March Gladness continues

The Big dance is no longer "big" in terms of number of teams playing, but is "big" in that only 16 teams are still playing. The University of Utah stunned #3 seed Oklahoma 68-57 to get their invitation to the sweet 16 and a date with Kentucky on Friday in Austin, Texas.

The Utes did so with perhaps their most balanced effort of the season. Andrew Bogut killed the Sooners with his passing, rather than by posting his normal 20 points per game. You had to really appreciate Bogut's patience in this game. Most top scorers in the country would have been forcing things to try and get their shots. Bogut did not score for over 8 minutes at the start of the game and didn't reach double figures until about a minute was left in the game. Bogut only took 7 shots the entire game, making four and scoring 10 points. If you didn't see the game you'd assume that Oklahoma shut him down and limited his touches. The opposite was true. OU did swarm Bogut on every possession, but he was still able to get touches and do something with the ball. Instead of recklessly attacking the double and triple teams, he did what few 7 footers can, and took a few dribbles and passed to a variety of cutting teammates. Along the way he picked up 7 assists and several other passes led to baskets, fouls, or a missed layup.

You cannot minimize the fact that Bogut picked-up his teammates. However, when he gave them the opportunity, they seized it in a big way. A couple of these guys are pretty fearless, which I can't say was a mark of recent Ute teams. Justin Hawkins, and Bryant Markson have been complimentary players, but they both willingly attacked the basket when given the opportunity. In addition, despite the media's clamoring over Bogut, none of this gets done without PG Marc Jackson. He has been terrific and isn't just getting it done only on the offensive end of the floor, he has shown the ability to slow down the speedy guards like Utep's Riviera and OU's Lavender and Godbold. As long as we are spreading credit around, I do believe coach Ray Giacoletti deserves a lot of credit both for keeping the team loose and full of confidence, but also his decision to move Bogut to the high post where he could distribute to his teammates.

As you might expect, the media attention is raining down on the Utes and Andrew Bogut in particular. Some that you may or may not have seen:

• Tim Dahlberg, AP Writer, wrote a nice piece about Bogut and included the strong statement,

  "..if Bogut isn't everybody's player of the year, something is wrong with the balloting. If he's not the first pick in the NBA draft in June, some general manager is sleeping."

• Jim O'Connell, AP Writer, announced that Bogut is the leading vote-getter on the AP All-America team. Bogut joins players who are from college basketball's elite programs - Kansas (W. Simien), Syracuse (Hakim Warrick), Duke (JJ Redick) and Wake Forest (Chris Paul). O'Connell mades a strong point when he said,

  "Bogut was the only member of the first team not to have received any recognition after last season. In fact, he was the only one of the five not to have been at least an honorable mention selection in the preseason All America balloting. Now Bogut is considered a sure lottery pick, and the possible top pick, if he decides to declare for the NBA draft".

• Joe Beatty, Utah Chronicle, offers a good recap of Utah-Oklahoma game. Joe also mentions a great statistic about turnovers, by saying that Utah had 21 turnovers, and,

  "the Sooners committed a season-low seven, and were 20-1 this season when winning the turnover battle.."

The Utes draw the Wildcats on Friday night with a chance to become a part of the Elite Eight. Certainly followers of the Ute program did not expect a season like this on the heals of Rick Majerus' departure and starting the season with a new coach. However, the Ute fans, much like Majerus who picked OU to beat the Utes before the game, didn't know Giac!