As he usually does at NCAA tournaments, Utah coach Rick Majerus is attracting plenty of attention from the national media, who eat up his one-liners.
Majerus was in usual form at Wednesday's press conference evoking lots of laughter from the assembled media.Here are a few of Majerus' best:
- When asked about Kentucky's Antoine Walker: "He's a McDonald's All-American. We've got four kids on our team who don't even have a McDonald's in their town."
- On recruiting Walker: "We would have liked to recruit him, but I'm sure he got the Utah letter and thought it was a cult."
- On what can be done to counteract Kentucky's great depth: "Food poisoning."
- On reports that Kentucky's Rick Pitino called his team the underdog: "If we get in the sumo ring, then he's the underdog - I'll crush him. But on the court we're in trouble."
The Utah media all know that Majerus doesn't perform near as much when he's back in Utah and that he relishes the national media spotlight. But his players also see a difference.
When the players were asked about some amusing things Majerus did in practice, Michael Doleac replied, "He's not nearly as amusing in practice."
Added Keith Van Horn, "We read about all that stuff in the paper, but when it comes to practice, he's all business. When practice is over, then it's time to have fun."
When a reporter pressed the players for some funny stories, Brandon Jessie, turned to Mark Rydalch and said, "Why don't you ask Mark, he's been here for 10 years."
Line in St. Paul Pioneer Press column under the heading "Why the locals love Utah coach Rick Majerus" - "Because he looks like 90 percent of all Minnesota males after a long winter of TV and hot dishes."
One Ute player receiving an inordinate amount of attention this week is 6-9 freshman Will Carlton, who has played in just 19 games, averaging 3.3 points per game. Carlton is getting extra notice because he hails from Lawrenceburg, Ky., where he grew up a true-blue Kentucky fan.
Because of his Kentucky roots, Carlton has been getting ribbed by his teammates all week.
"They've been pretty hard on me," said Carlton. "They say I'm going to throw the game if I get in, but it's all in good fun."
Carlton says he knows a few Kentucky players, including Walter McCarty, who he posed as in practice all week. His mother, two brothers, grandmother and a few cousins will be on hand for the game, cheering for Utah. And he'll probably know a few folks fans in the Kentucky section.
NCAA NOTES: Majerus also will have a lot of friends and family in town. He said he was hoping to get 100 tickets from Utah's allotment, but didn't know if that would be enough . . . Another reason Majerus was glad to come to Minnesota was because one of Utah's early signees, 7-foot-1 Nate Althoff, is from Delano, Minn. In fact, Ute players were 10 minutes late for their press conference because they stopped to talk to Althoff . . . Utah's Jessie and Kentucky's Delk are friends from playing together in a Nike Camp a few years ago. Also Utah's Michael Doleac played against Kentucky's Walker in last summer's Olympic Festival . . . Besides the NCAA Midwest Regional, the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament is in town this week.