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It is never too early to plan your life around sports.

The Arizona Wildcats have issued their tentative basketball schedule for the 2008-09 season — highlighted by a home game against defending national champion Kansas and a Phoenix game against Gonzaga.

We warn you, however — tentative means tentative. If you schedule your wedding around a game, and it is changed, do not blame us. Or them.

And get your priorities straight, will ya?

On Nov. 17, the Wildcats will host a yet-to-be-determined team in the first round of the NIT Season Tip-Off. It will mark coach Lute Olson's first official game since March 16, 2007, when the Wildcats lost to Purdue in the first round of the NCAA tournament. That is one year, eight months and one day between games.

The Wildcats will host defending champion Kansas on Dec. 23 — two days before Christmas. If you haven't booked your airplane tickets yet, it might be worth braving ridiculous Christmas Eve airport lines to see the Jayhawks. Better yet, tell the family to fly to Tucson this year.

Start buying flowers now, because Arizona hosts UCLA on Valentine's Day. The game will be played on a Saturday, so one could only hope it will start during daylight hours.

If so, buy your sweetie a trip to the day spa, go to the game and then meet up for dinner. Everybody wins.

The Wildcats play four home games over 11 days at the end of January — against Arizona State, Houston, Washington and Washington State. If there is any doubt to the Wildcats' track then, it could be decided by the stretch. Win at least three, and Arizona could be in business. Should the Wildcats disappoint, at least they get to travel to Oregon State next.

Arizona fans, there are three days to circle for the upcoming school year: Dec. 6, Jan. 21 and Feb. 22.

The first week of December, the state rivals clash in football in Tucson. The Sun Devils come to McKale Center on Jan. 21, and the Wildcats return the favor about a month later. The UA football and basketball teams took an oh-fer against ASU last year.

Can you spell trap game? When Arizona plays Gonzaga on Dec. 14 at US Airways Center in Phoenix, it will mark more than a meeting between two West Coast powers. The Bulldogs return six of their seven leading scorers — do not be surprised if they're the favorites, even in front of an arena filled with UA alumni.

The Wildcats will host the first two rounds of the NIT Season Tip-Off, on Nov. 17 and 18.

Should Arizona win both games, it would advance to the tournament semifinals at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 26 and, if it wins, the finals two days later.

The three other teams in Arizona's region will likely be Florida Atlantic, Santa Clara and Alabama-Birmingham.

Three of the Wildcats' first four conference games come against head coaches hired during the off-season — Cal's Mike Montgomery, Stanford's Johnny Dawkins and Oregon State's Craig Robinson. Robinson is Barack Obama's brother-in-law.

The Wildcats played at champion Kansas and at runner-up Memphis last year en route to five nonconference games away from McKale Center.

This year, they travel to Texas A&M and to a neutral site to play Gonzaga. They could also play at Madison Square Garden, if they advance to the NIT Season Tip-Off finals.

Study up, impress your friends: Incarnate Word, the Wildcats' exhibition opener, is a private Catholic school in San Antonio. Technically, the school's title is University of The Incarnate Word. The Division II Cardinals, which will begin playing football in 2009, are absolute monsters in synchronized swimming.