Memphis bluebloods: Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA highlight South region

MEMPHIS — The blues reign supreme here.

I don’t mean B.B. King, the clubs on Beale Street or Sun Records. No, I’m talking blues as in college basketball bluebloods. The game between third-seeded UCLA and second-seeded Kentucky, to be specific.

Throw in top-seeded North Carolina, which plays Butler in the other Sweet 16 game, and the South Region is the Who’s Who of college basketball. Maybe even a better show than next week’s Final Four.

“The glamour names are there,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Thursday. “I've been to regionals before, I think, where we'd have the one, two, three and four (seeds). I've been in the Final Fours where we had three No. 1s, so I've seen that.

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“But with the names that are here with North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA, the number of championships, the number of wins, that does make it a little unusual.“

And by unusual, he means fantastic. For everyone involved.

“It makes it so much more fun of a matchup because of the history behind both programs and how successful they've both been,” UCLA forward T.J. Leaf said.

UCLA (11) and Kentucky (eight) have won the most NCAA titles, and North Carolina is tied for third at five. The Tar Heels have the market cornered on Final Fours, and only Kentucky, Kansas, Duke and Louisville have played as many NCAA tournament games as the 119 that North Carolina has won.

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The three schools have given us some of the biggest names in the game, from Alex Groza and Adolph Rupp to Lew Alcindor and Michael Jordan to John Wooden and Dean Smith. They’ve also produced some of its most memorable moments, be it UCLA’s 88-game winning streak, North Carolina benefiting from Chris Webber’s timeout or, speaking of Fab Fives, Kentucky’s original version.

But because they play in different conferences — and in UCLA's and North Carolina’s cases, different coasts — their paths don’t cross often enough perhaps.

Since the 1949-50 season, North Carolina and Kentucky have faced each other the most, 35 times. UCLA and Kentucky have played 13 times, with three of the meetings coming in the last three seasons. UCLA and North Carolina have played 11 times.

“North Carolina, UCLA and Kentucky should be in the same field, the same tournament, the same stuff together,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said, referring to a non-conference tournament.

That it’s happening in the NCAA tournament, with at least one game and possibly two featuring the biggest of the big names, makes it that much better. It’s as if the selection committee decided to channel its inner Every Fan and make up a fantasy bracket.

“If you're talking about just watching a game as a fan, darned right I'd like to watch that game,” Williams said when asked about UCLA-Kentucky, the winner of which would play North Carolina if the Tar Heels get by fourth-seeded Butler in the “undercard.”

“But I'd like to watch it a heck of a lot more if I've got a really big interest in who we'd be playing, there's no question.”

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Not that Williams is planning his watch party yet. Butler might not have the pedigree of the other three teams here, but the Bulldogs are far from slouches. They played in the title game in consecutive years, in 2010 and 2011. Fun fact about those runs? Butler knocked off No. 1 seeds along the way both times.

The committee might not admit it, but it likes to throw little twists of intrigue into the bracket when it can. Come on. You think the committee just happened to send Kentucky to Memphis, where Calipari was king until he jilted the Tigers for a different kind of ‘Cats? Please.

So when UCLA lost to Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament, relegating them to No. 3 seed territory, the committee’s choice was clear.

“People are going to watch this game not because I’m coaching and not because Steve (Alford) is coaching,"  Calipari said. "They’re going to watch it because this is a talented two teams. Both teams. And it should be a lot of fun.”

Never has a case of the blues felt so good.

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Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on Twitter @nrarmour.  

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