Let us all give a big Southern California welcome to Mississippi Valley State.

Where is it?

"Hmmm," James Keefe said.

"In Mississippi Valley?" Kevin Love said.

Name one of its players.

"Jerry Rice," Darren Collison said.

"Yeah, Jerry Rice," Lorenzo Mata-Real said.

No, name one of its current basketball players.

"Let me think," Josh Shipp said.

"Hmmm," Keefe said.

How many points did it score this season against Washington State?

"We know that," Collison said.

"Twenty-six, right?" Love said.

"But that was early in the season," Collison said.

"Real early," Love said.

Goodness, the UCLA Bruins are trying, they're really trying.

The No. 1-seeded team in the NCAA West Regional is doing its best to respect the No. 16-seeded team before their game tonight at the Honda Center.

But, goodness, it's hard.

"It's OK that they don't know where we are," Mississippi Valley guard Michael Clark said. "Lots of people in Mississippi don't know where we are."

For the record, it is in Itta Bena, a tiny town in northwest Mississippi, a piece of stubble in the delta between Memphis, Tenn., and Little Rock, Ark.