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He knew the matchup was a possibility, so Chris Burgess spent the weekend with a keen eye on the NCAA tournament results.

When the Utah vs. Duke Sweet 16 game was set, he pulled out his Utes and Blue Devils jerseys, and posted a picture on his Facebook: No. 34 in both red and blue.

"Shane says, 'The Burge Bowl!'" Heidi Battier posted. "Ha! Love it!"

Shane, as in Shane Battier, the one-time Duke star who was teammates with Burgess from 1997 to 1999. Burgess has loyalties on both sides of the aisle, finishing his career at Utah and starting his coaching career under Larry Krystkowiak last season.

But for Burgess, now an assistant coach at Indian Hills Community College, there's not too much of a struggle to figure out what color he'll wear at the game in Houston on Friday.

"I'm going to sit behind the Utah bench and I'm wearing red," Burgess said. "I bleed red. My wife was a soccer player at Utah. I got my degree there. That is my team. I cheer for Duke, I absolutely loved my two years at Duke, but that's my second favorite."

Burgess went to the Elite Eight in 1998 and was on the NCAA Tournament runner-up team in 1999 with Duke, averaging 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game for the Blue Devils. The 6-foot-10 forward later transferred to Utah, dealing with injuries but still managing 9.3 ppg and 6.3 rpg in his final two years before embarking on a long international pro career.

The former two-school athlete doesn't just know the programs, but he's uniquely familiar with both coaches. Burgess recalled Mike Krzyzewski's weekly NCAA Tournament prep of creating a four-team bracket — which this weekend would include Duke, Utah, UCLA and Gonzaga — and telling his players, "This is our championship bracket, let's win these two games."

Burgess was an undergrad assistant for Krystkowiak during the Utah's 21-win season last year, and said both he and Krzyzewski prepare to a painful level of detail. Duke, however, is more internally focused on doing what they do well, which comes from having some of the nation's most athletic and skilled players. The Utes break down a lot of opposing film in order to know what they need to stop.

"When I was at Duke, you walked on the floor with confidence and swagger, and you got it from Krzyzewski, because he made us believe we were the best players on the floor," Burgess said. "At Utah [as a coach], we had the same kind of confidence walking in because we always felt like we were the better prepared team. We had done a ton of scouting to the last detail."

Burgess said he'll likely visit with some Duke staff and friends, but also will enjoy seeing the Utah coaching staff and their families for the first time in months.

Any trash talk is reserved for the fans of Kansas, Iowa and Northern Iowa — fans who have a strong presence in the Indian Hills area but have all seen their teams get bounced. No matter who Burgess wants to root for, he said, both his teams are still dancing this week.

Reyes unfazed by ranking

CBS Sports ranked every starter on each Sweet 16 team 1 through 80, the criteria of the list being, "If I were drafting a college basketball team, which guy would I take next?."

Mr. Irrelevant, as it were, was Utah sophomore forward Chris Reyes.

For the JuCo transfer, "starter" is a formal title. He averages 15.7 minutes per game, putting in 4.4 points and 3.6 rebounds. He's also had 22 blocks this season.

As long as the California native is still playing, he doesn't mind where he falls in any ranking.

"That's fine. I don't mind that," said Reyes, not even losing the smile from his face. "I'm like the underdog pretty much. I just take pride in my defense. The other four guys are more like scorers, and I'm more of the defensive guy. I don't care about rankings or anything like that. It just depends on what coach has in store for me."

In the spotlight

It's been a busy week of media rounds for the Utes, nationally considered one of March's surprises.

After being profiled by the likes of the New York Times and Sports Illustrated last week, Larry Krystkowiak made appearances on the ESPN college basketball podcast, the Jim Rome Show, and Gio and Jones Show.

The Utes have also been featured in a CBS online series, Utah Confidential, for the past week. The most recent installment highlighted Utah's win over Georgetown last Saturday, including shots of the victory celebration and Krystkowiak's post-game locker room address.

Twitter: @kylegoon