CHICAGO — And now, the NCAA men's basketball tournament having finished its first week of best wishes and crushed hopes, here's UNLV, starring in its new role as ... Cinderella?

Odd, but true. Look who's the lowest seed still standing in the Sweet 16. Not Butler. Not Southern Illinois. Not USC. At No. 7, it's your UNLV Runnin' Rebels — the program once mighty of talent and glittering of name, but with a large enough cloud to cover a zip code.

"It's going to put us on the map," guard Wendell White said after the Rebels blew past No. 2 seed Wisconsin, 74-68, in one of the few upsets seen in the first two rounds.

Not that UNLV wasn't on the map before, back in the Jerry Tarkanian glory days. Also, alas, the map of every NCAA investigator. The public perception was that the program housed more outlaws than Jesse James' mother.

That was not always especially accurate. But anyway, it's yesterday's news.

Coach Lon Kruger, who has taken four different schools into the NCAA tournament, is as straight as a runway. His son, Kevin, transferred in from Arizona State for his senior season so he could play for his dad. Kevin vowed early on the team would make noise in March, and helped cause the racket yesterday with four 3-pointers. Barbara, wife and mom, was in the stands to watch.

"She was probably crying, she's so happy," Kevin said. "I can almost guarantee you that."

"This," Lon said, "is pretty special."

Bad, old UNLV? This is starting to sound like "Leave it to Beaver."

Four seniors were in UNLV's starting lineup yesterday. Two have already graduated. Two more will this spring. Another grad comes off the bench.

"This group of seniors," Lon Kruger said, "makes it pretty easy to cheer for them."

Kruger said that in 30 years of coaching he has never had a season of fewer off-court distractions. The Rebels' image was once as flashy and edgy as their city. These guys could be playing in Cedar Rapids.

"Our biggest problem this year was someone sleeping through class," Kevin Kruger said. "No selfish issues, nobody getting in bar fights. With everything you can get into in Vegas, that speaks volumes about the players and coaches."

What they're doing on the court doesn't hurt, either. UNLV has had nine coaches since Tarkanian left, and before the past week had not won an NCAA tournament game since trying to defend its national title in 1991.

Now the Rebels are back. The people's choice.

Sort of.

So ended a first week that included:

A dreary first round, with only six of 32 games settled by nine points or less.

A frantic Saturday that saw three games go overtime.

Bad news for the big underdogs. This was only the second time since the bracket expanded to 64 teams that nobody seeded 12th or lower won a game.

Good news for failed NBA coaches back in college, including Kruger, Memphis' John Calipari and USC's Tim Floyd.

Kansas playing like the team most likely to succeed April 2. The Jayhawks scored 107 and 88 points in their two wins. They now meet Southern Illinois, which allowed 51 and 48.

Few true shockers. This is the first time in 12 years no team seeded lower than No. 7 made it to the Sweet 16.

The SEC and Pac-10 each advanced three teams, compared to one each for the Big Ten and ACC. Had Xavier made one more free throw and beaten Ohio State, the Big Ten would have had all six teams eradicated.

Davidson put up 37 3-point attempts in one game.

Tennessee scored 57 points in the first half of another.

Somewhere else, Indiana scored only 13.

Michigan State held Marquette scoreless the first 9:40 — a longer shutout than the Michigan State football team had in six games last fall.

Ohio State committed only five fouls the entire game against Central Connecticut State.

Two days later, center Greg Oden had five by himself. The fact that his fifth was not called intentional against Xavier — which it could have been — might change the history of this tournament.

Oden's fellow freshman sensation, Kevin Durant, was shown the door early. USC got revenge on Texas 14 months after their famous Rose Bowl.

BYU started a 25-year-old at guard, and sometimes used a lineup against Xavier that had four married players.

Texas A&M advanced to the first Sweet 16 in its history, three years after the Aggies went 0-16 in the Big 12.

Duke's Mike Krzyzewski lost in the first round for only the second time in his life.

And the survivors moved on, probably all with the attitude of the coach's son at rejuvenated UNLV.

"It'll make a great T-shirt," Kevin Kruger said of the Sweet 16, with Oregon awaiting. "But we're not done yet."

Mike Lopresti is a columnist for Gannett News Service.