So here we are, at the end of the NBA season as we, New Yorkers, will know it.  Change has already begun with the hiring of Donnie Walsh as President of the NY Knicks.  We have seen this before during our lifetime.  The list of qualified (and unqualified) individuals are long and storied.

Lets take Walsh's hiring at arms length.  Lets give him, and Garden management, the benefit of the doubt.  There are a lot of issues that Walsh must address in the coming days.  Should Isiah Thomas, the present head coach, stay or go?  If a move is made, who takes the hot seat?  Regarding personnel, does Stephon Marbury have one more life to live in a Knick uniform next year?  And of Eddie Curry, where does he fit in?  Does Zach Randolph have one and out in a Knick uniform, and if so, who is willing to take his contract and attitude?  And who do the Knicks look at in the draft?  That may/will depend upon their selection spot.  Finally, will we get free food for all of next year as the team, in whatever shape, hopes to improve upon a failed 2007-08 campaign?

Walsh has started out with all the proper buzz words.  Patience is what is needed.  After the Scott Layden debacle of trading Pat Ewing for bad contracts/bad players, Walsh is intimating that New Yorkers, after several years of poor performances, understand that it may take a little time to put the pieces back together.  Even if the Knicks could get BOTH Rose and Beasley in the draft, they would be far away from a championship (though in the weak Eastern Conference they would at least compete for a playoff spot).

Finally, we wish the Knicks well.  They are family.  And regardless of how bad they may treat us, we don't abandon our family.  But they can't take that for granted, regardless of what attendance has been (close to sell-outs).  And they are showing that they aren't.  We understand if they let Thomas go in the next few days (and not earlier) as a means to save a few dollars on a lost season.  But then again, isn't that what Herb Williams is for?

(5)  With all the talk about Paul v. Kobe for MVP and then all the “you gotta throw LeBron and KG” into the mix, it is an absolute lock that the most under-rated player in the NBA is Dwight Howard, who is dissed every time his name is included with these other four . . .

 - A. Katz, Philadelphia, PA

In what most assurdly is one of the most anticipated Final Fours in recent memory, we're down to mere hours when UCLA and all its history and ghosts take on powerful Memphis, led by point guard supreme Derrick Rose.  40 minutes after they conclude will see the battle of the two sides of Roy Williams, the old - Kansas, whom he brought up the hill but never filled the pail, and the new, North Carolina, whom he filled the pail within two years, and is now back to do it again.

To say we are anxiously awaiting today's games is truly an understatement.  Like waiting for your birthday to come and all the gifts to be showered upon you, there is a slight feeling of depression when its done and you have to wait another 365 until you get that wonderful feeling of anticipation of what-is-to-come.  We will have that today only because this truly has been a tremendous college season.  While having Kansas in the Final Four completes the circle of "1's", who of us didn't want to see Stephen Curry and his Davidson squad one more time?

On today's games, our choice since practice began on October 15th was UCLA.  While the choice remains, the battle for survival looks much tougher.  But to quote Jim Valvano during his historic NC State run 25 years ago, "survive and advance".  And that is what the Bruins will do today because of the two headed point guard monster of Collison and Westbrook.  Memphis will try to do everything to disrupt UCLA's offensive flow, but how do you defend the second (passing) coming of Bill Walton?  Kevin Love will be the safety valve in the high post, giving relief to the guards.  And if Memphis is not careful, he will pick them apart with sharp, accurate passes.  Memphis is set to have a great game and will pressure UCLA into turnovers.  Keys - how many turnovers lead to easy points and if Memphis is ahead late in the game, how long till Ben Howland tests the week free throw shooting of Memphis and revives all those Phi Slamma Jamma ghosts?

The night cap also is great on paper.  But the print here says its North Carolina.  Hansbrough will show why he is the Player of the Year, but his teammate Ty Lawson will show why he is the Most Outstanding Player.  His quickness with the ball will be the deciding factor in tonights game, pushing a close contest to double digits at the sound of the horn.

So we look for two of the most storied schools to battle it out Monday evening, UCLA vs. UNC.  But if we're wrong, Memphis vs. Kansas will work too, afterall, they are #1's also.

As we get ready for the Final Four this weekend, those of you who have been waiting all week for some good basketball may have been missing some great basketball . . . the NBA, and particularly the Western conference, has provided more enjoyment than the NCAA tournament this year (well, unless you’re a Knicks fan . . . in which case nothing in the NBA may be relevant until 2012).  Notably, the direction of the NBA is soaring upward while the excitement of college hoops, and particularly March Madness is fading.   If it wasn’t for the prize money for winning a bracket pool, interest in the college game would be at an all time low.  Here’s why:  The college game has degenerated because the best kids generally stay only one year—two years most. So you don’t see nearly as much team basketball because the teams never have a chance to develop the chemistry that they once had.  The upside of this is that you have a one year showcase for the individual talents of a Michael Beasley or a Kevin Durant.  But if that’s what you want to watch, then why not watch the even greater talents of a Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard or LeBron James.  In fact, the NBA has at least a dozen such stars with more developed games and better teammates than anything college has to offer.  But it’s not just about talent . . . If you’re a believer in old-school team basketball, then for years you could rely on the college game for a superior product because it was less about one-on-one ball and more about movement and plays.  It’s not that way anymore.  It used to fun to watch a college team grow together and follow their senior leaders to an NCAA tournament run.  The best kids play one year and then go pro. Now, the college programs, even the great ones, are in constant transition.  The stars come and the stars go and the strength of your freshman recruiting class is a much better indicator of how your year will go than your record of the previous season.  In contrast, the NBA teams are recognizing the value of their young talent and locking them up early.  Cores of teams are together for long stretches—making for better chemistry and better team basketball.  In turn, the NBA puts out a more competitive and more complete product.    Moreover, the greatest thing about the NCAA tournament was that everyone could dream of a championship.  Hell if Villanova or NC State could win (mind you with a core of very good seniors), then “why can’t we” was the One Shining Moment dream that all schools could share.  You’ve been sleeping too long if you’re still having that dream now.  Teams have to be deep with NBA level talent to win (not just five deep either).  The common denominator of 2005 UNC, 2006-07 FLA and anyone of the 2008 final four teams is that they all were loaded with talent.  Yes, it is possible for a low seed to get hot and win a few (a la Davidson) and maybe a couple of one seeds can get upset along the way to the Final Four too, but the days of even a three seed winning a title seem long gone.  With the game breaking down to one-on-one battles, talent becomes tougher and tougher to defeat with teamwork. You can figure out a way to slow down any one player (as Kansas did to Scottie Reynolds and even Steph Curry (9-25)) but you can’t double team everyone when a team has 4 legitimate scorers on the floor.  Teams that are loaded are the teams that win . . . and the trend of the strong getting stronger seems likely to continue.  For that one year that the likes of a Kevin Love plays in college, he wants to play for a National Championship (can’t fault him or anyone else for that).  The result is that players like Love keep choosing to go to UCLA, Carolina, Kansas, etc. (not all of them, but enough of them).  And you can almost guarantee that 2 will be playing for the title on the first Monday in April.  In contrast, the NBA has seen a significant jump in the number of teams that could win a title in 2008 (realistically, there are 5 teams:  Lakers, Spurs, Suns, Hornets, Celts).  This is quite a jump up from the Celtics-Lakers era, the Bulls era and even the Spurs-Pistons era.  Moreover, there are many up-and comers that are developing chemistry and talent that are could certainly push the aforementioned 5 around.  For instance, nobody is going to want to play the Dwight’s Magic or LeBron’s Cavs in the east; and every playoff team out west could win a first round series depending on the matchups. 

A. Katz - Philadelphia, PA

The 2008 Game Over Classic  will be held June 20 - 22 in New York City.  Age groups for the Classic are:

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It's that time of year again when the high school leagues and state championships have completed.  Now comes tourney season.  AAU and independent tournaments all begin and the best place to get all the gear and trophies you need to make your tournament successfu is right here.

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What a tourney!  We've watched the tourney since UCLA was a powerhouse, the first time back in the 1960's.  In all that time there's never been a Final Four that had all Regional #1 seeds advance to the final weekend.  There have been many years where its been said that "this is the year", that there were four school teams that have seperated themselves fromt he rest of the pack.  So why this year?

Well it can be argued that there was a whole lot of home cooking.  North Carolina plays its regional in Raleigh, NC.  Are you kidding!  Why not have mom and dad  tell you to come down and eat breakfast before you go to school!  Or UCLA?  Playing in Phoenix at a Pac-10 venue is playing at home.  Say what you will, but we all root for our own within conference.  You did notice those little ASU Sundevils on the floor, didn't you?  While Detroit isn't exacltly home to Kansas, it sure is a lot closer than for any of the other regional advancers.  It showed as Davidson became everyone's Cinderella darling.  (Stephen Curry needed to go for the two and overtime, not look for, and then have to pass for a 3 attempt.)  Finally, Memphis at least went and legitimately fought for its number 1 seed by going into the lion's den and messing with Texas's head.

So here we are, four #1's.  And the fun really begin's cause this is who the committee would be here.  They legitimized the committee for getting it right.  In fact, there truthfully were very few upsets, showing that the committee did a great job in its seeding.

We'll discuss the four teams during the week so check back as we go into the Final Four.  Game Over