Game of the week

Rockets at Jazz

Both teams will be trying to better their playoff seeding in this late-night (8:30 p.m. tip) battle on TNT. The Rockets won the first two games this season, but they were both in Houston. Utah, after beating the Rockets earlier this month at home, will try to even the series, 2-2.

24-second clock

The NCAA Tournament draws even greater interest in some locker rooms of NBA teams than it does in offices across the country.

The majority of NBA players and coaches played college ball, so they follow their alma maters with a feverish devotion and love of talking smack to an opposing player or teammate whose college is vanquished in the process.

But what about the players who skipped college and went directly to the pros?

For some, like Minnesota point guard Sebastian Telfair, this time of year reminds them of what they missed by forgoing life on campus for NBA riches.

"I've been asked this question a lot," Telfair said. "I don't know why, but as I've gotten older I've looked back and looked at the (tournament) and said, 'Man, I wish I could have seen how I would have done on that stage.' "

After a sensational prep career at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., Telfair was a lottery pick of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2004.

Had he decided to go to college, Telfair would have played for Rick Pitino at Louisville, which made the Final Four during what would have been Telfair's freshman season. The Cardinals are the tournament's No. 1 overall seed this year and have another great chance to make a run, and Telfair will be watching.

"I root for Louisville. That's my team," Telfair said.

That's not the same, Timberwolves rookie forward Kevin Love said. Love only spent one season at UCLA, but it was a memorable one that featured a run to the Final Four for the Bruins.

"I don't know if I would have followed it the same" if he had skipped college, Love said. "I definitely would have missed college. I wouldn't take that back."

Looking for a can't-miss NBA pro? Chances are he won't be the guy accepting the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player award.

Recent history shows that being the star of the NCAA Tournament's big weekend has no guarantee of future success — and some can't even get on the floor of NBA games.

Of the last 10 Final Four MOPs, only Connecticut's Richard Hamilton (1999) and Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony (2003) have become NBA All-Stars.

That didn't used to be the case. Magic Johnson won the award 30 years ago, and he was followed over the next six years by Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, Akeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, all of whom became perennial NBA All-Stars.

Now, with most top players gone before they've ever had much college success, the winners are usually great college players who aren't always even good pros.

Mateen Cleaves, who won in 2000 with Michigan State, isn't even in the NBA, playing in the NBA Development League.

Sean May (2005) and Corey Brewer (2007) have been hurt and unable to prove themselves worthy of being lottery picks.

Last year's winner, Mario Chalmers from Kansas, has played well for Miami. He gave the Heat a league-high five players who appeared in the NCAA championship game, joining Udonis Haslem, Jamaal Magloire, Luther Head and Daequan Cook.