He gained his initial love of basketball from television.

When he was a kid, Bogut used to watch the "NBA game of the week" on Saturday mornings in his native Melbourne.

He became aware of Utah by watching the great Utah Jazz teams of the late '90s, featuring Stockton and Malone, but he claims he never had a favorite team and still doesn't.

As a youngster, Bogut "always had a ball in my hands, whether it was a basketball, soccer ball, football or a tennis racket." He played some organized Australian rules football, but didn't like playing in cold and rainy weather.

"I used to get up to watch the NBA and ended up falling in love with the game," he said.

He is glad he didn't come to Utah that first year.

Bogut's connection to Utah was through Ken Shields, an assistant coach for the Australian team he played for, who was a close friend of Majerus.

Shields recommended Bogut largely on his potential.

But because of technical problems with getting the proper credit from the NCAA to be cleared to play, he wasn't able to come to Utah for the 2002-03 season.

Now, Bogut says it's the best thing that could have happened to him.

"It really helped my game over the next six months being able to play for the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport)," he said. "I was able to get a lot more confident in my game and get experience."

He had several chances to change his mind about coming to Utah.

After not coming to Utah that first year, Bogut had the great summer in Greece when he was named MVP of the Junior World Tournament, which Australia won. Because it had been a year since he signed a letter of intent, he could have signed with another college, not to mention one of several professional teams in Europe.

Bogut, however, showed his loyalty to Utah and passed on offers from such colleges as Oregon and Gonzaga to come to Utah.

"I stuck with Utah, because they stuck with me," he said.

Then last year he could have taken one of several professional offers and played a year or two in Europe and made some serious money. But he was impressed with Giacoletti and his plans and was loyal to his teammates, who he'd become close to.

He nearly didn't make it through his freshman season at Utah.