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Host Bob Edwards talks with sports commentator John Feinstein about the college basketball season. Louisville's coach, Danny Crumb is under pressure to retire, and speculation is already high about his replacement. With the ensuing NCAA tournament, Feinstein says the ACC will have at least five bids, though Stanford is the favorite to win.

Kansas is No. 1 in the AP Top 25 preseason men's basketball poll ahead of Alabama and two-time defending national champion UConn. The Jayhawks got 30 of 60 first-place votes while the Crimson Tide received 14 and the Huskies got 11. Houston and Iowa State round out the top five, followed by Gonzaga, Duke, Baylor, North Carolina and Arizona.

NPR's Anne Garrels in Hebron reports hopes for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian violence hinge on the outcome of meetings President Clinton will be holding with Yasser Arafat and Ehud Barak. The mood among Palestinians is pessimistic, and many say they see little chance for a resumption of substantive peace talks.

For the first time in history, all 10 acts on the "Billboard Top 10" are black. Nine of the 10 are rap acts, and the top spot is held by Pop/R&B songstress Beyonce and Dancehall Reggae star Sean Paul.

Usually around this time, Hollywood is talking about how to keep its box office momentum going. This year, January was so lackluster that studios had to jump-start moviegoing from scratch.

Host Liane Hansen speaks with Martin Cruz Smith. The author of Havana Bay and Gorky Park now has a new novel of international intrigue, called December 6 (Simon & Shuster, ISBN 0-684-87253-6), set on the brink of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941.

No album in the history of the Billboard album chart has ever had a longer gap between stints at No. 1. Elsewhere, Christmas music dominates for one last week.

Liane talks with Mark Frost about his latest novel, The 6 essiahs, which continues the fictitious adventures of 19th-century author rthur Conan Doyle. (William Morrow)

Las Vegas is set to claim the title of city with the largest Ferris wheel, but not for long. New York City plans for a taller wheel, and rumors swirl that Dubai may top even that. Host Scott Simon talks to John Russick, director of Curatorial Affairs at the Chicago History Museum, about the first ever Ferris wheel, which debuted at the 1893 World Fair in Chicago.

Despite penguins, lions and gorillas battling for Hollywood supremacy, 2005 will go down as a box office disappointment. But NPR critic Bob Mondello says the year's films were high on quality.