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Aussie dazzles Ute fans with skill

New Mexico guard Troy DeVries, left, passes as Utah center Andrew Bogut of Australia blocks the lane. New Mexico won 60-56 victory in Denver, Colorado, March 12, to claim the NCAA's Mountain West Conference basketball title. PHOTO: AP

There are times when Andrew Bogut acts like the tallest point guard in the US, and other times when he's merely the most dominating inside presence in the NCAA tournament.

National Basketball Association executives salivate when his name is mentioned, though you'd be hard-pressed to find many basketball fans east of the Rocky Mountains who knew much about him only a few weeks ago.

Without Bogut, the University of Utah wouldn't even be playing this time of year, much less have an outside chance of making the NCAA tournament Final Four. He's a superstar who just happens to need four other players on the court with him.

"I think all his teammates understand they're probably very fortunate to be playing with him," Utah coach Ray Giacoletti said during a telephone interview Monday.

They should, because 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.

This is a 2.14m Australian so gifted that even his coach isn't telling him to come back for his junior and senior years.

"He's going to make a lot of money for a lot of years," Giacoletti said.

Bogut will make that money because he's one of those players who can dominate in different ways without having much in the way of a supporting cast.

It showed on Saturday in Tucson, Arizona, when Bogut tied his season low with 10 points yet still managed to lead the Utes to a win over Oklahoma and a berth in the regional semifinals Friday against Kentucky.

The Sooners wanted to push Bogut around and beat him up in the low post, so Bogut switched to the high post and acted like a point guard, dishing off passes to appreciative teammates for easy baskets. He was credited with seven assists, and he also managed to grab 11 rebounds.

"Bogut made a lot of good passes," Oklahoma's Johnnie Gilbert said after the game. "I thought a lot of times we would pick it off, but somehow it got through."
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