Filling Out Brackets, to the 12th Power

The second-biggest sports betting draw in Las Vegas, after the Super Bowl, is the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

Anyone looking for upsets should keep this in mind: A No. 12-seeded team has won in the first round six times in the last four years. In fact, according to the New York Post, a No. 12-seeded team has won at least one game 14 times in the last 15 years, with 2000 being the exception.

In 2002, a No. 12 defeated a No. 5 in three of the four regionals. Missouri defeated Miami, 93-80; Tulsa defeated Marquette, 71-69; and Creighton defeated Florida, 83-82, in overtime.

*

Trivia time: What is the highest-scoring game in NCAA tournament history?

Longshots: A No. 16-seeded team has never defeated a No. 1, and judging by the odds, it’s unlikely to happen this year.

Saint Joseph’s is favored by 23 over Liberty, Stanford 25 over Texas San Antonio, Duke 34 over Alabama State and Kentucky over Florida A&M; by 29.

It happens: Utah State, despite losing to Cal State Northridge in the semifinals of the Big West tournament, still figured to get an NCAA tournament bid. But it didn’t happen.

“Whining is not going to accomplish a whole lot,” Utah State Coach Stew Morrill told the Ogden Standard-Examiner. “You win 25 ballgames and you go 17-1 in your league, and everyone says, ‘No matter what, you’re in.’

“Well, ‘no matter what’ happened.”

Food for thought: Gonzaga, a No. 2-seeded team, is favored by 18 points over 15th-seeded Valparaiso in its opening round game tonight at Seattle.

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, noting there is no “I” in Gonzaga, writes, “Judging by the 18-point spread ... the Bulldogs might discover there is ‘Alpo’ in Valpo.”

Makes sense: Maryland guard John Gilchrist, on why he loves his mother, as quoted in the Daily Press of Newport News, Va.: “She has been with me since birth.”

Follicle fare: Saint Joseph’s Coach Phil Martelli is upset with CBS’ Billy Packer for saying the Hawks didn’t deserve a No. 1 seeding.

Writes Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune: “If I were Martelli, I would have said the only thing in need of re-seeding is Packer’s scalp.”

Easy for Morrissey to say. He has a full head of hair. Martelli doesn’t.

Looking back: On this date in 1972, the Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors, 162-99, at that time the most lopsided victory in NBA history.

Trivia answer: Loyola Marymount defeated defending national champion Michigan, 149-115, at Long Beach on March 18, 1990.

And finally: Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune, on Philadelphia Eagle acquisition Terrell Owens’ refusal to take a physical for the Baltimore Ravens: “Guess he already failed the mental.”

*

Larry Stewart can be reached at larry.stewart@latimes.com.