Utah Jazz notebook: Carlos Boozer, Wesley Matthews differ on top NCAA hoop team

SALT LAKE CITY — Sixty-four teams remain alive in the NCAA Tournament, but the Utah Jazz locker room is already down to the Final Two.

Carlos Boozer's Duke and Wesley Matthews' Marquette are the last teams left standing among Jazz players currently in the NBA.

Neither player lacks in confidence for their alma maters' March Madness chances, either.

"I think we're as fundamentally sound as anybody," Boozer said. "We've got big guys that plug up the paint. We've got three great scorers on the perimeter, and I think we have as good a chance as anybody else to win it."

More than Marquette?

"Yes," he said, emphatically. "Make sure you tell Wesley I said that, too."

Turns out a certain undrafted rookie begs to differ.

"Me and Booz have been talking the whole year," Matthews said. "I told Booz my Golden Eagles are going to make it farther than his Blue Devils."

So how far?

"Sweet 16," he said, later hinting that they'd make the Final Four. "They're going to handle it this weekend. I'm trying to get out to San Jose. I want to see what's going on."

Sounds like a good plan, unless you consider the Jazz play in Phoenix on Friday and in Utah on Saturday.

Marquette, which eliminated Utah State last year thanks in part to Matthews' play, faces Washington tonight, with a possible Saturday showdown with New Mexico.

"It's going to be two tough games ... but we're a tough team," Matthews said, "and I think we're flying high right now."

Kosta Koufos' former school, Ohio State, is in the Big Dance, but he's currently assigned to the Utah Flash.

Though Matthews enjoys razzing Boozer about Duke, he's taking it easy on guys like Deron Williams, whose Illinois squad landed in the NIT.

"We talked about it before," Matthews said. "No need rubbing it in now."

Of course, Matthews might not be so kind to Boozer if Marquette gets past Duke in the Final Four.

DAY OF REST?: Earlier this week, Williams made a pitch for more Sunday games — an interestingly timed suggestion, coming the day after the Jazz had done just that.

For years the Jazz have requested that the NBA not schedule home games on Sundays because of Utah's large LDS membership. This year, the Jazz don't have any home Sunday games and only had three Sabbath Day road games.

"It's been tough on us, but it's part of an 82-game season," Williams said of a recent five-games-in-seven-nights stretch. "If we started playing on Sundays we might get a couple of games spread out."

Williams' remark came after he noticed a tough end-of-March schedule, which includes back-to-back weeks with games on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

"It makes me sad," he joked.

PRIMAL FEAR?: Little Red Riding Hood might not be the only one with a big, bad wolf phobia.