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Rio de Janeiro • Covering this Olympics from a Utah perspective, as we always do, has been different. My primary role is to cover the 10 basketball players with Utah ties — none representing the United States.

That element has made it fun, actually. I've paid more attention to Boris Diaw in France's two games than I have in his entire NBA career, because he now plays for the Jazz. And with six former University of Utah players in the men's and women's basketball tournaments, I have four teams to track.

All of of those teams are doing well. The ex-Utes are a collective 8-1 in preliminary play, with a loss to another alum.

In women's play, Leilani Mitchell's Australia team is 3-0 and looking like a medal contender, as expected. The Canadian team of Kim Smith Gaucher, Shona Thorburn and Michelle Plouffe is 2-0, with a likely win to come Wednesday night against Senegal. Canada has to play the USA on Friday, though.

In the men's tournament, Andrew Bogut's Aussies are 2-0, going into Wednesday night's game vs. the USA, and Kim Tillie's French team is 1-1, having lost to Australia. France plays Serbia on Wednesday afternoon.

The Most Valuable Ex-Ute in the tournament so far is Bogut, averaging 13.5 points in his comeback from a knee injury in the NBA Finals to lead the Boomers to two victories. Mitchell is the runner-up, as a starting point guard for the Opals. Yes, I appreciate the Australian teams having nicknames.

— Kurt Kragthorpe