Been knocking around the basketball court lately. Here is how I am shooting this season

ISO 800
f/3.5
1/200 sec
580EX ETTL w/Omnibounce
post processing in Camera RAW zero'd and use only color noise reduction
CS2
Noise Ninja (cause Im still underexposed)
USM

http://www.hesaias.com/basketball/images/IMG_7692.jpg

http://www.hesaias.com/basketball/images/IMG_7454.jpg

http://www.hesaias.com/basketball/images/IMG_7559.jpg

next week, I am gonna go ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/500 w/flash and see how I do on exposure cause Im still gettin too much motion blur.

scott, you've got some very nice action here, but since you're already going for the tight crop, go all the way in on the faces. your subjects (faces and ball) are weighted too far towards the top of the frame. And tone down the noise reduction just a tad. But very nice action, and good color balance.