Tourney is basketball without hype. And that's just how the pros like it.

PORTSMOUTH

SCOUTS FROM NBA TEAMS and foreign leagues aren't the only visitors who scribble notes at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

Some observations:

It's a tribute to the instincts of these college seniors that they can be thrown together for what amounts to well-run pickup games - with little or no practice - and come together quickly.

PIT teams have no reason to mesh, but they do. Sort of. Most of the time.

That's the beauty of basketball. Take five talented guys who have never met, dress them in the same uniforms and send them out on the court, then watch as the natural rhythms of the game take over.

Not always, of course. But even the biggest ball hogs know that they'd better balance individualism with the needs of the group.

It's an intimate setting inside the Churchland High gym, especially when the fans are sitting on their hands, which is often. A resounding dunk or a deep 3-pointer might elicit a whoop, but most good plays are met with a smattering of applause.

As a result, you're constantly aware of the sound of sneakers on the shiny wood floor. Squeak, squeak, squeak. All night long. And when a player drives and is fouled hard, you can hear the breath being knocked out of him.

There's no pep band in the gym, no cheerleaders along the sidelines to distract from the court. Maybe there should be, just to liven up the place. But for 56 years, the PIT has presented hoops without the hoopla. That's the way the NBA likes it.

"The NBA is more involved in the tournament than ever," said Yale Dolsey, one of the PIT's founders and, at 84, still a driving force behind the event. "They're good to us."

The NBA scouts, one presumes, couldn't care less if anybody were in attendance. They sit impassively at one end of the court. Their expressions give away nothing.

But scan the bleachers and you notice that the games attract an older audience than you might expect for a sport usually associated with a young demographic. Ticket prices aren't an issue; they couldn't be much cheaper if the PIT gave them away. For a pair of consolation games this afternoon, in fact, tickets will be given away: That action is free to the public.

Maybe that will bring in more kids. But on a recent night, you couldn't help but notice that many of the paying customers were senior citizens and baby boomers.

Said PIT chairman Mahlon Parker, with a touch of frustration: "I sell 40 or 50 tickets to the same people every year. The product's out there. We can't lasso them."

A younger audience needs cultivating. If not now, soon. The old-timers are eager to support a local project that brings distinction to the city and creates scholarships for local high school students. But even with improved marketing, the tournament has plenty of seats available.

"This place holds 4,160," Dolsey said. "The best that we've had as a paid crowd is 2,500, 2,600."

The absence of high-wattage talent is always going to be an issue. There are hundreds of college games on television. People are conditioned to watch stars. Virginia's Sean Singletary might have been a draw, but he declined the invitation.

Perhaps, too, fans are simply burned out by college basketball after March Madness. But none of this matters to the pros, which, when you get down to it, is the audience to which the PIT caters.

And the pros love the tournament.

"It's down-home," said Matt Winick, the NBA's vice president of scheduling and game operations. "It's comfortable basketball. You get to talk to people. Over the years, we've developed friends down here."

According to Dolsey, 12 Lakers reps are taking in the action on this recent night.

Why so many?

"Maybe they like our hospitality," he said.

The NBA has done enough scouting to know that the PIT's hospitality is all pro.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com