Arizona State guard Harden no longer a secret

"That's my overall goal, to play in the NBA," Harden said. "If I have the talent, I'll definitely take the jump. That's the overall goal right now - just to play basketball, which I've been doing for a long time and is something I love."

Why not, Harden figures, "get paid for it?"

Pera will be right there for that decision.

"Right now, we are going to let him finish the year," Pera said. "We'll sit down and lay out all his options to him . . . Let's face it. If everybody tells me he's a top-eight pick, you know the answer."

Whether Harden stays or goes, Sendek understands what he means now and could mean in the future.

"We're not where we are without him," Sendek said. "He's helped establish some credibility. He has, in many ways, made it OK for really good players to come to Arizona State."

Sendek is one of America's most innovative coaches. He fits what he does to the personnel he has. He used many of the Princeton concepts at NC State, concepts he needed to compete in the ACC.

"We're not running the same offense, we're not playing the same defense," Sendek said. "I very much have tailored a great deal of what we do to James."

Friday afternoon, anybody with a TV in Philadelphia and anybody with a computer anywhere will get to see James Harden's game on display against the Owls. It will be well worth the time. *