and Adrian Williams, Peter Sullivan and Matt Mullery should all play 30+ minutes per game for the second year in a row.

This game is an opening round game of the Philly Hoop Group Classic and will be Brown's second game of the season. They open their 2009-10 campaign against St. Francis (NY) on Friday night.. Tech will travel to Philadelphia over Thanksgiving to take on Temple and Delaware to conclude the Philly Hoop Group Classic event.

There's not a lot to say about Brown in this game. The Hokies are bigger, faster, stronger and more athletic. They should win this game without any difficulty. Here's a look at Virginia Tech's projected starting lineup, for now.

Malcolm Delaney headlines the group as the ACC's leading returning scorer. He and Jeff Allen are the ACC's second leading returning scoring combo, behind Duke's Kyle Singler and Jon Schyer.

It's very important that Delaney and Allen stay out of foul trouble this year. The Hokies have just two proven scorers, and they aren't going to win many games if either Delaney or Allen has to sit with fouls. That's why we probably won't see Seth Greenberg go with many small lineups this year. If Tech goes small, that means Jeff Allen would be guarding the opponent's biggest player, and that's an easy way to get in foul trouble.

Tech might be somewhat sluggish in this game, considering the team never got to practice together as a whole during the preseason. Some of these guys just aren't used to playing with each other yet, especially when you throw freshmen Ben Boggs, Erick Green and Manny Atkins into the mix.

Nevertheless, the Hokies are the more talented team. They can't lose this game unless they beat themselves.