Hinrich Is Kansas’ Wizard

The talk about Kansas used to be all Drew Gooden and Nick Collison.

But the player who really makes the No. 2 Jayhawks go is Kirk Hinrich, an unlikely looking 6-foot-3 guard.

Kansas fans have taken to calling him Harry Potter.

“I think it’s the hair,” Hinrich said.

They ought to just call him good. Very good.

Missouri Coach Quin Snyder was flabbergasted by Hinrich’s 23-point, six-assist game against the Tigers in a Big 12 game last month.

“Kirk Hinrich, in my opinion, I think he’s the best player in the league,” Snyder said.

Gooden probably still gets the nod: His 28 points helped the Jayhawks win in overtime at Texas on Tuesday and he is among the nation’s leading rebounders.

But Hinrich--the son of an Iowa high school coach--is having a stunning season after averaging fewer than 12 points last season.

Anyone who saw Kansas (22-2) lose to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion last month probably came away more impressed with Hinrich, who made five of six three-point shots against the Bruins. (UCLA won largely because it shot 53% and held off the devastating Kansas transition game.)

Last week, Hinrich scored 26 points with six assists against Kansas State and a career-high 28 against Texas Tech, earning a pat on the bottom from as tough a critic as Bob Knight.

His shooting totals in those two games: 15 for 21 from the field, seven for 10 from three-point range and 17 for 17 from the line.

Of course, statistics aren’t everything, as any coach’s kid will tell you.

“Stats are like a bikini,” Hinrich told the Kansas City Star. “They show some things, but they don’t show it all.”

Hinrich’s ultimate value to Kansas is his conditioning and ability to push the ball upcourt, because the Jayhawks--with a three-guard, undersized lineup--have to run.

They do it as well and as purposefully as any team in recent memory.

Gooden gets the rebounds, and Hinrich, Jeff Boschee and freshman point guard Aaron Miles sprint for the outlet pass, often catching it in full stride, more like wide receivers than point guards.

The Jayhawks run on made baskets as well, with the inbounds pass usually caught around the hash mark.

The flaw that could keep Kansas from a Final Four showdown with Duke--they are clearly the best two teams at the moment--is size.

UCLA also beat Kansas because Gooden had an off game and because some of the Jayhawk guards struggled to shoot over UCLA’s perimeter players--Cedric Bozeman (6-6), Jason Kapono (6-7) and Billy Knight (6-5).

Defensive mismatches are a concern too--such as the one Hinrich faced against Texas Tech’s 6-5 Andre Emmett, whose foul trouble limited his minutes.

As the tallest guard in a starting lineup with three former point guards, Hinrich often draws a small forward, but Kansas Coach Roy Williams praises him as perhaps the most consistent perimeter defender he has coached.

“He’s been challenged with so many mismatches as far as size and position goes,” Williams said. “But he keeps competing .... If you’re trying to find faults with Kirk, you’ve got to search really hard.”

As for the Harry Potter comparison:”Harry,” one sign read at Allen Fieldhouse the other day. “Take us to the Quidditch Final Four.”

Duke-Maryland II

Sunday’s rematch between the No. 1 Blue Devils and No. 3 Terrapins is the most intense rivalry in the Atlantic Coast Conference at the moment.

But consider the record: Despite last season’s spectacular four-game series, Duke has beaten Maryland in 11 of the last 13 meetings.

Duke has swept the last three-- winning last season’s ACC tournament semifinal and NCAA semifinal games and a 21-point victory last month at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Vocabulary Word for March: Pods

There will be some confusion about the new NCAA tournament bracketing procedure designed to allow some teams to play early-round games closer to home.

Teams will be assigned to the first- and second-round sites in four-team “pods”--made up, for example, of a No. 1, No. 16, No. 8 and No. 9 team, a group that will play a mini-tournament for the right to advance to the regional, as always.

What the new system means is that four teams placed in the West region could play their first two games in Washington, D.C., before the winner advances to the West Regional in San Jose.

The idea is to reduce situations such as last season when UCLA and USC both went East, and Maryland played a first-round game against George Mason--another team from suburban Washington--at Boise, Idaho.

“We’ve been out West [five] of the last eight years,” Maryland Coach Gary Williams said. “It’s a real hardship on families to travel that far to see games. This way, hopefully, the parents of players will get to see games.

“Maybe this will help. I’m sure some schools are not going to like it. It might favor some of the higher-seeded teams who will get an easier road.”

Because the NCAA selection committee will have flexibility in deciding how much to use the new system, it’s possible the changes won’t be as drastic as some imagine.

Though many coaches are taking a wait-and-see approach--even Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is concerned about whether geography will affect seeding decisions--the bottom line is this should only help the heavyweights, and perhaps put some more fans in the seats for early-round games.

Dean’s List

After Roy Williams turned down North Carolina a year and a half ago and it became clear Larry Brown wouldn’t get the job, the next coach on Dean Smith’s list was Rick Majerus, according to a new chapter for the paperback edition of Smith’s book, “A Coach’s Life.”

The Durham Morning Sun published a story citing Smith’s interest in Majerus after a book excerpt appeared on the Web site goheels.com.

Smith writes that he called Majerus, but before it went further Athletic Director Dick Baddour had zeroed in on Matt Doherty.

Smith also reveals that he briefly considered returning to coaching last year after an NBA team called.

“The flirtation only lasted a couple of days,” he writes. “I always thought it would be interesting and challenging to make adjustments from game to game in the playoffs. After all, I never said I was tired of coaching. It was the peripheral things that go with coaching college basketball that influenced me to get out.”

All-Underrated Team

With the Wooden Award on its way to a Duke player for the third time in four years--Elton Brand, Shane Battier and all but certainly Jason Williams--we might as well look around for some players who aren’t getting as much notice as they deserve.

Our choices:

Georgia guard Jarvis Hayes-- Transfer from Western Carolina playing for Jim Harrick’s Bulldogs is No. 2 in Southeastern Conference scoring at 18 points a game.

Oregon guard Frederick Jones-- Deserves nominations for blocked shot of the year versus USC and dunk of the year versus Stanford.

Pittsburgh guard Brandin Knight--Brevin Knight’s brother averages 6.8 assists--and has Pitt on its way to the NCAA tournament.

Alabama forward Erwin Dudley--The Crimson Tide is in the top 10, but how many people could name Dudley or Rod Grizzard?

Memphis forward Kelly Wise--All the talk is about freshman Dajuan Wagner, but Wise is the first Conference USA player to have 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in his career, and is fourth in the country in rebounding.

Don’t expect any career marks from Wagner, whose college career already might be drawing to an end.