March Madness is the unofficial kickoff for the pro scouting madness that includes so-called predraft camps leading up to Chicago's in June and subsequent individual workouts. Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune takes a close look at it and ranks the players.

He sees three Duke players in the 1st round and believes that Jason Williams is the consensus No. 1 pick. Other top 4 players are Mike Dunleavy Jr, Yao Ming, Drew Gooden, and Dajuan Wagner, respectively.

The Chicago Bulls may end the season as the worst team and have a no lower than No. 4 pick. Either one of those mentioned players may join the Bulls next season.

According to Sam Smith, the sleepers of the draft might be David West, Casey Jacobsen and Luke Walton who may all be selected on the 1st round.

The surprise of the draft might be Dan Dickau being selected as high as a lottery selection and international prospect Nikoloz Tskitishvili who few have heard of or seen play.

Chicago Bulls may be fortnate on the second round as Vincent Yarbrough and Tayshaun Prince might be available.

Could the Knicks be headed to China?  No, they have not been extradited, but if they are lucky enough to land Chinese big man Yao Ming that may just be the compensation the Shanghai Sharks are looking for if Marc Berman's article in today's New York Post is anything to go by.

An exhibition game against Ming's Shanghai Sharks would be part of the compensation the Knicks or any other team lucky enough to choose Ming would have to give Shanghai for allowing Ming to play next season.  Layden was told by Chinese basketball officials during a recent trip that while Ming will definitely be allowed to play in the NBA next season, there would be conditions.

Rumors are Shanghai would require just money, but Layden was also told about an exhibition game and sponsoring coaching clinics in its Chinese city. One of the Shanghai owners was quoted last week, saying, "Under the right circumstances, with the right club, at the right time, he'll play."

University of Florida junior guard Brett Nelson suffered through a miserable NCAA Tournament. Tuesday, he was punched in the face by teammate LaDarius Halton and had surgery that night at Shands Hospital in Gainesville.

Thursday, he answered repeated questions from the media about his fractured right cheekbone. Then the Gators were eliminated in the first round of the tournament in a 83-82 loss to Creighton on Friday afternoon.

Nelson made just 4 of 19 shots from the field, including 2 of 10 from 3-point range. He misfired on a runner at the buzzer in regulation, which could have won the game for the Gators.

Nice week.

Actually, it was a nightmare. And Nelson admitted afterwards that he's considering leaving Florida for the NBA, rather than coming back for one more year.

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet," he said. "I'm going to take the next couple of months and see what happens. I'm going to talk to my parents and talk to coaches and stuff like that and see what happens. There's no doubt, though, that all of this has left a very bad taste in my mouth."

Nelson briefly considered turning pro after last season. If he does try to turn professional, it's doubtful he'd warrant a first-round draft selection. Several publications have quoted NBA scouts as saying Nelson won't even be drafted if declares for the draft.

Part of Nelson's frustration, in addition to having a swollen face, was the team's up and down season that was once filled with so many expectations. Ironically, the season ended with Nelson's hand in the face of Bluejays' guard Terrell Taylor, who made the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left.

"We made some mistakes and they made some mistakes but in the end he hit a tough shot," Nelson said of Taylor. "You've got to give that kid credit. I was right up in his face, he jumped over me and knocked down a shot. You can't do anything about that."

Florida lost all five of its games determined by three points or less this year.

"It's the kind of thing that happened all season long," Nelson said. "We could never close games out and I think down the stretch we never really got control of the game and that's been a trend this whole season."

If he does decide to return, it could be because of next season's potential. As a freshman, Nelson made the All-Regional team when the Gators won the East to advance to the Final Four. He'd like to leave college ball with a better final showing in the NCAAs.

"I'm a winner and we didn't win anything this year," he said. "It kind of leaves a bad taste in your mouth going into next year, whatever you intend to do."

While no one's sure what Nelson will do -- including himself -- one player who has NBA scouts very interested but isn't leaving is freshman James White.

White said he plans to be back next year.

"I'm definitely going to stay," White said. "I've got a lot to do. I've got a lot to work on. Hopefully, I'm trying to take this team to the Final Four next year."

Add Tennessee junior forward Marcus Haislip into the group which will be nominating for the NBA draft, already having told his coaches about his decision.  Haislip is expected to go in the 10-20 range, and according to his coach Buzz Peterson none of the nine GM's he asked thought he would go top 10.

''I have no problem with Marcus leaving if he's going to be a top 10 pick,'' Peterson said. ''The problem is that you don't really know at this point where he's going to go. I've talked to six different [NBA] general managers, and not one of them has told me he was a top 10 pick. He's more in the 10 to 20 range.''

The only thing that will see him back at Tennessee next season would be a poor showing at draft camp.

Expecting 3 picks in the upcoming NBA draft, the Nuggets are intensely watching the NCAA tournament.

Kiki Vandeweghe and several scouts will be evaluating players all this month to make the most of Denver's picks.

They will also be scouting in Europe for a week.

To start each championship ceremony at this week's state basketball tournament, the Florida High School Activities Association played the song "Faith of the Heart" by Rod Stewart:

"It's been a long road, getting from there to here. It's been a long time, but my time is finally near."

They should have queued it up one more time for the Dairy Farmers Mr. Basketball award. It could be Amare Stoudemire's theme song.

Stoudemire, a 6-foot-10 senior who attended three high schools in Florida and two in Durham, N.C., before settling at Cypress Creek, was announced as Florida's 20th Mr. Basketball on Saturday at the Lakeland Center.

He averaged 29.1 points, 15.0 rebounds and 6.1 blocked shots for the Bears (15-15) in his first and only year of varsity ball in his home state.

"Despite everything that was going on, I kept my focus," Stoudemire said. "I just handled the situation with my head up 24/7."

Now his time to pursue an NBA dream could be near. Stoudemire again said he has not ruled out college, but most analysts believe he could be picked in the top 10 of the NBA draft in June and will surely go pro.

"If I do go to the league my first year, my goal is to be rookie of the year," Stoudemire said Saturday. "I go hard for everything I do."

Stoudemire, who orally committed to sign with Memphis last year but then backed away from that pledge over the summer, said he is being tutored for college entrance tests and may take a crack at the SAT or ACT. Memphis was the only college possibility he mentioned Saturday.

Stoudemire received 12 of 28 first-place votes to top Jacksonville Wolfson guard Will Holloman in Mr. Basketball voting. Chipley guard T.J. McCullough was third, followed by Santa Fe forward James Shuler, Tarence Kinsey of Tampa Jefferson and Darius Bee of Tallahassee FAMU.

Oviedo's Ed Kershner was second in state coach-of-the-year voting behind Ricky McCullough of Chipley.

The 2002 NBA draft is still over three months ago, and for the last few months all the talk has been about Duke Point Guard Jason  Williams, who is having another outstanding season and thus far has been the consensus #1 pick, if there is such a thing this early.

The most intriguing prospect has been Chinese center Yao Ming, all seven foot six inches of him.  Last season Ming was set to be a certain top-5 selection, but his home club the Shanghai Sharks announced last May that Ming would not be coming to America this season.

"The main goal for Yao this year is to represent Shanghai to compete in the 9th National Games. He has to focus on to the East Asian Games this month and to the Asian Championships in July," Sharks deputy general manager Li Yaomin said.

"Yao Ming is a very important player either for Shanghai Sharks or for the Chinese League. So we decide not to let him go temporarily." manager Bai Li said, citing that the Chinese League is just starting to take off and they need Ming's help.

But this might not have been the only problem for Ming, with few of the NBA's General Managers having seem him play in person.  Chicago's Jerry Krause vowed he would not draft a player blindly when asked about Ming last year, and it is unknown how many other GM's would follow a similar suit, especially with draft picks that are so high up in the order.

But that was last season, and this season things are much different.  Krause, whose Bulls team is again expected to have a high lottery pick, has already made a trip to China this season to see Ming play in person, as as New York Knicks president Scott Layden, who returned impressed in what he saw.

"I had a very good trip to China," Layden said. "Ming is a very talented guy with a lot of potential. It was a very positive scouting trip. He has a lot of potential in the little chance I got to see him. He's got a lot of skills, a lot of talent. I was impressed."

But the questions still remain.  While he actually be able to contribute, or is he another Shawn Bradley/Manute Bol?  How will he adapt to American life?  Is he even coming?

Layden was told by Chinese officials that Ming will definently be in the NBA next season, which Marc Berman of the New York Post reports should erase an uncertainty that had scared off some league GMs.

And with Qyntel Woods' stock skying and Drew Gooden having a career season this year the 2002 NBA draft including Ming should be much more interesting, if not deeper which is good for the NBA.

Remember early prognostications regarding last year's draft? The top two names were Chinese center Yao Ming and Duke guard Jason Williams.

Guess what ? they're still there.

Ming didn't come out last year, but observers figure that since he will be 22 in this calendar year he can be drafted. Worst-case scenario would be the Chinese fighting to keep him in the country.

Either way, the 7-foot-5 center, despite his thin frame and relatively short arms, will attract microscopic attention come draft night.

Williams, the consensus No. 1 player in college basketball, has already said he will come out.