The Northwestern men’s basketball season officially begins today — nearly 4,000 miles away.

The Wildcats will play Portland in the first round of the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. It takes about seven hours to fly from Chicago to Fairbanks, but the trip will be worth it, NU coach Bill Carmody said.

“I wanted us to get going, play in a couple of games and get them under our belts fast,” Carmody said. “And this is about as quickly as you can do it — three games in three nights.”

The eight-team field includes two NCAA tournament teams from last season — Western Michigan and Central Florida — and an NIT team that Carmody said was the tourney favorite — Utah State. And Alaska Fairbanks is ranked second in Street and Smith’s Division II preseason poll.

“I just hope we play pretty well and don’t beat ourselves,” Carmody said. “(I hope) that we play like we’ve been there before.”

Most players, however, have never been there — literally. Their knowledge of Alaska extends to what they’ve heard.

“Snow, real cold — that’s pretty much it,” T.J. Parker said was what he knew about the state.

NU plays the Portland Pilots (2-0), who are led by junior guards Pooh Jeter Jr. and Donald Wilson Jr. Portland’s Dreshawn Vance made the West Coast Conference all-freshmen team last season.

Carmody said Jeter is “one of the best guards I’ve seen.” Jeter made the all-conference team last year, averaging 16.6 points per game and shooting 41.2 percent from behind the arc.

The Pilots, like the Cats, rely on perimeter scoring for the bulk of their offense. This may pose problems for the Cats, who had trouble defending the perimeter in the first half of their exhibition victory against DePauw.

“We’re going to have to control (Jeter), I know that,” Carmody said.

NU’s depth will be helpful in the tournament. Carmody said the challenge of playing three games in three days probably will force him to use more players.

“This is for real now,” he said. “It’s not an exhibition game — it’s for real. You have three games in three days, so we’ll probably play a bunch of guys. If you have eight or nine guys instead of six or seven, that’s going to be key.”

NU’s freshmen may see some more playing time. Brandon Lee already has established himself as a contributor, but Carmody said he isn’t sure about Sterling Williams and Gary Lee.

“(Williams has) improved a lot in the last couple of weeks,” Carmody said.

If the Cats advance to the second round, they will face either Western Michigan or New Mexico State.

“We’re going to take one game at a time,” Parker said. “We just have to come in and win our first game against Portland.

“We’ve been working on this stuff for three days now, scouting report and everything, so I think we’re ready to go.”

Reach Anthony Tao at [email protected].

NU vs. Portland

When: 9 p.m. Today

Where: Fairbanks, Alaska