Last season wasn’t all too kind to New England college hoops.

Boston College sank to the depths of the ACC after having to rely on Tyrese Rice, a bunch of freshmen and a couple of inadequate big men. Providence fired Tim Welsh after yet another ho-hum season, Boston University was 14-17 and UMass coach Travis Ford bolted for the money after he claimed he was staying put.

Even UConn bowed out in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

It was ugly, but this year will be different. Trust me.

There’s a team capable of competing for the national title, a couple of new coaches and two other teams predicted to challenge for an NCAA berth.

New England college hoops is as solid throughout the area as it’s been in years.

North Carolina is everyone’s pick to win it all this year with Tyler Hansbrough and the rest of the boys from Chapel Hill back from last season’s Final Four club. However, Jim Calhoun’s UConn Huskies are a consensus top-five team in the country, were tabbed No. 2 in the Associated Press Preseason Poll and were the preseason pick to win the Big East.

This is basically the same team that was absolutely brutal a couple years ago. The one where Brookline native Jeff Adrien had to assume leadership duties. The one where 7-foot-3 big man Hasheem Thabeet made walking and chewing gum look like a challenge.

Now the Huskies have grown up. Thabeet has made significant strides and is one of the elite big men in the country, Adrien has become a role player capable of a double-double every night and point guard A.J. Price has developed into a top-notch point guard.

“I think we have a chance this year,” Price said. “It’s unbelievable to think of how far we’ve come.”

Boston College has made strides as well, and although the Eagles won’t be competing for any ACC title–especially with North Carolina in their league–they should be improved with the maturity of their freshmen from a year ago and the addition of Vermont transfer Joe Trapani.

“All of the freshmen played big minutes last year,” Rice said. “That should help us out this season. The league is tough and we didn’t have much experience last year.”

Al Skinner’s club will still rely heavily on Rice, one of the elite guards in the country. But Rice will need to put an emphasis on defense and someone else will have to step up. One thing is for certain: sophomore big man Josh Southern will certainly be an upgrade over last year’s duo up front of Tyrelle Blair and John Oates.

“Obviously, last season was a hit to our ego,” Skinner said. “We want to make up for some of our shortcomings last year.”

After a season of constant “Fire Welsh” chants, Providence finally obliged many of the Friar faithful and cut ties with Tim Welsh after a decade filled primarily with mediocrity.

Welsh is out and Keno Davis, who led Drake to an improbable NCAA tournament with a couple of walk-ons in his first and only year at the helm, takes over a senior-laden group that’s capable of making a legitimate postseason run.

The only problem is that the Big East is absolutely loaded. In fact, it’s so stacked that some believe it could get a record 10 teams in the Big Dance. My guess is it’ll be nine, which isn’t too shabby.

“In this conference, the 10th-place team could be in the Top 25,” Davis said.

There’s even more optimism in Amherst where UMass welcomes home one of its own from the glory days, Derek Kellogg, to take the reigns of a team that has three quality guards, but not enough in the frontcourt to challenge for the Atlantic-10 crown. The Minutemen already took one on the chin—albeit in a game they weren’t favored to win—when they lost on Wednesday night at Southern Illinois.

Northeastern has also taken a loss (on the road at Michigan) but Bill Coen & Co. have a realistic chance to win the CAA in the coach’s third season since taking over for Ron Everhart. No one figured Coen could pull this off so quickly. But he’s followed a formula that worked when he was an assistant coach at Boston College, turning over virtually the entire roster with a bunch of unheralded guys that few other programs wanted.

After a couple of sub-par seasons by Boston University standards, the Terriers appear to be back in the mix for a berth in the NCAA tournament. With a backcourt that includes former Newton North star Corey Lowe and Tyler Morris, as well as sophomore swingman John Holland, B.U. was picked to win the America East.

New England may not be a hoops hotbed like Tobacco Road down in North Carolina, but there are plenty of interesting storylines and quality college basketball teams in the area this year.

Jeff Goodman is a senior basketball writer for FOXSports.com.