With NCAA’s March Madness underway and the American basketball junkies eyes are fixated on it, the NBA, while still in progress takes a back seat and coasts to the post-season without being noticed. 

But can NCAA teams cut it in the NBA? On paper: no. God, no. But one ex-NBA coach does. 

LARRY BROWN: KENTUCKY COULD MAKE THE EAST PLAYOFFS 

Kentucky are a perfect 34-0 and seemingly have their own path to the Final Four. It’s a foregone conclusion apparently. 

Former USA, NBA and current SMU Mustangs coach Larry Brown thinks that Kentucky would make the NBA Playoffs in the woeful Eastern Conference, which is being led by Atlanta, Cleveland and Toronto. Question is: Why is the media asking these dumb questions…??? 

Via Yahoo! Sports:

The East is awful. Two teams, those Knicks and the infamous Philadelphia 76ers, are outright tanking the season. Two other teams, the struggling Orlando Magic and Detroit Pistons, are attempting to pick up the pieces left by the salted-crop work of the franchise’s previous general managers. The Brooklyn Nets are helmed by an owner and general manager who love to watch profits burn, the Indiana Pacers, Miami Heat and (to a far lesser extent) the Charlotte Hornets have been beset by injuries this season, and the Boston Celtics don’t mind taking their time through a long, loooong rebuilding effort.

The three teams that are tied for the seventh, eighth and ninth spots in the East are currently on pace for 38 wins. Kentucky could finish the season 40-0.

The Wildcats, as John Calipari pointed out just a few games into the team’s perfect regular season, would also be destroyed by any number of Eastern Conference teams. Even by the Knicks and Sixers, two squads made up almost entirely of 10th men.

John Hobbs:

“The Wildcats are streets above anyone else in the NCAA right now and the ease of which they’re winning games almost pencils them in automatically to the Final Four, unless they are missing half of their team to food poisoning or last minute injuries.

“To say though that they would make the NBA Playoffs is just mad though. They would be lucky to win 10 games in the regular season and not lose the other 72 by less than 20 points.”

BOEHEIM TO RETIRE IN THREE YEARS

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has become one of the game’s most infamous figures. Until the violations kicked in.

Now, in three years, the 70-year-old will be stepping down from his post.

Via Yahoo! Sports:

Boeheim and Syracuse officials acknowledged the unwanted ties Wednesday in announcing he will retire after three more seasons, while insisting they don’t agree with parts of the scathing NCAA report and will appeal to try to save scholarships and wins.

Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said Boeheim decided to make the announcement to ”bring certainty to the team and program in the coming years” and to allow for a smooth transition.

”Coach Jim Boeheim has been a mainstay at Syracuse University for more than one-third of our entire 144-year history,” Syverud said in a statement. ”He enrolled as a student here in 1962 and has never left. He has been the embodiment of Orange pride.”

When Boeheim turned 70 in November, wife Juli asked him if he was OK with coaching as a septuagenarian and all that goes along with it.

FISHER FILES FOR DIVORCE

New York Knicks coach Derrick Fisher has filed for divorce from wife Candace.

Via AP:

Fisher filed the paperwork Wednesday in Los Angeles, a spokesman tells The Associated Press.

Fisher says in a statement that “this is a difficult time for me personally. For the sake of our children, I ask that everyone respects our privacy during this process.”

The Fishers were married Feb. 19, 2005, and have two children together: twins Tatum and Drew. They each also have another child from a previous relationship.

Tatum has recovered from retinoblastoma, a rare form of eye cancer for which she was treated in 2007.

Fisher is in his first season as coach of the Knicks. He spent most of his playing career with the Lakers, helping them win five championships.

Post updated: 03:16, 19th March 2015.