a) U.S. Supreme Court

b) John Ashcroft Court

c) Norm Stewart Court

d) No Way Kansas Gonna Win Here Tonight, Baby, Court

You know the answer. Mizzou officials named the floor after Norm Stewart, a man who coached the Tigers for 32 years and went to zero NCAA Final Fours. Kansas, as you know, named its court in Allen Fieldhouse after James Naismith, the man who invented basketball.

Still, Stewart is to Missouri basketball what Phog Allen was to Kansas basketball and an MU loss to its archrival would have been an embarrassment to Stewart’s successor.

“The opportunity I have is because of what he accomplished here,” said second-year coach Quin Snyder. “This was a terrific honor for coach Stewart, and it wouldn’t have been complete if we hadn’t won.”

In looking at Monday’s overall picture, I’m not sure Missouri won, however, as much as Kansas lost. When a team shoots as poorly at the free-throw line as the Jayhawks did (7 of 18) you have to wonder if the Tigers just happened to catch Kansas on the right night.

When your two senior starters Eric Chenowith and Kenny Gregory are a combined 1-of-8 at the foul line, it’s deflating because Missouri doesn’t play any better free-throw defense than anybody else.

Maybe Chenowith was listening as the Missouri fans chanted “Chenoworthless, Chenoworthless” every time he missed a charity or a shot.

Anyway, this was as spotty a Kansas performance as we’ve seen all season. In their 83-54 loss at Wake Forest in December they never made a run. On Monday night, at least they unleashed an 18-0 run that overcame a 17-point deficit. Those six minutes were as good as it gets. The other 34 minutes were as bad as it gets.

Sooner or later, I guess, point guard Kirk Hinrich was going to have a clunker. Hinrich had been a dynamo during the Jayhawks’ 10-game winning streak, usually logging 30 minutes plus every night, drilling clutch shots and accumulating assists with rapidity.

On Monday night, Hinrich had another splendid assists night with nine, but he couldn’t hit Iowa from Des Moines. Early on, Hinrich’s shots were just missing. By my count, he clanked his first seven attempts before drilling, ironically, the three-pointer that capped the Jayhawks’ 18-0 run.

Still, everybody will have a bad night now and then. The secret to winning is having someone pick up the slack. No one did and, ultimately, the shabby free-throw shooting and sub-par rebounding ruined the Jayhawks’ bid to avenge last year’s 81-59 red-facer in pre-Norm Stewart Court days. Missouri, a team with fewer rebounds than its foes through its first 19 games, outrebounded Kansas, 41-37.

In the final analysis, the Jayhawks had no answer for Kareem Rush. Last year Clarence Gilbert chilled the Jayhawks with a career-high 27-point performance that featured 7-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. On Monday night, it was Rush who scored 27 points and, worse, the 6-foot-6 sophomore collected 11 boards.

Rush, it turned out, had called a team meeting on Sunday after the Tigers escaped with a two-point home win over tepid Texas Tech.

“I called it. I was the ringleader,” Rush said afterward. “I told ’em if we didn’t get going we’d be a bubble team and maybe not be in the (NCAA) Tournament.”

Vocal leadership hasn’t been a Rush strong suit, but he may have turned the corner on Sunday when he exhorted his teammates to ditch the doldrums.

“Hopefully, I’ll continue to grow as a person,” Rush said. “That’s part of my maturation. Tonight I played angry. I didn’t want to lose this game.”

Monday’s victory over the No. 3-ranked Jayhawks will go a long way toward popping the Tigers’ NCAA bubble status.

What does the defeat mean for Kansas?

Let’s put it this way: Kansas lost one game in December and one game in January. One loss a month sure isn’t the end of the world. KU still has the inside track at the Big 12 Conference championship.

The Jayhawks have four league road games remaining and three are against teams with losing conference records Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska. The other is at Iowa State. If Kansas wins three of its four remaining road games and takes care of business in its five remaining home games, KU will finish with a 14-2 conference record. Those are championship numbers.

Kansas rebounded smartly from that egg-on-the-face fiasco in Winston-Salem and there’s no reason to think they won’t take out the frustration of Monday’s loss against Texas next Saturday.