Kansas University's men's basketball players enlist in preseason Boot Camp for two weeks prior to the start of the season.

So do Texas A&M's.

The Jayhawks run the high/low offense at times and play intense man-to-man pressure defense.

So do the Aggies.

It's not a stretch to say the programs in Lawrence and College Station are mirror images of each other.

"Everything we do is basically what coach Self is doing," Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said matter-of-factly.

He's a former Self assistant at both Tulsa and Illinois who isn't afraid to tell the world about his affection for the fourth-year Jayhawk coach.

"Basically, all the drills and things we do come from coach Self," Gillispie added.

Self, who was at Tulsa at the time, hired Gillispie off Harry Miller's staff at Baylor in 1997 - two years before Miller was fired. Self and Gillispie have been the best of friends since, remaining close despite now being rivals.

Gillispie takes an 0-2 record versus Self into Saturday's 8 p.m. contest at Kansas. His Aggies are 18-3 overall and 6-1 in the league; Self's Jayhawks are 19-3 and 6-1.

"He's my best friend. He's No. 1," Gillispie said of Self. "I shouldn't get emotional, but I do. I have a great situation right now because of him, and I just love him. But when we play, we will try to beat them, and they will try to beat us."

Indeed, Self, who said his wife and children were as fond of Gillispie as he was, said the two pals, who speak on the phone four or five times a week, must forget friendship for just a couple hours Saturday.

"We know each has a job to do," said Self, whose Jayhawks tripped the Aggies, 83-73, last year at A&M after a narrow 65-60 victory over Gillispie's first Aggie team in 2005 in Allen Fieldhouse.

"We may not be best buddies for a few hours one week a season, but that will never affect us at all. I wanted Billy to be at A&M because I thought he'd be great for the league. It's played out that way. I enjoy competing against him, but would rather not play a close friend. Our relationship is such it will never become an adversarial role."

Self said he didn't consider it strange that Gillispie respectfully referred to him as "coach."

"I hadn't thought about it much," Self said. "Most assistants (former and current) call the head coach 'coach.' That's probably just a habit. He's a special guy, and A&M is lucky to have him, that is for sure."

Gillispie, 47, who is known as a great recruiter, is on quite a hot streak as a coach. Taking over at UTEP in 2002, his Miners went 6-24 in his first season, improving to 24-8 and garnering an NCAA Tournament bid his second and final campaign. UTEP became the first Western Athletic Conference team in 35 years to win a league title after finishing last the previous year.

In 2004, he inherited an A&M team that went 7-21 overall and 0-16 in the league the previous season. His first team went 21-10, 8-8 in the league and won two games in the NIT, the school's first postseason appearance in 11 years.

Last year, the Aggies went 22-9 overall and finished fourth in the conference (10-6). The school snared its first NCAA Tournament berth in 19 years.

"Over the last three years, maybe five years, nobody has done a better job coaching their team than this guy," Self said. "From 0-16 to 8-8 to the NCAA Tournament to a top-10 ranking (10th entering Saturday's game) having a legitimate chance to have a great seed and legitimate chance to be a team that makes a serious run ... nobody has done a better job than what their staff has.

"You just don't do these things without unbelievable leadership, enthusiasm and energy, and he provides all those things."

Overall, Gillispie has piled up 91 wins against 54 losses in five years as a head coach. He's 61-22 at A&M.

His squad boasts one of the top guards in the league in senior Acie Law (16.4 points per game, 5.0 assists per game) and one of the best forwards in junior Joseph Jones (13.7 ppg, 6.7 rebounds per game). Two other starters, senior center Antanas Kavaliauskas and sophomore forward Josh Carter, average double-figure scoring at 12.3 and 11.7 ppg.

"I picked A&M," said Self, who tapped the Aggies first in the league preseason coaches poll. Coaches cannot select their own teams. "Going into the season with Texas having so many new guys and (even with) Oklahoma State returning a majority of their guys, they had my vote."

Gillispie gave the Jayhawks his first-place vote. KU wound up first; A&M second.

"Kansas has a great team. They have a great team every single year and have for about 100 years. This year is no different," Gillispie said. "They have a team capable of winning the whole thing."

As does A&M ... the mirror image of KU.

¢T-shirt talk: Students hoping to appear on ESPN's GameDay shows on Saturday (10 to 11 a.m. and 7 to 8 p.m.) in Allen Fieldhouse - and even in crowd shots at the game - should think twice before wearing "Muck Fizzou" T-shirts.

The network has informed KU associate AD Jim Marchiony that it would try to avoid showing the offensive T-shirts during their telecasts.

"They told us their efforts to show the fans are hampered by the fact there are kids wearing those T-shirts," Marchiony said. "What I would say (to students) is if you want to be on TV, throw your 'Muck Fizzou' T-shirts in the trash. That comes directly from ESPN."

¢Robinson on list: KU junior Russell Robinson is one of 17 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, presented by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in conjunction with The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. The award goes to the country's top point guard.

Other Div. I finalists: Bobby Brown, Cal State Fullerton; Darren Collison, UCLA; Levance Fields, Pittsburgh; Taurean Green, Florida; Dominic James, Marquette; Jared Jordan, Marist; Acie Law, Texas A&M; Ty Lawson, North Carolina; Ramon Sessions, Nevada; Sean Singletary, Virginia; Mustafa Shakur, Arizona; and Ronald Steele, Alabama.

Div. II candidates are Anthony Atkinson, Barton College and Zach Whiting, Chaminade. Div. III candidates are Andrew Olson, Amherst and David Arsenault, Grinnell.

"I am honored to be among the finalists. As always, my goal is do to anything to help the team keep winning," Robinson said Thursday.

He's KU's first Cousy finalist since Aaron Miles in 2005.

"We think Russell is one of the premier points in the country. It's nice to see a guy that doesn't get as much fanfare be recognized and get mentioned for being one of the best," KU coach Self said of Robinson, who ranks fifth in the Big 12 in assists (4.6), fifth in steals (1.8) and third in assist to turnover ratio (2.53) while scoring 6.7 points a game.

Fans can vote for their favorite candidate online at www.cousyaward.com. The winner will be announced at the NCAA Men's Final Four on April 2 in Atlanta.

¢Wow: Texas freshman power forward Kevin Durant had a performance for the ages Wednesday at Texas Tech. Durant scored 37 points (15-of-29 shooting, 5-of-9 threes) and grabbed 23 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.

He became the first player in UT history and second in league history (with Mario Boggan of Oklahoma State) to record a 30-point, 20-rebound performance. Durant also is just the fourth player in school history to register a 20-point, 20-rebound effort. The 37 points tied his own Big 12 single-game scoring mark and the UT freshman single-game scoring record.

The 23 rebounds tied the Big 12 Conference single-game mark with KU's Nick Collison (versus Texas in 2003), set a UT freshman single-game record and were just one shy of the overall school single-game mark. Durant's effort marks just the eighth 30-20 effort in Division I play since the 1996-97 season.

He also had 37-points and 12-rebounds in a triple-overtime loss Jan. 16 at Oklahoma State.