The outcome had to be preordained with the neophyte of flight performing on his home court, but the margin for “The Blake Show” didn’t have to be that blatant.

Blake Griffin, the Los Angeles Clippers rookie rising sensation, topped Washington Wizards center Javele McGee with 68% of the fan vote in the 2011 Sprint Slam Dunk Contest on TNT’s coverage of NBA All-Star Saturday Night. Sure, the power forward was spectacular with a power 360 (was it a 450?) and a reverse from a pass off the basket extension. For his third effort, Griffin, evoked Vinsanity circa 2000, and dunked from outside the charge circle, elbow deep into the rim.

But with gravity constraining human feats of elevation and seemingly limiting the truly extraordinary to video games, the dunk contest has devolved into a contest of props from contestants surmounting or employing chairs (Gerald Wilkins), blindfolds (Cedric Ceballos) people seated and kneeling (Terrence Stansbury,) lighted cupcakes (Gerald Green) and ballplayers (Spud Webb, Nate Robinson, Chris Webber and Dwight “Superman” Howard).

Griffin and his coach Kenny Smith, the TNT analyst and 1990 dunk contest finalist, took it to another level on Saturday, in a way David Stern, Adam Sliver and NBA sponsors had to love.

Throughout the event, the four competitors (Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan and Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka were also in the game) sat on a Sprite (the official soft drink of the NBA) cube as they contemplated their final flight preparations. They were flanked by a panel of judges, including Dominique Wilkins, aka ‘Nique and the 1985 and 1990 Slam Dunk king (”The Human Highlight Film” was robbed by homer call in Chicago for Michael Jordan during the 1988 event), and Dr. J sitting behind a table draped with a Sprite banner.

(Speaking of Erving, Ibake paid tribute to the man who made dunking an art form. The Thunder forward added inches to The Doctor’s famed foul line leap — Michael Jordan and Brent Barry also straddled the mark on their 15-foot dunk-contest deliveries — during the original slamfest from the final ABA All-Star Game in 1976. The man from the Congo clearly went airborne from outside the stripe. Still, Ibake — who also added to the event’s prop total by rescuing a stuffed animal tied to the rim with his teeth as he jammed — only earned a 45 out of 50 for his foul-line extended glide. Guess he didn’t throw down with enough force.)

Then in an exalted display of product integration, er showmanship, Smith began orchestrating the crowd as the Crenshaw Select Choir singing “I Believe I Can Fly,” as Griffin’s final takeoff neared. Meanwhile, a Kia (the official car of the NBA) Optima, emblazoned with a Sprite logo, was parked horizontally under the hoop. Clippers teammate Baron Davis then passed the pill through the sun roof, and Griffin, clearing the front of the car, almost six-feet in length, crammed with two hands. (Watch at: http://www.nba.com/video/channels/allstar/2011/02/20/20110219_dunks_reca...).

What he didn’t leap over the roof of the car? Griffin’s likely saving that for a Kia SUV next year, while he no doubt downs a can of Sprite in a single bound.

From this perch, Griffin’s repertoire didn’t match McGee’s arsenal, which featured the seven-footer dunking on two side-by-side baskets. It might have taken him multiple attempts, but McGee finally succeeding in holding and cramming the ball with his left hand, while tossing the other rock off that backboard, before throwing down right-handed on the flanking apparatus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJ0K8qdq00).

Not content with two, McGee also put down three balls on a solo flight, albeit on just one hoop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49CfDLpuWWA). He then scored with a left-to-right baseline float that culminated with an inward, backward-reaching reverse. He made that look incredibly easy.

The Feb. 19 edition wasn’t anywhere near the worst miscarriage of dunking justice. That dubious distinction still belongs to Nate Robinson’s win in the 2006 competition over Andre Iguodala. The Philadelphia 76er took his own pass off the floor with a left-handed catch, wrapped it around his back to his right-hand, and concluded matters with a one-motion flush. Additionally, AI also took a pass, which was bounced off the right side of the back of the backboard by the real AI, then-teammate Allen Iverson. Iguodala caught the carom and then flew out from underneath the board to jam on the left side of the goal with right-handed authority, all the while keeping his head from smacking against the bottom of the board.

(Check out TNT’s The Lost Dunks for Iguodala’s efforts, as well as Howard’s sticker slam and other crams that don’t get their proper recognition.)

The 5′9″ Robinson, who earlier had jumped over 5′7″ Spud Webb, the 1986 contest winner, seemingly had unlimited (14, 17, 20 or 30 by some accounts) attempts on his final try to put the ball between his legs, throw it off the board and ram the rebound. The conclusion was thrilling, but almost anticlimactic. Indeed, the build-up was so tedious, and cringe-worthy (Larry David, anybody?), the NBA changed the rules thereafter so competitors have to complete a dunk within two minutes.

You know what, guys? Get your jams right the first time. Then we’ll raise Sprites with both hands and toast your hops from the front seat of a Kia.

The wraparound pass still lives, but CBS’s traditional whip-around coverage of “March Madness” has gone the way of the set shot.

CBS and Turner Sports, new teammates on a 14-year, $10.8 billion deal for the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, have unveiled the windowing for CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV during their rookie year coverage of the expanded 68-team field.

Ironically, the new format, affording each game its own national window for the first time in the tournament’s 73-year history — supplanting CBS taking viewers to the various venues over the course of an afternoon or evening session during the early stages — will allow multichannel subscribers to direct their own Madness during rounds two and three and the Sweet Sixteen. As a consequence of this complete coverage, the top DBS provider, whose current tagline is “Don’t Just Watch TV. DirecTV,” no longer will offer its pay-per-view “Mega March Madness” live-game package. Since 1999, subscribers had been able to watch up to 37 Big Dance contests and interactive features through the package.

Tipping off with the “First Four,” a pair of doubleheaders on March 15 and March 16, 92-million-home TruTV

is in the mix for 13 contests, one more than TNT, which will present second- and third-round match-ups. For its part, TBS will air a total of 16 contests, including games in the second round, third round and Sweet 16. CBS will air 26 games over the second, third, Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, as well as the Final Four semifinals and national championship contest in Houston.  CBS’s Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg will team with Steve Kerr of Turner Sports to call the action from Reliant Stadium.

(The contract keeps the regional finals and Final Four on CBS through 2015. Starting in 2016, the regional finals will be split by CBS and Turner, and the Final Four and the title game will alternate yearly between CBS and TBS.)

What’s significant from a viewer perspective is the more staggered tip-off times for the 2011 event. That will give fans a chance to check out the game they want to see in its entirety, in lieu of CBS cutting in and out of the action from different arenas. Although that may diminish some of the audience excitement/trepidation factors of a being dropped into a telecast where a top bracket pick might flame out early, or one of your sleepers is about to pull the big upset, the new format will also showcase more of the intense down-the-stretch, buzzer-beating action that is the calling card of March Madness.

Another major change will occur on the first Sunday night of the tournament. In the past, CBS had concluded Madness matters at that point by turning the network over to 60 Minutes after its late window of games. On March 20, Black Rock will present a third game starting at 5 p.m. and then go to the venerable news magazine, but TNT (6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.), TBS (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.) and TruTV (7:30 p.m.) will continue with primetime tournament coverage on TV’s most-watched night.

By scattering the action across the four channels, individual game ratings may take a hit vying with one another for viewer attention, but the collective audience, so the TV teammates hope, will rise.

In any event, we’ll all be taking a new view of March Madness into the Sweet Sixteen next month.

Check out the tournament TV schedule — which could see the games switching on TNT, TBS and TruTV — below. The bracket matchups will be announced on Selection Sunday March 13.

Tuesday, March 15

6:30 p.m.: First Round game at Dayton, truTV

9:00 p.m.: First Round game at Dayton, truTV

Wednesday, March 16

6:30 p.m.: First Round game at Dayton, truTV

9:00 p.m.: First Round game at Dayton, truTV

Thursday, March 17

12:00 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

12:30 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

1:30 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

2:00 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

2:30 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

3:00 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

4:00 p.m.: Second round game,TBS

4:30 p.m.: Second round game,TNT

6:45 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

7:00 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

7:15 p.m.: Second round game,TNT

7:15 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

9:15 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

9:30 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

9:45 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

9:55 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

Friday, March 18

12:00 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

12:30 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

1:30 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

2:00 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

2:30 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

3:00 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

4:00 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

4:30 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

6:45 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

7:00 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

7:15 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

7:15 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

9:15 p.m.: Second round game, TBS

9:30 p.m.: Second round game, CBS

9:45 p.m.: Second round game, TNT

9:55 p.m.: Second round game, TruTV

Saturday, March 19

12:00 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

2:30 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

5:00 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

6:00 p.m.: Third round game, TNT

7:00 p.m.: Third round game, TBS

7:30 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

8:30 p.m.: Third round game, TNT

9:30 p.m.: Third round game, TBS

Sunday, March 20

12:00 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

2:30 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

5:00 p.m.: Third round game, CBS

6:00 p.m.: Third round game, TNT

7:00 p.m.: Third round game, TBS

7:30 p.m.: Third round game, TruTV

8:30 p.m.: Third round game, TNT

9:30 p.m.: Third round game,TBS

Thursday, March 24

7:00 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at New Orleans, CBS

7:15 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at Anaheim, TBS

9:30 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at New Orleans, CBS

9:55 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at Anaheim, TBS

Friday, March 25

7:00 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at Newark, CBS

7:15 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at San Antonio, TBS

9:30 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at Newark, CBS

9:55 p.m.: Regional semifinal game at San Antonio, TBS

Saturday, March 26

4:20 p.m.: Regional final game at New Orleans or Anaheim, CBS

6:55 p.m.: Regional final game at New Orleans or Anaheim, CBS

Sunday, March 27

2:10 p.m.: Regional final game at Newark or San Antonio, CBS

4:55 p.m.: Regional final game at Newark or San Antonio, CBS

Saturday, April 2

6:00 p.m.: National semifinal at Houston, CBS

8:30 p.m.: National semifinal at Houston, CBS

Monday, April 4

9:00 p.m.: National championship game at Houston, CBS

This directing thing is tiring, yet exciting.

It’s now more than a half an hour since Syracuse put the finishing touches on the second round of the 2011 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship. The Orange pulled away from the Indiana State University Sycamores, which needed the paler blue jerseys sported by Larry Legend circa 1979 to contend with Syracuse, in particular big man Rick Jackson, who owned the paint.

With CBS partnering with Turner Sports on a new 14-year, $10.8 billion deal, every March Madness minute is now available to fans on TV. For the first time in the tourney’s 27-year history, each game has its own national window. So, instead of waiting for CBS to make the call on what game you were watching under its solo, wraparound format, the viewer, with remote in hand and perhaps flanked by an IPad and computer, can stay abreast of all the contests by switching channels. Who knew one would get to play NCAA tournament director?

I spent the better part of Friday night on TruTV, channel 58 on my Cablevision dial, hoping the announce team of Excitable and Erudite, better known as Gus Johnson and Len Elmore, would get to do their thing. In the third window on TruTV, Xavier never put its offense together and Marquette won handily, without having to fend off a sustained run.

And despite the bevy of no-look passes and one beautiful, English-laden, no-look shot from ISU’s bearded ballhandler Jake Odom, Johnson never truly got the chance to amp up, as he did during the waning moments of George Mason’s come-from-behind win against Villanova in the afternoon session. No doubt, Johnson’s call of that frantic finish got the blood and smiles flowing across the nation.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Friday-night slate also lacked the drama of its Thursday-tourney predecessor, leaving me to hit the remote and alternately summon CBS and Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg on channel 2, TBS with Marv Albert and Steve Kerr on channel 39, and TNT with Bob Wenzel and Spero Dedes on channel 37, in search of compelling action. It wasn’t often located.

Indeed, with the Illini crushing former coach Lon Kruger’s UNLV squad by a 39-16 count with 2:30 remaining in the half, Kerr said he “wouldn’t be mad if you changed the channel. This is a demolition.” You can go against the conventional TV directive of “keep it here” when you sell the tournament to advertisers — as CBS/Turner have — based on an aggregate audience. I adhered to Kerr’s recommendation, turning back only once or twice to Illini-UNLV in the second half, which I’m wagering included Albert uttering the phrase “extensive garbage time” at some point. The 73-62 final was the result of the Rebels adding window-dressing points down the stretch.

Things weren’t that much better for Wenzel/Dedes on TNT, where VCU, which took out USC in a First Four match, scrambled on defense, out-quicked and outshot an overmatched Georgetown, 74-56. Catapulted by runs at the end of the half and just after intermission, VCU cruised ahead and never looked back.

On the broadcast beat, Nantz and Kellogg had UNC-LIU in the evening opener. It was great to watch the Blackbirds fly on a 14-0 run to knot matters at 33, just past the midway point of the first half. The spurt was fueled in part by two offensive interferences calls on the ACC stalwarts, the first of which prompted this explanation from Kellogg about the basket nullification: “any piece of the pumpkin hovering over the cylinder.” But UNC’s superior talent and size would enable it to easily move ahead, only to see Long Island make a bucket or three to keep it reasonably close. But you knew where this was one was going: the Tarheels won handily 102-87, in an entertaining, if not really competitive contest.

Similarly, during the CBS nightcap, Washington held a 10-point lead over Georgia for most of the second half. However, looking at the score box (throughout the telecasts, the graphic revealed what was in play on the three other networks, with the fourth rotating between final results and the upcoming schedule) atop the screen, I saw that the SEC entry had climbed within eight inside the two-minute mark and my remote switching proved unTru– from 58 to channel 2. Missed free throws and turnovers against the press gave the Bulldogs a final fling. It was, as Kellogg pointed out, one made more difficult by this generation’s Isaiah Thomas (no, not Jim Dolan’s buddy) deflecting an outlet pass that nonetheless yielded a three-point attempt that would have tied matters and incited true Madness. Alas, the banker fell short.

Overall, the night did as well because the on-court NCAA action didn’t fully inspire - at points, I turned to MSG Network where the Knicks choked another one away, this time against the Pistons, and watched Federer and Nadal engage in a doubles match on Tennis Channel. Still, it was cool to be in charge of the clicker and determine the time spent with each NCAA contest. I’m hoping the remote takes me to better tournament places over the weekend.

Not if David Stern and ESPN want to maximize the Nielsens with the Western Conference finals.

The Grizzlies, after falling prey to last-second heroics by Manu Ginobli and Gary Neal at the end of regulation in Game 5 to keep San Antonio alive for one more contest, likely closed the door on the Tim Duncan-led Spurs as serious title contenders for good at FedEx Forum, just off Beale Street in Memphis, on Friday night. Some 36 hours later, Zack Randolph, Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Shane Battier and crew were at it again, quieting the Thunder in Oklahoma City in Game 1 on ABC.

Granted, the Nielsen DMA trade-off would be minimal - Memphis is No. 48, while OKC ranks 45th (Chris Paul’s NOLA Hornets play in No. 51). But the preferred script now calls for Disney teammates ESPN and ABC’s exclusive presentation of Western Conference finals to be a showcase between the NBA’s two-time top scorer Kevin Durant and his explosive running mate Russell Westbrook, versus the L.A. Lakers.  Whether Durant can live up to the “next” mantle by shaking Ron Artest and have the Thunder take the measure of the Lakers is a giant leap given the two-time defending champions’ length and as Mark Jackson is wont to say, “momma, there goes that man,” Kobe Bryant.

I know, I’m getting a little ahead of matters. LA also has to defuse Dirk Nowitski’s Dallas Mavericks (hey, Mark Cuban’s team is playing better D than ever and that gives them a chance, while Big D’s No. 5 DMA ranking shouldn’t be overlooked either). But as interesting as a Gasol brothers family feud might be, I’m sure the execs in Bristol and Olympic Tower would favor OKC meeting LA out West, before the Lakers square off against their nemesis, the Boston Celtics, or that team from Miami, Fla. in The Finals.

For their part, Turner executives have to at least feign being conflicted — for six games worth or so — before ultimately rooting against the hometown Atlanta Hawks in their match-up with Derrick Rose’s Chicago Bulls. Clearly, market No. 3, home to the game’s most exciting player, is the choice over DMA No. 8 to square off against the Celtics-Heat survivor in what would make for quite an intriguing exclusive Eastern Conference final.

Excuse NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, COO John Collins and other puck sport executives if they secretly extended high fives over the performances of the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night and Minnesota Wild on Sunday evening.

Original Six members, the New York Rangers and the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks, stumbled with losses to the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday and Detroit Red Wings that put their playoff fates in the skates and sticks of Tampa and Minnesota.

After the Broadway Blue Shirts took care of business against Hudson River rivals New Jersey Devils with a 5-2 win on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers needed Tampa to topple Carolina or cede the eighth Eastern Conference playoff slot (for a second straight year) to the Hurricanes. Fortunately for the players, their fans and officials at MSG Network, Tampa triumphed 6-2 to put the Rangers in the postseason, while leaving Hurricane howlers and FS Carolina execs spinning over opening-round playoff telecasts and GRPs lost.

Similarly, the Blackhawks received help to get a chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup again. Needing only a point in the early Sunday window, Chicago fell 4-3 to Detroit. That paved the way for the Dallas Stars to grab the eighth spot out West. However, Minnesota scored an empty-netter to officially shoot down the Stars 5-3 on NHL Network early on Sunday evening. As such, FS Southwest’s loss is Comcast SportsNet Chicago’s gain with playoff action.

How long Chicago and New York will stick around is another matter - their rewards for backing into the postseason are best-of-seven engagements with the league’s top two clubs point-wise, the Vancouver Canucks (115) and Washington Capitals (107).

Whether they would cop to it or not, NHL executives have to be happy with the way things turned out - and will be even more elated if the Nielsen-challenged Canucks flame out. The longer big market clubs stick around the stronger ratings figure to be - a key selling point as the NHL’s contracts with Comcast linemates NBC and Versus conclude at the end of the playoffs in June. Whether ESPN and/or others also hop over the boards to skate with offers should make for fascinating scorekeeping of its own.