What to watch for Thursday in NCAA Tournament

TOP BILLING: Every year on Selection Sunday, the brackets are announced and controversy and outrage follow. How could (fill in team name here) be in the tournament? What a joke, what a travesty. … this time, the TV talking heads exploded over UCLA being in the tournament. The Bruins (20-13) are seeded 11th in the South Region opposite sixth-seeded Southern Methodist (27-6). A year ago, there was controversy and outrage when the Mustangs were left out of the tournament. So, that sets the stage for Thursday’s top game.

Of course, a good matchup needs intriguing storylines, and this has some. Larry Brown, SMU’s 74-year-old coach, was the coach at UCLA from 1979 to 1981 and led the Bruins to the 1980 Final Four. A basketball vagabond who has spent a majority of his career in the NBA, Brown is back in the Big Dance for the first time since winning a national championship at Kansas in 1988. This is the Mustangs’ first NCAA appearance since 1993. Brown said he still thinks about the disappointment of being excluded from last year’s tournament. The Bruins were so bad early in this season that coach Steve Alford was on the hot seat. Now, the critics say his team does not belong here. Both teams will come in with that chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.

Here’s one more storyline: the so-called sharp bettors really like UCLA, while the public squares are siding with SMU. The Mustangs are 3½-point favorites. The game tips at 12:10 p.m., so watch the first half during a lunch break and don’t miss the end.

ONE-HORSE RACE: Las Vegas sports books are offering Kentucky at even money or 11-10 odds to win the NCAA championship. At Churchill Downs, that would be a questionable bet. There are very few unbeatable horses, and the same goes with college basketball teams. But the Wildcats (34-0) appear to have an easy path through the Midwest Region on the way to the Final Four, and they definitely will win Thursday. Kentucky is a 33-point favorite over Hampton, which is 17-17 and the lowest-rated team in the 68-team field. The Pirates started the season 1-5, and their season is about to end.

ONE AND DONE: The winner of the Purdue-Cincinnati game advances to face Kentucky in the next round, so one team will go home Thursday and the other goes home Saturday. The Boilermakers rarely go home early, winning their first game in 14 consecutive NCAA appearances. But the Bearcats are a tough out, too. Defense will be the name of this game, and it’s not going to be pretty. The total is 118½, so expect the teams to score in the 50s. The line opened pick’em, and Purdue was bet to a 2-point favorite.

REMEMBER THE REBELS: UNLV missed the tournament for the second year in a row, but former Rebels guard Bryce Dejean-Jones is playing for Iowa State, the No. 3 seed in the South Region. The Cyclones, 13½-point favorites over Alabama-Birmingham, like to run and gun, and that makes sense with former NBA player Fred Hoiberg as their coach.

The Rebels from Mississippi are back in action Thursday, two days after outgunning Brigham Young 94-90 in a play-in game in Dayton, Ohio. Ole Miss rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit and is now a 3-point underdog to sixth-seeded Xavier in Jacksonville, Fla.

DON’T CALL IT AN UPSET: Texas, the 11th seed in the Midwest, is a 1½-point favorite over sixth-seeded Butler. So if the Longhorns win, it’s not an upset according to the oddsmakers.

In the bracket he filled out for ESPN, President Barack Obama picked Texas to advance. Obama’s dream of a perfect bracket is already dead, however, because he had BYU beating Mississippi on Tuesday.

LOOKING FOR UPSETS?: Two games in Portland, Ore., are popular upset picks. Stephen F. Austin is a 6½-point ‘dog against Utah, and Eastern Washington is a 7½-point ‘dog to Georgetown.

Long ago, there probably was a country song that mentioned Nacogdoches, Texas. There definitely were country songs that mentioned Amarillo and El Paso. Nacogdoches is the home of Stephen F. Austin, which won the Southland Conference with a 29-4 record. The Lumberjacks have won 28 of their past 29 games, and they upset Virginia Commonwealth in last year’s tournament. Their top player is junior guard Thomas Walkup, who has a Texas-sounding name.

Eastern Washington (26-8) is out of the Big Sky Conference. The Eagles are scoring 80.8 points per game, third in the nation, are led by sophomore guard Tyler Harvey. This kid could be a star by tonight. Harvey averages 22.9 points and hits 42.8 percent of his 3-pointers. If he sinks a 3 to beat the buzzer and the Hoyas, it would be a shining moment.

INJURED COACH: It’s not a factor in today’s game against Baylor, but Georgia State has a significant member of its team on the injury report. Panthers coach Ron Hunter ruptured his Achilles tendon Sunday while celebrating the Sun Belt Conference tournament title. His left leg is nowhere near as important as his son’s hot hand. Junior guard R.J. Hunter is the team’s top scorer at 19.8 points per game, and he’s an NBA prospect.

EYEING THE IRISH: The team most capable of stunning Kentucky before the Final Four? It appears to be Midwest No. 3 seed Notre Dame, which beat Duke and North Carolina last week en route to the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title. After missing the tournament a year ago, the Fighting Irish got off the ropes to battle back and open as 12½-point favorites over Northeastern.