SACRAMENTO — For years, Utah coach Rick Majerus has said that Utah would not be his last coaching job, that he had one or two more stops left in his career.
Majerus has looked at and turned down several coaching opportunities over the years but has always stayed at Utah. However, at Wednesday's press conference, for one of the first times since he's been at Utah, the 54-year-old Majerus indicated he may be at Utah for the rest of his career.
He was asked why he didn't take the Wisconsin job last year and if he would ever be interested in the Indiana job. Majerus replied by heaping praise on the people in Utah, such as Bernie Machen and Chris Hill and several friends, and said it would be very hard to leave his players.
"I don't know that I'll ever leave," he said. "It's really been a nice situation. I'm getting old now. Maybe I'll never leave."
REALITY BITES: Majerus had to backtrack a bit after saying he was going with former Dayton coach Don Donoher to watch a Regional Final game in Madison, Wis., a week from Saturday. After all, what about his own team — don't they have a chance to play after this week?
"I don't think we'll be playing," he said. "That would be the Final Eight. I hope we can win. Whenever you go out to play you feel you can win. But the reality is, you want to make sure you have a couple of seats (in case you don't win)."
ROUTINE FOCUS: Foul shooting has been a real problem for the Utes all season, but especially the last few games of the season (60.4 percent over the last five games).
Majerus has tried everything with his players, from extra practice to psychological talks.
Earlier this week, Majerus was doing an interview with former NBA great Rick Barry, who was one of the top free throw shooters ever. After the interview, Majerus talked to Barry for several minutes off the air and asked for advice on foul shooting.
Barry told Majerus his players needed to "focus on their routine," so Majerus passed that along to his team this week.
We'll find out Thursday night if there's any improvement.
INCONSEQUENTIAL: The issue of Majerus' health came up, and, as he often does, Majerus compared his heart problems to those of Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had several heart problems over the years.
"Cheney's chasing al-Qaida, I'm after the Hoosiers," said Majerus. "He's the second most powerful man in the free world, I'm the coach of the Utes. You talk about an inconsequential job."
NCAA NOTES: The tickets at Arco Arena have all been sold. The Utes easily sold their allotment of 350 and also sold about 75 leftovers from UNC Wilmington, according to Utah ticket manager Dave Copier . . . Walter Watts, the wide-bodied Ute center from the early Majerus days, lives in the Sacramento area now and was at the media hotel Wednesday night on his way to find Majerus . . . Indiana star Jared Jeffries said he can remember when Britton Johnsen played in the Final Four with the Utes. "It seems like their whole team is older than us," he said.
E-mail: sor@desnews.com