The Erie BayHawks know the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers well.

The Cavs (13-20) were the main one of Erie’s two NBA affiliates in its first three D-League seasons before the Knicks (18-18) became its sole hybrid affiliate this season.

Tonight, the new (Knicks) beat the old (Cavs), 120-103, at Madison Square Garden. The outcome was a 34-point swing as Cleveland lead by as many as 17 points late in the second half before the Knicks came back to win by that same margin.

Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin finished with 19 points, 13 assists, five rebounds only one turnover and a bloody nose. in the first quarter, Cavaliers forward Omri Casspi chopped down over Lin’s nose in trying to swat the ball out of his hands.

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Christian Laettner

Christian Laettner says you got to start your coaching career somewhere.

He’s chosen to do so with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

I caught up with the former Duke All-American, who led the Blue Devils to back-to-back national titles 20 years ago in 1992, at shootaround earlier this afternoon before tonight’s game at 7 against the Erie BayHawks at Tullio Arena.

Laettner is in his first year as an assistant with the Mad Ants. Below he talks about being an assistant and how much of his coaching style is a reflection of playing for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Laettner talks being an assistant coach.

Laettner talks about Coach K influence.

“The Fab Five ruined the program.” – Jim Nantz of CBS said during Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game in the Big Ten semifinals, suggesting that Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson are the reason hasn’t been the same since they ended their career there. Led by the Fab Five, the Wolverines were the first team to reach the NCAA title game in 1992 with five freshmen starting.

With the Fab Five, fans either loved or hated them.

Got to disagree with Mr. Nantz.

What Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson did at Michigan in the 1990s was give players the freedom to be themselves, inspired the great players of today and made it cool for the top prep players to go to the same school.

Duke, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio State and other programs have benefited big time from that last one.

They took the interest in college basketball to heights it hasn’t reached since and unfortunately for them, showed how corrupt big-time college basketball can be. So I can’t wait to check out the special on the whole thing at tonight at 9 on ESPN.

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“Lets be honest about this, he’s a great player because he plays at BYU and that’s where the great ones end up, right? He dropped 40 against San Diego State and Colorado State, so he can score against surfers and skiers. Do you think he can do that against Duke?” – Colin Cowherd from ESPN’s SportsNation about Jimmer Fredette after he scored 43 points against San Diego State.

Fredette can flat out score, but is he the best player in college hoops?/Photo by Associated Press.

Surfers? Skiers?

Wow. I think he could get at least 27 against Duke even with the Cameron Crazies harassing him.

Now as much as I don’t think Fredette is the best player in college basketball, either, he is having the best season of anyone in the country so that does count for something.

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No one was more fun to watch in college basketball last season than Kentucky freshman point guard John Wall.

Let’s take a look at the first five picks of Thursday’s 2010 NBA Draft and see what they bring to the table.

1. Washington Wizards – John Wall (6-4, PG, Kentucky).
Strengths: Gifted athete, playmaker and brings size to PG position. Weaknesses: Needs to improve FT (Shot 75.4 percent at Kentucky), inexperience.
Impact on Wizards: Not only will he bring fans to the arena, Wall gives Washington a player they can immediately build around and put past troubles with the franchise.

2. Philadelphia 76ers – Evan Turner (6-7, SG/SF, Ohio State).
Strengths: Clutch, seasoned (played three years in college) and shoots a  high percentage  (shot 51.9 percent from the field last season). Weaknesses: Turnover prone and not as explosive around the rim in terms of finishing in traffic.
Impact on 76ers: Will have to play small forward, but teaming up with Andre Iguodala will give the 76ers two very good perimeter defenders. Has a very competitive edge, which Philadelphia has lacked in recent years.

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Erie BayHawks rookie Kyle Goldcamp, center, still has a chance to win the team bracket pool, but his coach, John Treloar has the inside track to taking it home. Treloar has Duke and Michigan State making it to the championship game.

John Treloar has the inside track.

Treloar picked Duke and Michigan State to meet in Monday's championship game.

Everyone has an NCAA Tournament bracket pool going. So when the Final Four rolls around, the smoke clears and you begin to see who has the best chance of winning the pool.

The team bracket commissioner – shooting guard Mike Gansey - is still holding out out hope WVU wins it all so he can brag that he was the only one to pick the Mountaineers to take home the national title. Gansey starred for the Mountaineers when they reached the Elite Eight in 2005.

However, he told before Tuesday’s practice Treloar has Duke and Michigan State meeting in the championship game. True to form, Duke will take on WVU in one national semifinal while Michigan State faces Butler in the other.

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Center Greg Monroe will lead Georgetown to championship glory this season.

Just filled out my bracket. It’s so much fun, you just want to enjoy every pick.

As most people who follow my work know, I’m a risk taker on these things. Why do it and play conversative?

Might as well pick some first-round upsets. So here are mine for this year’s NCAA Tournament. (seedings in brackets)

Midwest: (13) San Diego State over (6) Tennessee. Don’t trust the Vols.(10) Georgia Tech over (7) Oklahoma State.

West: (12) UTEP over (5) Butler. Just like UTEP’s style. (10) Florida over (7) BYU.

East: (10) Missouri over (7) Clemson. Definitely don’t trust Clemson. Maybe it’s the orange.

South: None here unless you count (9) Louisville beating (8) California.

My bracket gets even crazier after that, but at the end, these are my Final Four picks.

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Gunter on the block for Erie.

Erie BayHawks reserve power forward Jarvis Gunter seems to always have a smile on his face.

It just was a little bigger Wednesday before practice at LECOM.

The night before, he watched his school, Arkansas-Pine Bluff win its first ever NCAA Tournament game in Tuesday’s play-in game.

 The Golden Lions beat Winthrop, 61-44, in Dayton, Ohio. This was Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.

“I was very proud of them,” said Gunter, who averaged 6.6 points and 7.7 rebounds his senior season at Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2007-08. He finished his career with 754 points and 674 rebounds. “They went out and played hard. Took care of business. It made me very proud. I played with about five or six of those guys.”

Up next for the Golden Lions? Duke. The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and the epitome of college basketball.

“If they get keep it close and a couple of guys stay out of foul trouble, anything can happen,” Gunter said.

Gunter is just hoping the game is televised in the Erie area so he can watch it. The game is in Jacksonville, Fla. so the odds aren’t in his favor, but you never know.

Anything can happen in March Madness.

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The Erie BayHawks can’t afford to go on another losing skid like they did when they lost eight games  in a row or they can kiss the D-League playoffs goodbye.

Eight teams make the postseason and Erie is seventh right now, but the BayHawks have lost their last two games counting last night’s 101-89 defeat at Iowa.

The BayHawks could have pulled within a half game of the Central Division-leading Energy, but are now 2-1/2 games behind them.

The divisional winners get the top three seeds and then the top five teams with the best records regardless of division fill out those final playoff spots.

Here’s a look at the top 10 teams based on winning  percentage heading into tonight’s games.

With nine games remaining in the regular season, can Ivan Harris and the Erie BayHawks hold on to a playoff spot?

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