Now that was a Player of the Year performance.

Utah’s Andrew Bogut was the consensus choice for national player of the year in college hoops this season, but because he plays in a second-tier conference in the Mountain time zone, few people saw him play. Those who watched Bogut for the first time in the Utes’ NCAA Tournament opener yesterday now understand why NBA scouts are foaming at the mouth over this guy.

In leading Utah to a 60-54 first round win over UTEP, the 7-foot Australian displayed an awesome variety of skills for a man of his size. He played all 40 minutes, scoring 24 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, and blocking four shots. But what stood out more than what he did was how he did it.

Bogut should be called “Bo” from now on. As in, Bo knows shooting: Twice he stepped out from the post to nail 3-pointers. Bo knows post play: He accounted for nearly half of Utah’s scoring despite being double-teamed every time he caught the ball. Bo knows dribbling: He displayed solid ball handling skills for a big man, frequently taking his own rebounds upcourt.

Bo really knows passing. He’s on par with passing big men like Vlade Divac or Brad Miller in his ability to see the floor. In the first half, against a UTEP press, he caught the ball in his own end, took a dribble, and snapped a 70-foot, crosscourt chest pass to start a 2-on-1 break that ended in a dunk. Several other times he located wide-open teammates passing out of the double team on the low block, although his assist total was suppressed by their inability to convert.

The icing on the cake is that Bo knows defense. While scouts question his athleticism because he doesn’t play above the rim, two key plays in the second half showed how his agility and skill make up for it.

On the first play, he was watching a man on the low block, with his back to the ball, while a UTEP player drove to the basket and appeared to have a wide-open layup. I thought to myself “What a mistake – Bo lost sight of the ball and isn’t in position to help.”

My bad. Bo knows trickery.

He saw the opponent the whole time – he was just luring the UTEP player into taking the shot, knowing that he was in position to quickly step in for the block. So Bo, who also knows patience, waited … and once the UTEP player committed to the shot, Bo quickly turned and flicked it away.

The second play may have been more impressive, because it was an NBA-style defensive stop. With UTEP trailing 56-54 in the closing seconds, Bo switched onto Miners’ point guard Filiberto Rivera in a pick-and-roll situation. Normally a big man is dead meat in this situation, but Bo knows quickness. He moved his feet, stayed in front of Rivera and gave him no angle to the rim. That gave teammate Tim Drisdom enough time to reach in to steal the ball, sealing the Utes’ first round victory.

Scouts watching this game had to be impressed, but they’ll continue kicking the tires on Bogut until his season ends. His next test comes Saturday against an Oklahoma team with more size than the Miners.

That game could be a blessing for the big man. UTEP designed its entire strategy around sagging and stopping Bogut, but Oklahoma’s aggressive guards are more likely to stay on the perimeter and give him room to operate. If so, the next test for Bogut will be to dominate on the low block. Although Utah may lose, I know he’ll pass this exam. Bo knows, too.

Some other observations from yesterday’s games:

– For the 16th time in 17 years, a no. 12 beat a no. 5. Wisconsin-Milwaukee followed the upset script to near-perfection, shooting ridiculously well on 3-pointers (the Panthers made 8-of-11 to start the game) and rolling to a 17-point first-half lead over Alabama. The unsung factor in this game was Alabama’s propensity to turn the ball over. Both teams shot exactly 52%, but the 19-7 turnover advantage for UWM was the difference.

– Boston College showed how to put the kibosh on a team’s upset hopes right from the get-go, pounding the ball inside time after time en route to a 20-point lead at halftime. The box score says B.C. shot the lights out on 3-pointers (8-of-12), but what it doesn’t say is that those threes were all wide-open because Penn was scrambling to stop the assault in the paint. The Eagles may not always shoot this well, but if they focus on getting the ball to post players Craig Smith and Jared Dudley, they should crush Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday.

– The other Big East team in action was Pitt, and although they lost to Pacific, the Panthers’ Chris Taft wasn’t to blame. The sophomore center played well at both ends, with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 12 rebounds, and two blocks. But he got two quick fouls in the first half and had to sit, enabling the Tigers to build a double-digit lead before Taft had taken a shot. This was likely Taft’s last college game since he’s a sure-fire lottery pick.

– We’re used to having CBS assault us with ads for unwatchable programs during the tournament – I still have scars from a decade of “Walker, Texas Ranger” promos. But nothing could prepare me for the idiocy of “Spring Break Shark Attack.” I especially enjoyed the clip where the guy looks out through his binocs and is shocked to notice 1,000 shark fins in the water. Hey, you can’t see stuff like that with the naked eye. My theory is that this was CBS’s Plan B after they couldn’t get the rights to “Pluto Nash.”

– Other than Bogut, the most impressive performance yesterday came from Cincinnati’s defense in its 76-64 win over Iowa. Pressuring, trapping, and contesting every shot, the Bearcats held the Hawkeyes to eight points in the first 12 minutes. Iowa shot 34% on the game and was under 30% until some cosmetic scoring in the final few minutes. Cincy’s Jason Maxiell blocked six shots to lead the way, but this was a complete team effort. The ‘Cats were so quick and athletic they made the 94-foot court seem the size of a ping-pong table. Now they face another great defense against Kentucky in the second round, where they’ve been eliminated six of the past eight years. If Cincinnati’s D swarms as it did yesterday, they’ll finally break through.

– At halftime last night, it looked like we would have the most amazing evening of upsets in tournament history. No. 15-seeded Chattanooga and 14th seeds Winthrop and Utah State all took leads into the break, but all three fizzled in the second half and lost by double figures.

My Utah State bandwagon must have had Billy Joel behind the wheel, since the nation’s leading field-goal percentage team shot just 36% against Arizona. Give ‘Zona credit for turning up the pressure after the break – much as Wake Forest did against Chattanooga and Gonzaga did against Winthrop. The three contests were remarkably similar.