NEW YORK — A few ping-pong balls and a dream. It worked once before in Knicks history, so why not a second time?

As the Derrick Rose legacy grew with each quick first step toward tonight's NCAA championship game, there is no franchise in the NBA more desperate for the fantastic freshman point guard, who has yet to declare for the draft.

Yet ask any NBA player who has followed the tournament and he'll tell you:

"He's got to be the top pick," said the Knicks' Quentin Richardson, who comes from the same South Side of Chicago neighborhood as Rose. "I don't care who gets the top pick, he's got to be the top pick. He's that good."

With last night's 100-90 win over the Orlando Magic at the Garden, the Knicks moved into a tie with Memphis for the fourth-worst record in the league. The higher they finish in the standings, the worse their chances of winning the lottery. The Knicks currently have a 10.35 percent chance of winning the lottery, compared to a 25 percent chance for the Miami Heat, which owns the league's worst record.

Pat Riley has spent some time away from the Heat to scout the NCAA Tournament and has attended several Memphis games. The Heat envisions a dynamically athletic backcourt of Rose playing next to Dwyane Wade.

But the Heat likely will have to win the lottery to get him, and that is not a guarantee. The Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 were the only team since 1990 to finish with the worst record in the NBA and win the lottery. That year the Cavs earned the right to draft LeBron James.

But imagine Rose as a rookie with the Knicks and being mentored by head coaching candidate Mark Jackson, who knows a thing or two about being a point guard in New York. Jackson was named Rookie of the Year after he was drafted by the Knicks out of St. John's in 1987.

This year's draft will be a critical aspect of Donnie Walsh's first days on the job as the new team president. "You can't make a mistake with that pick," Walsh said. "Case closed." There are several needs to address with this team, but none more glaring than at the point guard position, where the Knicks have 31-year-old Stephon Marbury in the final year of his expensive contract, energetic yet unbridled Nate Robinson and defensive-oriented Mardy Collins.

Adding Rose to a veteran lineup could give the Knicks exactly what they've been missing: an athletic, heady, pass-first point guard.

"It's no slight against anybody that you're playing with, but if your team is in position to get a player like that, every guy on the team has got to be hoping that you get him," said Richardson, who compared Rose to MVP candidate Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets.

"Superstar," Richardson said. "You know, some kids come along and some guys say he's a good player, he's this, he's that. Then you see some kids and, you know, he got the `glow' to him. He's special. I definitely think he's one of them."