About Utah: Basketball has been good to Phil Johnson

Regrets? Too few to mention. He says the Millers, who took care of him all those years when he was on the coaching staff, still treat him like royalty, as do Kevin O'Connor and the rest of the Jazz family. "They don't have to," he says, "but they do. I can't say enough good about them."

Asked what advice he might have for coaches who'd like to stay in business for half a century, he points to what worked for him: "I'd say check your ego at the door, and don't burn any bridges."

But he never has been one for telling other people what to do, or for looking at the past.

"You've got to move on," he says as he gets ready to watch a game involving a future Jazz opponent.

Only now it's so he can talk intelligently about the team on TV, not to figure out how to beat them.

Either way, you still gotta take them one game at a time.

Lee Benson's About Utah column runs Mondays. Email: benson@desnews.com