'At center, Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims Jr.'

Tonight's NCAA play-in game features two obscure teams and one very, very, very long-named 7-foot-1 center.

Last update: March 19, 2009 - 9:31 AM

It's the forgotten game -- so much so that it probably isn't even included among the ones you have to pick in your NCAA men's basketball tournament pool. But chances are that at 6:30 tonight, when you plop down with remote control in hand, you'll be thankful when you flip to ESPN and find that the NCAA tournament play-in game (or, euphemistically, "opening-round game") is starting. After all, it is college basketball.

This year's victims ... er ... participants: Alabama State and Morehead State. They will battle tonight for the right, in all likelihood, to be clobbered Friday by No. 1 overall seed Louisville.

For those curious about those two teams and the play-in game in general, here are a few tips:

• The play-in game has been around since 2001. It was added when the Mountain West Conference started receiving an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Rather than eliminate a spot for an at-large team (presumably from a major conference), the NCAA added a play-in game to knock out one team (presumably from a small conference) before the "real" tournament starts.

• Alabama State plays in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. SWAC teams now have been picked for four of the nine play-in games, tying the Mid-Eastern conference for most appearances in the game. Morehead State plays in the Ohio Valley, which never had been involved in the play-in game before this year.

• The game itself is usually pretty competitive: Six of the eight previous games were decided by 10 points or fewer. In the ensuing game against the No. 1 seed, though, things haven't been pretty. Play-in winners are 0-8 in the first round, with the losses coming by an average of 27 points.

• Alabama State has a player on its roster named Grlenntys Chief Kickingstallionsims, Jr. His bio on the Alabama State website lists his greatest athletic accomplishment as being awarded "Best Name in College Sports" by Sports Illustrated.

MICHAEL RAND

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