On the surface, not much has changed this year in the North Atlantic Conference. Northeastern University of Boston, as it has done six times in the past 11 years, is once again favored to cruise to the regular season title, win the league tournament, and advance to the NCAA Round of 64 come March.

Look beneath the surface of the trimmed-down, six-school men’s college basketball league, however, and a change can be detected. It’s subtle, but it’s there. Parity appears to be seeping slowly into the NAC.

“A few years ago, when we had Reggie Lewis, it would have taken a bomb to keep us from winning it,” said fifth-year NU head coach Karl Fogel, whose team is picked first in the coaches poll. “Now, we’re still the league favorite, but we could lose to the sixth-place team and no one would be surprised.”

Fogel knows whereof he speaks. His Huskies, after sharing the regular-season title with Boston University last year, lost a shocker to fifth-place Vermont in the postseason tournament. This, after losing to sixth-place Colgate and fourth-place Maine in the regular season.

There were enough similar upsets last year (Vermont over Hartford, Maine over BU) to make a case for continued revolt by the so-called “outpost” teams this season.

“Every team in the league has gotten a little better,” said Hartford Coach Jack Phelan, whose Hawks are predicted to challenge NU for the title this season. “The other teams, that have struggled in the past, are moving up. I think this will be the closest race the league has seen.”

Maybe. But it’s still Northeastern’s race to lose.

The Huskies have four of their top six players back from the team that led the NAC in scoring (76.3 points per game) and rebounding (40.6). Senior forward Steve Carney remains the standard by which other league forwards measure themselves. The roster is wall-to-wall athletes.

Does NU have a weakness?

“We’re not a good shooting team,” assessed Fogel, whose Huskies made the fewest three-point baskets in the league a year ago (76). “We don’t shoot a high percentage from the three-point line, which allows people to pack it inside on us.”

The Huskies must like it packed inside. They scored 118 and 110 points in two exhibition victories heading into Thursday night’s opener against Indiana at the Maui Classic.

HARTFORD returns four starters from the squad that led the NAC in scoring defense (65.6), field goal defense (.409) and field goal percentage (.486), which says something about how Phelan feels about fundamentals. Leading the Hawks is 6-foot-10 sophomore center Vinnie Baker, who most of the coaches believe will be the next Reggie Lewis (an impact NBA player). Phelan admits the team is built around Baker, but stressed the reed-thin youngster will need to improve.

“He’s that good a player, but he has to get stronger,” said Phelan. “He has to mature and grow for us to get better.”

With a surrounding cast that includes All-NAC senior guard Ron Moye, senior forward Larry Griffiths, and senior point guard Al Jones, Baker won’t have to grow too fast for the Hawks to succeed. The only question is depth.

BOSTON UNIVERSITY has a new coach in former University of Southern Maine boss Bob Brown. As a result, the Terriers will have a new uptempo system that features pressure defense and liberal use of the three-point shot. BU threw up 30 three-point attempts in a recent exhibition. Unfortunately, they only made 8.

“There are certain ways the three should be shot,” said Brown, who has only two starters back from last year’s regular-season co-champion to work with. “There are passes that lead to the three and passes that take you out of the three. Learning this is not easy.”

Fortunately for Brown, the Terriers have talented pupils lik Fortunately for Brown, the Terriers have talented pupils like senior guard Reggie Stewart, junior guard Mark Daly, and a couple of frontcourt bangers in 6-9 Russell Jarvis and 6-6 Fred Davy to teach. How quickly they pick up on Brown’s ideas will determine the success of the Terriers.

VERMONT finished in the bottom three last year in most statistical categories except one: the Catamounts led the league in three-point field goals with 202. How big a weapon is the three-pointer? It carried an 11-17 team into the NAC tourney final, put it on ESPN, and got the erstwhile skiiers in Burlington talking hoops.

All five starters are back for fifth-year head coach Tom Brennan, including three-point bombers Matt Johnson (68-182), Brian Tarrant (45-101), and Kenny White (42-143). Oh yes. Kevin Roberson, a 6-7 junior who finished third in the nation in blocked shots (114), also returns.

If Vermont picks up where it left off last year, winning six of its last nine games, the rest of the NAC is in trouble.

MAINE lost eight games last year by 7 points or less, which leads third-year Black Bear head coach Rudy Keeling to believe his team is on the verge of turning a very big corner, especially with three starters back and a six-member recruiting class in fold.

“We played so many games to five points and lost, if we split those games this year we’ll be at .500,” said Keeling. “If we split those games in the league we’ll be substantially over .500.”

The problem: Keeling has to figure where the 19 points per game graduated top NAC scorer Dean Smith took with him are going to come from. Consistency from center Curtis Robertson and swingman Derrick Hodge, and contributions from the youngsters will be key.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Coach Jim Boylan got an eyeful when the Wildcats went 5-23 his first year. So the former Michigan State assistant went out and recruited five players who may all see action this year, including 6-9 bangers Doug Lang and Matt Neimeier and 6-7 forward Shaft Lewis.

Mix the newcomers with proven NAC performers Pat Manor, last year’s NAC Rookie of the Year, Eric Thielen, and guards Bob Cummins and Bryant Davis, and improvement appears likely.

“I’m happy with the progress we’ve made as a team,” Boylan summed up.