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In honor of March Madness, we celebrate the kings of the hardwood: Our favorite basketball movies

By John Moe
Special to MSN Movies

Also: Get complete NCAA tournament coverage

Baseball and football are relatively slow-paced games with plenty of time for discussion and contemplation between the action. While this can frustrate fans, it works well in the movies, providing opportunities for characters to talk and plotlines to develop. Basketball, with its relentless pace and speed, means moviemaking is a bit trickier, but it also means that, when it works, a basketball film can provide a compelling blend of characters, dramatic situations and intensity. Just in time for March Madness and the NBA playoffs and, hell, "Semi-Pro," here are 10 of our favorite hoop flicks.

10. "BASEketball" (1998)
Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch to call this a basketball movie when it could just as easily be a baseball movie, a volleyball movie, or just a big dumb comedy movie. But in the what-the-hell spirit of comic inventiveness that guides "BASEketball," sure, we'll call it a hoops flick. "BASEketball" mixes some social satire and plenty of gross-out humor telling the story of a hybrid game that aspires to transcend all that's wrong with pro sports and ends up exemplifying those same problems. "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, while not headed to the stage to accept Best Actor Oscars anytime soon, acquit themselves surprisingly well in their performances as slacker dudes who make it big and then must grapple with the consequences. Lowbrow, sure, but try not to giggle.

9. "Air Bud" (1997)
A dog plays basketball. If you're under the age of 8, you cannot wait to see such a film. If you're over that age, well, not so much. But you'll be missing out. "Air Bud" makes our list because it took an inherently ridiculous concept and applied as much earnestness and skilled filmmaking as possible to produce a movie that pleasantly surprised many critics. After a dispiriting stint with a pathetic birthday party clown, a dog winds up befriending a lonely boy in a small town, developing a knack for shooting hoops, and providing some level of redemption to all sorts of humans. Cynical movie watchers may be shocked by how deeply they come to care about a basketball playing pooch who never once demands a bigger contract to play.

8. "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh" (1979)
Granted, this is another one not likely to be studied in film schools as an example of the right way to make a cinematic masterpiece, but anyone with a fondness for 1970s culture is bound to be charmed by the improbably titled "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh." It's a semi-mystical comedy about the Pittsburgh Pythons, a woeful pro basketball franchise that is turned around thanks to a bellboy with a passion for astrology (see? 1970s!) who reinvents the team as the Pittsburgh Pisces (thus the "Fish" from the title) and helps them discover team chemistry. Again, "The Bicycle Thief" it ain't, but thanks to pre-Jordan era NBA players and implausible plot devices, it makes for a fun anachronistic time capsule of the short shorts era.

7. "Space Jam" (1996)
Yes, of course it's ridiculous to pair Michael Jordan and assorted other NBA stars with Bugs Bunny and the gang. But it's SO ridiculous that somehow it all works. The premise of the film, such as it is, is that a group of cartoon space bad guys have stolen the talent of Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson and other pro players, so Bugs, Daffy and friends must enlist MJ to help them ... save the world? ... or something? Doesn't matter. It's all goofy fun.

6. "Love & Basketball" (2000)
Basketball doesn't lend itself easily to love stories. After all, the participants in any given game tend to represent only one gender, thus limiting male-female pairing possibilities. "Love & Basketball," however, is an intelligent character study of a film that manages to shine a light on both the nouns in its title. But it's actually unique in a number of ways: the lead characters negotiate friendship as well as romance, the athletes struggle with way more in their lives aside from athletics, and, in a refreshing break from sports film formula, there are no climactic game scenes to override the human story being told. Add in excellent performances from Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan and Alfre Woodard, and you have an unconventional piece of cinema with real heart.

5. "Blue Chips" (1994)
Coach Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) has an impressive resume as the head of a major college program. But as losses begin to mount and his position becomes more tenuous, he must decide which is more important: honesty or victory. Should he maintain his integrity by running a clean program or cut a few corners, pay off a few players, and stray outside the lines to bring in top recruits and get back on the winning side? Nolte's performance could be faulted for being over the top, but given that it was modeled after coaching icon Bob Knight, who has always been 10 times larger than life, it actually adds up to a neat bit of realism. Meanwhile, performances by actual basketball stars Shaquille O'Neal and Anfernee Hardaway as well as Celtics legend Bob Cousy are remarkably subtle.

4. "Teen Wolf" (1985)
A great basketball film doesn't necessarily need to involve big name athletes or the tense drama of televised sports. Sometimes it just needs Michael J. Fox as a werewolf point guard. Fox was at the height of his charms and his box office drawing power as he turned what should have been a forgettable teen comedy into a very funny and surprisingly suspenseful film. Sadly, the Jason Bateman-led sequel "Teen Wolf Too" failed to live up to the promise of the original. Even more sadly, no werewolf has ever made the roster of an NBA team.

3. "White Men Can't Jump" (1992)
Director and former minor-league athlete Ron Shelton had already demonstrated a flair for showcasing the jock's life with 1988's "Bull Durham." In "White Men," he took to the playgrounds for an exploration of street ball, race, hustling and the predicament of guys who don't quite know what to do with their talents or lives. Moments of high comedy and eye-popping hoop sequences are always grounded in honest situations and multidimensional characters. Worth a rental just to remember a time when Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson were major movie stars.

1B. "Hoop Dreams" (1994)
Basketball movies are constantly grappling with the temptation of cliché: the buzzer beater, the tortured coach, the preening star player. But "Hoop Dreams," being arguably the most thoroughly researched sports documentary of all time, is free of those trite trappings and manages to achieve something surprising, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking. William Gates and Arthur Agee are two Chicago area basketball phenoms with seemingly clear paths to fame and fortune spread out before them. Their very human struggles to live up to expectations over the course of several years of shooting form the heart of a film more dramatic than any fiction could hope to achieve.

1A. "Hoosiers" (1986)
It would be hard to overstate the importance of "Hoosiers" among sports fans in general and basketball fans in particular. Honestly, just say "Hoosiers" and they'll get a little choked up. That's because the film has two elements any fan with a heart could wish for: redemption and opportunity. A down-on-his-luck coach (Gene Hackman) is personally salvaged through the magic of athletic competition and an underdog team of no-names coming together to knock off the heavy favorites and win the championship. While pro sports or major college sports are effective dramatic venues, there is something about the guilelessness of small-town high school hoops in the 1950s that lends credibility to an expertly crafted story. If you're not cheering by the end of the movie, check your pulse because you might be dead.

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What is your favorite basketball movie? Oh, and whom do you like in the NCAA tournament? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com