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CBS sportscaster Andrew Catalon is buried in homework right now, and among the subjects he's studying furiously is Utah Utes 101.

Catalon will call Thursday's Utah-Fresno State game in the first round of the NCAA tournament. And, while he's called a number of Bulldogs games this season, he has yet to see the Utes in person.

And the Utah-Fresno matchup is just one of the six games he'll call in three days.

"This is quite week," he said. "It's going to be wild, but it's going to be fun."

On Sunday night, Catalon and his analyst partner, Steve Lappas, got their assignments. They're calling Tuesday's First Four doubleheader in Dayton, Ohio, and then heading to Denver to call four more games on Thursday — including Utah-Fresno State, which is scheduled to tip off at 5:27 p.m. MT on TruTV.

It's a big change from the regular season, when he normally called two games a week for CBS and the CBS Sports Network.

"I look at it like 12 teams I've got to study," Catalon said. "It's really like cramming for a final exam. I feel like I'm back in high school trying to get all my work done before exam time."

And he's "really impressed" with Utah.

"I definitely feel like this team is capable of making a deep run," said Catalon, who doesn't expect the Utes to suffer any sort of hangover from their embarrassing 88-57 loss to Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament championship game.

"Just because they had a bad game, I don't think that means they're in trouble come Thursday night," Catalon said.

On the other hand, the third-seeded Utes went into their league tournament knowing they were in the NCAA field regardless of what happened — whereas the 14th-seeded Bulldogs had to win the Mountain West tournament to get in.

(The Mountain West got only one bid to the NCAAs; the Pac-12 got seven.)

"Utah's a lot more talented, but Fresno State's won nine games in a row," Catalon said. "There was no way they were getting in without winning three games in three days, so their back was against the wall. And in the championship team, they beat San Diego State, which was a bubble game.

"They're going to come in with a little bit of that nothing-to-lose mentality."

Regardless of what happens on Thursday, Fresno State's season has been a success because they ended a 15-year drought in the postseason.

"For Fresno State, to be here for the first time since 2001, their season will still be remembered for getting to the NCAA tournament," Catalon said. "Whatever happens now, it's gravy.

"Different story for Utah," he continued. "You lose this game to Fresno State as a No. 3 seed, you're going to be thinking about this one for a while."

Which means "the pressure's on Utah. They're favored to win. They should win the game, but you just never know at this time of year."

Catalon is feeling the pressure himself, which is why he's cramming to get ready for those six games in three days. He's called Fresno State games — including in the MWC tournament — so he familiar with the Bulldogs. But not so with the Utes.

"I'm very sensitive to the fact … that Utah fans will have seen all 34 games, and I haven't," he said. "And I don't want to be the guy that shows up and is completely lost as to what the major storylines have been and what's been going on with this team since back in November."

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce. —