HOUSTON — The first one, for me, was 1977. I was 10, and though I would spent most of my childhood obsessed with baseball, that was the winter I also caught the basketball bug. So that was the first time I cared about the NCAA Tournament.

Al McGuire, the Marquette coach, was a Queens guy. Ours was a Queens family (though we had snuck over the Nassau County line by then). So Marquette it was for us, and that had a happy ending in our house.

So this weekend will be 40 Final Fours for me, and there are times I truly believe I can recite play-by-play from all of them.

They haven’t all been great, but they’ve mostly been memorable. Here are my 10 favorites, for various reasons, some of which even have to do with the basketball that was played.

1. N.C. State, 1983 — McGuire might have been Queens, but Jimmy Valvano, that was Corona, where both sides of the family had grown up. Valvano’s uncle had taken my father bowling for the first time. His father, Rocco, had taught him how to shoot free throws. And then the Wolfpack made their epic ode to survive-and-advance, and the celebration in my house when Lorenzo Charles dunked at the buzzer … honestly? I still can hear it.

2. North Carolina, 1982 — Again, this one was personal. For most, Carolina was Dean Smith and Michael Jordan and James Worthy. For me, it was Matt Doherty, whom we idolized at Holy Trinity and East Meadow’s Prospect Park, whose brother, John, I played with and against for years. One of ours cutting down the nets. Fantastic.

3. Villanova, 1985 — No personal connections to this one, but a bunch of us were watching this at my buddy Scooby’s house in Bethpage and what I remember is this: Until Dwayne McClain fell on top of the ball as the clock hit zero, none of us could believe what we were watching right until Brent Musburger said, “That’s it! Villanova has done it!”

4 & 5. Florida, 2006-07 — I talked about this at length with Mike Woodson once: Every athlete has one name he carries around forever, the one who showed you, indisputably, that you had reached your ceiling. Sometimes, like for Woodson, that guy finds you in the NBA. Sometimes, like for me, it was a muggy night at Rockville Centre’s Hickey Field, under the lights, Billy Donovan giving me an endless lesson of exactly what my limitations were (too many to list here). Despite that — or maybe because of it — it was pretty satisfying to watch him win back-to-back.

6. Kentucky, 1996 — It was the first Final Four I covered as a sportswriter, the last one ever played in an arena (the Meadowlands) and, sure, it didn’t hurt that still another alum of my beloved Long Island Catholic League (Rick Pitino) was the main attraction. Though Jim Boeheim’s Sunday-afternoon press conference also was remarkable theater — humanizing a guy so few of us had ever seen in that light.

7. Duke, 2010 — Though it certainly wasn’t Duke that made 10 million people scattered in 10 million different places scream as Gordon Hayward’s half-court shot slowly arched toward the basket, in what would have been the greatest ending in the history of sports. Butler didn’t finish off the miracle. But we still can always dream that they did.

8. Michigan State, 1979 — It’s hard to convey to kids just how meaningful the championship game was that year, but it is not an exaggeration to say: The sport’s entire Second Act was ushered in with that first meeting between Magic Johnson’s Spartans and Larry Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores. Not a great game, but I feel lucky to have watched it from tip to buzzer.

9. Indiana, 1987 — Yes, it was a terrific ending to a great game, and Keith Smart drilling the game-winner from the corner is an iconic snapshot. But I won’t lie: This will forever stay with me since it is the only time I ever actually won a bracket pool. Only time I ever came close, actually. I’m sure I spent the $200 winnings wisely.

10. Arkansas, 1994 — I had covered the Razorbacks the previous two years, grew to like many of them, and Nolan Richardson was as intriguing a subject as I’ve ever spent time around. It’s right he got to hang this banner.

Whack Back at Vac

Stewart Summers: Knicks vets ask Kurt Rambis to sit, Phil Jackson tweets photos from his Woodstock get-away, GM Steve Mills flies to Spain to “scout.” Sounds to me like Jim Dolan (who pays for this) had an even worse week than Donald Trump!

Vac: I suspect Isiah has a few thoughts on how to make the Knicks GREAT again.

Mike Gijanto: Watching my Rangers hack up another third period hairball the other night has me wondering if Spags has taken over the defense!

Vac: Is it me, or does this NHL regular season seem particularly endless?

@LChase_RA: We need to make “Castiglione” a curse word. Oh wait, it already is.

@MikeVacc: In case you were wondering: no, I am not over Selection Sunday yet. I am still very, very sour. But thanks for asking.

Ralph Fields: “The White Shadow” (1978-81) was my favorite show when I was in High School (1977-80). Nice tribute by you. Sadly no more shows like that any more.

Vac: Been waching re-runs on Hulu all week. It is amazing both a) how well “Shadow” holds up and b) how far ahead of its time it was.

Vac’s Whacks

UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma is 120-1 his last 121 games. If Kurt Rambis does that starting Sunday against the Pacers, he will be 23 games over .500 for his career.

I guess this listing on the lineup card has more meaning than it did before:

Matt Harvey, P

Jennifer Frey was a soaring talent who left us far too soon last weekend. She leaves behind a beautiful daughter and a portfolio of work at the Times and Washington Post that is as remarkably excellent as any newspaper writer’s who has worked these past 20 years. Godspeed.

The Jets are really going to end this silliness with Ryan Fitzpatrick soon, right?