Last night I was at the Knicks/Sonics game to talk to some NBA players about their alma maters and to see how much college trash talking goes on once guys get to the League.

Earl Watson , a UCLA alum, insisted that March is the only month that matters in college hoops. But he wouldn’t say that too loudly in the Sonics locker room, especially after his Bruins lost to the Texas Longhorns last week.

“I told [Kevin] Durant, early season games don’t count for us,” said Watson. “It doesn’t matter if you go undefeated if you lose in the Tournament. So yeah I guess you could say some trash talking goes on in here – but it’s all fun.”

“Yeah, I told [Earl] that we beat him during a game that we had that day,” said Durant. “My cousin was giving me updates from the sideline. I told him, ‘We beat y’all by two points at the buzzer.’ He was like, ‘For real? I can’t believe that.’ In the days leading up to it, he was like, ‘Texas might as well forfeit. They gonna lose by 30.’ So we had to prove him wrong. We came into L.A. and got the W.”

While most of the trash talk lately has been between the Texas and UCLA alums, two other Top 10 squads factor into the Sonics mix. Fellow Big 12’er Nick Collison refrained from a “Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk” chant, but assured me that once conference play starts, the KU/Texas talk will start up.

“I’m sure when we play Texas we’ll talk about it,” said Collison. “KU? I think they’re going to be good man. They were tough last year, and now they’re a year older, a year more experienced.”

Former Georgetown standout Jeff Green tried to play it cool on where his Top 10 squad ranks among the other three. But a simple question from Chris Wilcox got him going.

When asked if he has taken part in the trash talking, Green said, “Not at all, I haven’t said anything about it yet.”

Chris Wilcox jumped in and asked, “How are you guys this year?”

Almost finishing Wilcox’s sentence, Green shot back with, “7-0 and we’re ranked fourth in the country.”

“Kevin and Earl was trash talking a little bit,” said Green. “My team hasn’t really played a Top 10 team yet – we beat Alabama but that was really it. We got Memphis coming up in a couple of weeks. The 22nd. That’s going to be a tough game for them, but after that if we win, I’m going to say a little something.”