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for the past several years.

When we speak of the NCAA tournament itself, all comparisons go out the door - the excitement of 10 days of basketball where every 40 minute contest will end the season for one of the teams, while the other moves on to the next round and, if fortunate, the next weekend, is unparalleled in sports.

THE FINALS: Advantage NCAA

By the time the first weekend and the first two rounds are over, 48 games have been played in the Dance, leaving the Sweet 16 teams to carry on to the Regional tournament sites. After the second weekend, only four teams remain - the elite of that year's college basketball crop - who then move onto to the final three games, the Final Four, played with Semi-Finals on Saturday and the National Championship Game on Monday evening.

By the time, two teams reach the NBA Finals, the playoffs have continued for two months and we are now faced with the prospect of 7 games being spread over two weeks, such that the less serious fan may well forget that the NBA Finals are still ongoing.

THE RIVALRIES: Advantage NCAA

Even in this respect, the NBA has declined severely - the days of Magic Johnson's Lakers and Larry Bird's Celtics squaring off year after year through the decade of the 1980's seem in a distant past; the dues that the Pistons paid to get past the Celtics and then the Lakers, followed by Michael Jordan's Bulls subsequently moving past the Pistons seem out of place in this modern era of players changing teams yearly through salary cap deals that appear senseless with a general emphasis on the individual far more than the team. The opposite was what made the league passionate and interesting - as a fan, whatever player joined your team was a welcome friend to complement the other veterans on your squad; the same players would battle each other for years at a time each on their respective teams throughout.

On the other hand, the mere mention of Duke - North Carolina; Georgetown - Syracuse; Kentucky - Louisville; Michigan State - Indiana or UCLA - Arizona tells you that the rivalries in college basketball are as passionate as ever. Every regular season conference game matters in essentially every season.

THE COACHES: Advantage NCAA

The veteran coaches that make up the best teams in the NCAA are some of the most notable, most talented and most charismatic in sports: Bob Knight, just retired from Texas Tech and formerly of Indiana; Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, soon to pass Coach Knight's all-time win record, which Knight seized

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