We're in the midst of yet another exciting NCAA tournament and one of the most exciting NBA seasons in recent memory. Thus, we at RT have decided to create a little March Madness of our own. We've got a list of roundball movies that are as electrifying as Dominique Wilkins' windmill dunks, as inspiring as a Kevin Garnett pep talk, and as well-crafted as Tex Winter's triangle offense. (Best of all, they don't all conclude with endless fouls and timeouts.) And no, our countdown does not include some of the best acting turns by hoopsters. So no Airplane! and no Kazaam. Sorry!

The Year of the Yao (2006, 66 percent)
Towering at seven feet and six inches, this documentary's subject is the tallest guy playing in the N.B.A. And there are even more reasons he stands out. There's his name (Yao Ming), his country of origin (China), and the language barrier between him and his Houston Rockets teammates. While Year of the Yao tackles the big stuff (Ming's mad court skillz, along with his role as an emblem of China), it also points out Ming's more subtle victories in America, including a scene of Ming patronizing a Taco Bell whose absurdity is so deadpan and deep it's Jarmuschian. It's "a surprisingly layered portrait of a rookie with the hopes of a nation -- a big nation -- riding on his shoulders, and the frustrations and small victories that entails," wrote G. Allen Johnson of the San Francisco Chronicle.

White Men Can't Jump (1992, 72 percent)
Long before the days of And1 mixtapes, White Men Can't Jump brought the tricks, the trash talk, and the crazy skills of streetballers to the mainstream. Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson star as a pair of hoops hustlers who, despite mutual antipathy, team up to make some big money; Harrelson has gambling debts to settle, and Snipes wants to move out of Watts. Director Ron Shelton has made a number of smart sports movies, and WMCJ is no exception. Featuring excellent performances (especially Rosie Perez as Harrelson's brainiac girlfriend), wickedly sharp dialogue, and air of melancholy, White Men Can't Jump is a movie about why people play sports; as Perez says, "Winning or losing is all one organic globule, from which one extracts what one needs." "Basketball really isn't the central theme. It is really about relationships, loyalty and honesty, qualities in short supply among hustlers," wrote Robert Roten of Laramie Movie Scope.

Finding Forrester (2000, 74 percent)
Fresh from his attention over Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant made another film about an underprivileged prodigy. Instead of math, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) is a whiz at hoops and writing. Aided by mentor William Forrester (Sean Connery, playing a sort of Scottish J.D. Salinger), Wallace survives the pitfalls of a high school and finds his "voice." Critics who were familiar with Van Sant's previous efforts in sexy-caustic surrealism weren't as rapturous about this feel-good, anti-fringe film. Yet, even in their criticism, many still appreciated this effort. Kimberly Jones of the Austin Chronicle called it "A nice-looking, nice-feeling exercise in conventionalism that sure could use a couple of transvestites and maybe a house falling from the sky." (Bonus points for giving the world one of Connery's greatest line readings: "You're the man now, dawg!")

He Got Game (1998, 80 percent)
Spike Lee is both a die-hard Knicks fan and a movie buff; he's said that when he began work on He Got Game, he wanted a talented baller who could act, not the other way around. Ray Allen is a better shooting guard than a thespian (that's not faint praise, since he's averaging 21.5 points per game for his NBA career), but he holds his own as Jesus Shuttlesworth, a world-weary high schooler dealing with the pressures of choosing the right college program. He also has to contend with his father Jake (Denzel Washington), who's been promised parole from prison if he can convince Jesus to attend the state university. In addition to being a sharp examination of the sketchier aspects of big-time college sports, He Got Game also features some muscularly beautiful streetball scenes, set to Aaron Copeland's "Rodeo." "Lee paints intimate characters who are about more than the game," wrote Robin Clifford of Reeling Reviews.

Love and Basketball (2000, 82 percent)
With a title that riffs on Al Green's classic song, writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood shows that happiness is an orange inflated ball in her 2000 debut. Starring Sanaa Lathan as Monica and Omar Epps as Qunicy, Love and Basketball follows the romantic drama template of boy meets girl, girl hates boy, boy and girl go their separate ways, which both happen to involve professional b-ball. The movie hits major heights with Lathan's rough, no-nonsense performance and Prince-Bythewood's driving direction, which finds the small details in her characters' lives and the middle class world they inhabit. Amy Taubin of the Village Voice called it "the most passionate, clear-sighted movie ever made about women in sports."

One on One (1976, 82 percent)
Robby Benson and Annette O'Toole co-star in this story about a promising high school hoops star that lands a college scholarship, only to find himself at odds with his new teammates and ill-tempered coach. Expectations for freshman Henry Steele (Benson) are quite lofty, and before long he finds he is unable to live up to them. Complicating matters off the court is Henry's reading disability, but when he is finally assigned a tutor (O'Toole), he finds in her a source of strength and the motivation he needs to prove himself worthy of his scholarship. Written by Benson himself and his father, One on One was O'Toole's first major film role and features a young Melanie Griffith as a hitchhiker.