DENVER -- Of all the teams that walked into the Pepsi Center on Wednesday to participate in pregame news conferences before their NCAA tournament matchups, only Fresno State had a lower profile in the Denver pod than Little Rock. Folks didn’t even call the Trojans “Little Rock,” even though the school had undergone a massive rebranding effort last summer to make sure the name would stick.
It did not. Road victories over San Diego State and Tulsa did not create the buzz the school had hoped. Four losses, tied with Kansas for fewest in the nation, did not put Little Rock on the map, either.