In the spirit of "March Madness," let us consider prime time's tallest - and most effective - team: the Night Court (8 p.m., Ch. 2) ensemble.

Up front are a pair of 6-foot, 4-inch forwards: Harry Anderson as maverick judge Harry Stone and John Larroquette as Dan Fielding, the assistant district attorney you love to hate. In the middle is 6-foot, 8-inch Richard Moll, a solid role player whose Bull Shannon rarely dominates, but always delivers when called upon. The guards are 6-foot, 2-inch muscle-man Charles Robinson, whose Mac often sets up big plays for the others, and 5-foot, 6-inch Markie Post as Christine, the perky public defender who is equally adept at the assist and the score. And coming off the bench as Roz is 5-foot, 11-inch Marsha Warfield, the newest member of the team who is a rising star in her own right.As with any team, the "Night Court" squad hails from a variety of family backgrounds. Anderson, for example, comes from "the tough side" of Newport, R.I., the son of a divorced mother who had to move around a lot in search of ways to support her three children. Post, meanwhile, grew up in posh Palo Alto, Calif., the daughter of a poet and a well-known nuclear physicist.

Similarly, their professional backgrounds are dissimilar. Larroquette started out as a radio disc jockey. Moll graduated from college and started work as a probation officer in northern California. Warfield is a stand-up comic by trade, and Anderson insists to this day that he isn't really an actor but a magician.

"I used to hang around the carnivals," he told me recently during a break in taping. "I learned how to pound a nail up my nose, how to cheat at gin and how to eat a live rodent. And here I am."

But no matter how different these people are from one another, when they come together they are, in the words of series producer Neil Thompson, "a non-related family."

"That's the design of the show," Thompson said. "We're not trying to be preachy, but if there is a theme to what we do, it's `Be nice to people' and `Be a little tolerant."'

And each member of the cast indicates that theme even permeates their relationships with each other, although they'll all admit it hasn't always been easy.

"I'm pretty serious about rehearsal," Moll said, "and when I came here I found they like to keep things pretty light and breezy, with lots of room for ad libs. It took me awhile to adjust to that."

"Sometimes it's a grind," Larroquette acknowledged. "There are times when I want to be anywhere else in the world but here. But by the time our Friday taping day rolls around I'm like a rabbit with a greyhound - I'm ready to run."

But not forever. The cast members uniformly confirm that next season will be "Night Court's" last. Anderson is already in the process of moving his family to Seattle, where he will continue his work as magician and computer software writer. And Larroquette says that while he isn't tired of "Night Court," he feels "an urge to move on."

"I didn't get into acting because I was looking for security," Larroquette said. "I want to play different characters, learn different things. And to do that, I have to move on."

So does the rest of the team. And when they do, Anderson believes they can feel like they're going out with a championship.

"Everyone can leave the show feeling very positive," he said. "We're going to go out the way every series wants to go out - on top."

-NCAA UPDATE: As noted here yesterday, KSL will carry tomorrow's BYU-Clemson game in the NCAA Championship Tournament live at 10 a.m. But at press time Tuesday KSL programmer David Manookin was still negotiating with CBS over a possible re-broadcast of the game at 11:05 p.m. Thursday. If the U. of U.'s Huntsman Center is sold out for Thursday night's NCAA tournment games, the question becomes moot and KSL will carry CBS's national coverage of the Ohio State-Providence game. But if that game isn't sold out it will be blacked out locally, in which case KSL wants to re-broadcast the Cougar game.

Hopefully, the situation will be resolved by press time tomorrow . . .