With the NCAA Basketball Tournament’s Final Four presenting themselves, everyone seems to be in the mood for a little hoops right now. But fictional sports stories on television are really hit and miss (more often miss). So in order to stay in the mood of March Madness, put down your bracket for a few moments and waste this weekend with basketball TV shows.

The Good – One Tree Hill (2003 – Present)

The CW teen drama One Tree Hill treats basketball in a way that viewers can actually believe. Although the skill of the players in the show are quite fictional, basketball isn’t the center of the show – which is why it works. Premiering in 2003 on the now defunct WB Network, One Tree Hill originally followed the story of Lucas and Nathan Scott as they starred together on a North Carolina high school basketball team.

Although they started out as enemies, the first few seasons saw them come together as teammates and family and follow them through various stages of their lives. One Tree Hill focuses more on the characters than the action and eventually basketball becomes less of the focus. The show works in that it uses basketball as a pacing tool and a subtle plot device, not the center of story. If you plan on spending some time away from the One Shining Moment this weekend,watch a few episodes of the first season of One Tree Hill.

The Bad – Hang Time (1995 – 2000)

When Hang Time premiered in 1995, NBC was at an ultimate high. They were successfully running NBA On NBC to please the big sports fans and they were successfully roping in younger viewers with their show NBA Inside Stuff. NBC executives must have thought the timing was perfect to then begin airing their newest addition to the Saturday morning TNBC line up, Hang Time. Boy were they wrong. Although the concept seemed like a fit the network’s youth oriented weekend sitcoms (girl makes boys high school basketball team in Indiana), it never really worked out. Hang Time was never really known for the dramatic game footage or realistic take on amateur sports, instead, it will forever be known as a show that couldn’t keep a cast. Up until the sixth and final season in 2000, Hang Time had completely overhauled their entire cast (save two characters) every single season. With the show being set in high school, characters leaving for college was a natural occurrence, but in Hang Time characters would leave after one season. Sure, the show touched on issues like high school dating, drug and alcohol abuse and even had a cameo from Screech himself, but by the time Hang Time ended, nobody seemed to care…

The Ugly – Basketball Wives (Coming April 11)

Back in December of 2009, VH1 announced that they will air a reality series titled Basketball Wives. The concept probably could not have come at a better time as just before the show was announced, the Tiger Woods scandal hit the grocery store line up. Basketball Wives will tip off on April 11th and will follow the lives of the wives, ex-fiances and girlfriends of current NBA basketball players. At the center of the show will be Shaquille O’Neal‘s wife Shaunie as she will also serve as a producer. Alright, so maybe you can’t actually watch this show, but you can imagine the drama that could potentially unfold with a show that centers around the constant paranoia of the spouse of a professional athlete. I doubt there will be a lot of basketball played on the show, but I’m quite certain you’ll see a lot of personal fouls – sorry, had to ;)