Happy to Be Invited : Today’s men’s games: Three years removed from NAIA, Charleston didn’t expect at-large bid.

Of all the 64 teams in the NCAA tournament, one of the most surprised to be there is the College of Charleston.

The Cougars, who jumped from NAIA to Division I only three years ago, were such longshots that coach John Kresse suggested to his players they not show up at the restaurant where he was watching the NCAA selection show with fans Sunday.

“I told them, ‘We need not have you at a gathering where if you don’t see your name pop up, it would be a major bummer,’ ” Kresse said.

Meanwhile, Kresse had solicited the help of Lou Carnesecca, his former boss at St. John’s, in trying to secure a place for Charleston in the National Invitation Tournament.

“They had never looked at the little guy for an at-large bid” in the NCAA, Kresse said.

When the Cougars were selected as an at-large NCAA entry, Kresse said, “I was flabbergasted,” and the players began celebrating.

Shortly afterward, the Cougars (24-3), who were seeded 12th in the Southeast Regional, began practicing for their first-round game against No. 5 seed Wake Forest (20-11) at Lexington, Ky., today.

That game will be the opener of a quadrupleheader at Rupp Arena. It will be followed by Kansas (25-7), the No. 4 seed, against 13th-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga (23-6); Purdue (26-4), the No. 1 seed, against Central Florida (21-8), seeded 16th, and eighth-seeded Providence (20-9) against Alabama (19-9), the No. 9 seed.

The East Regional begins Thursday at Uniondale, N.Y., with Connecticut (27-4), the No. 2 seed, against 15th-seeded Rider (21-8); Alabama-Birmingham (22-7), seeded seventh, against No. 10 seed George Washington (17-11); Nebraska (20-9), seeded sixth, against Penn (24-2), the No. 11 seed, and Florida (25-7), seeded third, against James Madison (20-9), seeded 14th.

First-round games in the Midwest Regional will be played at Wichita, Kan., Thursday, with Saint Louis (23-5), the No. 7 seed, against Maryland (16-11), the No. 10 seed; Massachusetts (27-6), seeded second, vs. Southwest Texas State (25-6), seeded 15th; Michigan (21-7), seeded third, against Pepperdine (19-10), the No. 14 seed, and Texas (25-7), seeded sixth, vs. Western Kentucky (20-10), seeded 11th.

And the West Regional starts Thursday at Ogden, Utah, with Syracuse (21-6) against Hawaii (18-14), seeded 13th; California (22-7), seeded fifth, vs. Wisconsin-Green Bay (26-6), seeded 12th; Missouri (25-3), the No. 1 seed, against Navy (17-12), seeded 16th, and Cincinnati (22-9), seeded eighth, vs. Wisconsin (17-10), seeded ninth.

The remaining 16 opening-round games will be played Friday, with the East Regional at Landover, Md., the Southeast at St. Petersburg, Fla., the Midwest at Oklahoma City, and the West at Sacramento, Calif.

Charleston, the 1983 NAIA champion, was able to overcome its small-time reputation this season with victories over Penn State, Alabama and UNC-Charlotte. The Cougars also own the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 and have a 364-98 record in Kresse’s 15 years as coach.

They are one of the nation’s best defensive teams, holding opponents to a field goal percentage of 38.9.

While Charleston is making its first appearance in the NCAA tournament, its first-round opponent, Wake Forest, is making its fourth in a row.

Randolph Childress, the Demon Deacons’ leader, said, “This is probably the least talented team we’ve had since I’ve been here.” But he added, “In my opinion, this is the best team we’ve ever had.”

The closely-knit Demon Deacons beat Duke twice and North Carolina once late in the season and finished third in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“Everyone’s getting more and more like I am,” Childress said. “We just expect to win.”

Two other tournament longshots are Southwest Texas State and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Southwest Texas State, which never had won a game in the Southland Conference tournament in four previous tries, won the championship this season, beating North Texas 69-60. Only two years ago, the Bobcats had finished with a 7-20 record. Last year, they were 14-13.

“We are used to not playing in front of a big crowd,” Bobcats point guard Russell Ponds said. “It will be a shocker to see a lot of people at the UMass game.

“Respect is one thing we lack. We lead our conference in a number of categories, and no one still has any respect for us.”

An exception is Massachusetts coach John Calipari.

“They’ve won 10 in a row and 19 of their last 20,” Calipari said of the Bobcats. “This is the type of team that scares me. There has got to be another 15 seed in the country we could play.”

Wisconsin-Green Bay coach Dick Bennett doesn’t think his team gets enough respect, either.

“I don’t think we strike fear in anybody’s heart, nor should we,” he said. “This is NCAA basketball. I would be very surprised if they overlook us.”

The Phoenix, making its fifth straight postseason appearance and second in three years in the NCAA tournament, beat Marquette, North Carolina State and Oregon this season, while losing to Wake Forest by three points in overtime and to Purdue by five.