"Quite easily," pipes in Bogut. "He's also the heaviest, most overweight, most unfit . . . he's got them all."

He likes his hair.

The year before he came to Utah, his hair was a blond bowl cut, but by the time Bogut came to Utah the blond was gone and his hair was brown, short and slicked back.

Last summer he dyed it blond again, but when he came back for school only the tips of his hair were blond. He grew it out all fall, and he looked like a '70s-style rocker when he started the season with hair dangling near his shoulders.

Then, during the Christmas holidays, he cut it, dyed it black and changed the parted-down-the-middle style to a Beatles-style cut with bangs in front.

"I like to change it up every now and then," Bogut said. "It's different every year. I'll see what the girls like."

Bogut says Americans "love" his hair, but when questioned further you find he's joking again. "It's quite the opposite," he said.

So what's next on the hair agenda for Bogut?

"I might get a trim, might not, we'll see what happens. I'll surprise you one day."

He may be the face of Australian basketball for the next decade or so.

According to Nathan Vogt, his former youth coach who spent a week in Utah last month watching Ute practices and games, Bogut is the most famous basketball player in the country right now, thanks to last summer's Olympics.

He'll likely take the place of another Andrew, Andrew Gaze, who played for Seton Hall back in the '80s and still plays pro ball in Australia in his 40s.

But as big as Bogut may become, he won't necessarily become a national hero, because of the status of basketball in the Land Down Under.

While basketball has always been considered one of the Big Three of American sports, it doesn't even crack the top five in Australia, according to Bogut.

He rates Australian rules football, cricket, rugby, golf and car racing ahead of basketball on the Australian sports interest meter.

He has not made up his mind about his future plans.

Aha, you thought he was definitely going to the NBA next year, right?

Well, OK, he most likely is.

But like Utah quarterback Alex Smith, who turned pro shortly after the football season, Bogut is doing his best to not say anything until after the season is over.

"I don't know yet," he said. "A lot of people ask me if it's this year or next, but I just want to concentrate on the Utah Utes right now.

"I'll make that decision at the end of the season after the last game. I'll figure out what I'm going to do straightaway, so I can relax a bit."