And if there’s one thing Wiel, now in his fifth year as coach at Middle Tennessee State, knows about Williams, it’s that the Kansas University coach asks no quarter and gives none.

Exhibit A: KU’s 92-66 throttling of the Blue Raiders on Monday night in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I know Roy personally,” said Wiel, a native of Cura, “and if (the Jayhawks) get you down, they put you away. But that’s the way you have to play. The other team needs to know they have no business playing you.”

Only during a 2 1/2-minute stretch midway through the first half did the Blue Raiders look like they had any business playing the No. 2-ranked team in the country.

That was when Fernando Ortiz, MTSU’s gimpy-kneed 6-foot-5 senior, came off the bench and nailed a trio of three-pointers to cut KU’s margin to 21-19.

“They were running plays for me,” said Ortiz, a native of Puerto Rico who had knee surgery about three weeks ago, “and I was lucky to knock them down.”

Ortiz tried three more three-pointers the rest of the way, and knocked none of them down.

Following the Blue Raiders’ brief flurry, Kansas outscored MTSU, 24-9, on the way to a 45-28 halftime lead, then Kansas dropped a 12-2 anvil to start the second half, and the Raiders were soon out of business.

“They play tough and they play hard,” MTSU senior center Lee Nosse said of the Jayhawks. “They get you down by 12 and then they’re ahead by 20 and 30 before you can call a 20-second time out.”

The 6-10 Nosse played 25 minutes, scoring 10 points, but collecting just two rebounds.

“They kind of beat you up inside with three guys 6-10 or taller,” Nosse said.

However, both Nosse and Ortiz, who played against the Jayhawks nearly a year ago in a 20-point loss in Murfreesboro, thought the difference between the 1999 and 2000 Jayhawks was Jeff Boschee.

“They’re exactly the same team as last year,” Nosse said. “Except Boschee was the point guard last year and now he’s two-guard, and he killed us. He let us have it.”

Boschee scored a season-high 19 points.

“This team is a lot better than last year’s,” Ortiz said. “They have a lot of experience, and Boschee is the two now and he has more freedom.”

Both Boschee and teammate Luke Axtell had three goals from beyond the arc.

Wiel’s defensive plan was to concentrate on the Jayhawks’ inside game. It backfired.

“Today it seemed like Boschee and Axtell hit all their outside shots,” Wiel said. “We had to pick our poison.”

Meanwhile, the Jayhawks outrebounded the Raiders, 49-27, and limited them to 38.6 percent shooting.

“Kansas won’t beat themselves,” Wiel said. “Even when they’re not playing good, they’re not bad. When they lose, somebody had to play out of their minds (against them).”

Echoed Ortiz: “They’re going to be good. They’ll be competing for the national championship.”