Utah Utes basketball: March Madness was an unknown for Utah's foreign players

Most college basketball players have grown up watching the NCAA basketball tournament and dreaming of the day they can play in the Big Dance.

For three players in Utah's starting lineup, that hasn't been the case.

Luke Nevill, Kim Tillie and Luka Drca didn't even know about the NCAA Tournament until they were teenagers. Each grew up overseas, where the NCAA Tournament was hard to find on television or on the news.

Nevill had the most exposure, growing up in Australia, but Tillie didn't see much college basketball in France, nor did Drca in Serbia.

"It's not really big in France at all," Tillie said. "Only real basketball fans know about it. Growing up, I didn't have any idea of the NCAA Tournament. They started showing games the last couple of years when Joakim Noah, who was the first real French guy to make the tournament and win it twice. That's when everyone started following the NCAA."

"I didn't even know the NCAA existed," Drca said. "I probably found out about the NCAA when I was 17 or 18. I watched Florida play when they won the NCAA for the first time. I think right now there are a couple of sports channels (in Serbia) that have access to those games. But I don't know if they'll be able to watch our game on Friday."

"We have ESPN in Australia and you might get to see the Final Four, but not these early rounds," said Nevill. "I had some idea about (the tournament) because I'd go online, but mostly we'd see NBA games on TV, that's about it."

When Nevill moved to Georgia for his senior year of high school, he became very aware of the tournament. Of course, in his first year at the U., he accompanied the team to the tournament, although he has no words of wisdom for his teammates.

"It's almost overwhelming at times, but you just have to play calm and collected when you are there," he said. "We just did everything the same as when we were here. If you don't change up how you practice or do anything different, you should be fine.

Tillie can't wait to play in the event he's only known about for three or four years.

"I'm really excited with it being the first time we're going there," Tillie said. "Since Bogut was here and when Utah started recruiting me, I started following it. It's really exciting that we can keep playing."

FORMER FAVORITE: Tyler Kepkay also grew up out of the country, but he was able to follow college basketball just across the border in Vancouver, Canada. He has followed the NCAA Tournament since he was a kid. And guess who his favorite team was?

Yep, it was Arizona.

"I was following Arizona back when they were really good and a powerhouse. Arizona was my team growing up," Kepkay said. "It's pretty funny that we're playing them in the first round."