During college basketball season here, you'd have a hard time believing that this region's first-rate universities earned their standing on the basis of scholarly pursuits. Year in and year out during March Madness, the area's academic institutions and high-tech economy somehow manage to run while executives obsessively watch shot clocks and level-headed scientists cross fingers and pray for turnovers. But basketball knowledge isn't required to live and work in this cosmopolitan area known for "trees, trees and Ph.D."s." In fact, with so many other distractions, like the natural beauty of the Carolina piedmont and the cultural ferment of a vibrant metropolis, it would be perfectly understandable for a resident of the Research Triangle region to opt out of the local basketball mania altogether. Good luck, though, if you try to find a tennis or golf partner when Duke plays UNC.