Thanks to the NCAA Tournament, Earl Edwards figures a lot more folks will learn what a Triton is.

For those in the dark, Triton, from Greek mythology, was a god of the sea, the son of King of the Sea Poseidon and goddess Amphitrite. It’s the mascot for the University of California, San Diego, which enters the tournament with the nation’s longest winning streak at 15 games. 

“A lot of people will know now what a Triton is moving forward,’’ Edwards, who has been UC San Diego’s athletic director since 2000, said Wednesday. 

The Tritons, in their first year of eligibility for the NCAA Tournament, are 30-4 and haven’t lost since Jan. 18. They are the No. 12 seed in the South Region and will face No. 5 Michigan on Thursday night at Ball Arena. 

It wasn’t long ago a lot of people not only didn’t know what a Triton was but perhaps had never heard of UC San Diego. But that has been changing thanks to the school’s basketball success. 

“You can’t imagine what it has meant to the school,’’ Edwards said of the Tritons’ impressive season. “It’s put us on the map with all of the publicity we’re getting. When the Wall Street Journal and New York Times are writing about you, you know you’re doing something good.” 

One reason the Titans have been getting so much publicity is many observers believe they have a solid chance to upset the Wolverines, who are 25-9 and last Sunday won the Big Ten tournament. Michigan is just a 2 1/2-point favorite. 

“There’s a reason they won 30 games and they’re sitting here in the NCAA Tournament,’’ said Wolverines coach Dusty May. “They have really, really good players and a system and a well-coached team.” 

The Tritons are led by Eric Olen, in his 12th season as head coach after serving nine years as an assistant. The school was a perennial fixture in the Division II tournament until moving up to Division I in 2020-21. But they weren’t eligible for the Division I tournament the previous four seasons. 

The Tritons won the Big West regular-season title with an 18-2 record and then clinched a tournament berth with a 75-61 win over California-Irvine last Saturday in the conference title game. The women’s team also made the NCAA Tournament in its first year of eligibility, marking the first time a school has done that with the men’s and women’s teams in the same season. 

“It’s amazing,’’ said junior guard Chris Howell. “We’ve been putting in the hard work since last summer, and people are now just starting to notice. We’re a small school and it’s been great getting the national attention, but we have to be focused and not let the external noise distract us. We have to play every game with a chip on our shoulder.” 

UC San Diego long has been known for academics. Notable alums include Mike Judge, the creator of “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill,” former Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane, the impetus for “Moneyball,” Academy Award-winning actor Benicio del Toro and legendary activist Angela Davis, who earned a master’s degree from the school. 

In basketball, the Tritons never have produced an NBA player. But they do have a guy turning heads now in senior guard Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, a native of New Zealand who is averaging 19.5 points. 

“I’ve been overlooked my whole life,’’ said Tait-Jones, who played his first three seasons at Division II Hawaii-Hilo before joining the Tritons last season. “So just having that extra motivation and having that extra chip on our shoulder definitely helps.” 

Tait-Jones had a workmanlike 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in the win in the Big West title game. The next day, hundreds of students lined up outside of 4,000-seat LionTree Arena, the school’s basketball venue, to get good seats in front of the cameras and cheer on the Tritons when they learned on CBS they would face Michigan in the first round. 

“It’s something you dream about as a little kid,’’ said sophomore guard Aidan Burke. “I’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament for 15 years and being able to see yourself on the screen on national TV was pretty awesome.” 

Bruke, from Los Gatos, Calif., said he didn’t know what a Triton was until he committed to UC Davis. Now he also figures that a lot more folks are going to learn about the Greek god as the NCAA Tournament gets underway.