But Kansas’ basketball coach also won’t argue vigorously with those who suggest the Jayhawks will only go as far in the NCAA Tournament as point guard Kirk Hinrich and forwards Nick Collison and Drew Gooden take them.

“The nucleus of our team is our three sophomores. They enjoyed last year and want to go a bit farther this year,” Williams said.

“They have been the consistent ones all year long. Those three were 7-of-28 (shooting) against Oklahoma (in Big 12 semifinal loss) and that hasn’t happened to us often to say the least.

“They are three great kids. Last year I made the statement no coach in America could be as happy with his freshman class as I was. Now I’ll say no coach in the country can be as happy with his sophomore class as I am.”

The Jayhawk sophomores definitely are raring to go in the postseason. Last year, KU beat DePaul in overtime and lost to Duke in the NCAAs.

This year, KU (24-6) is the No. 4 seed in the Midwest regional and opens with No. 13 seed Cal State Northridge (22-9) at 6:40 p.m. Friday at Dayton, Ohio. The winner meets either No. 5 seed Syracuse (24-8) or No. 12 Hawaii (17-13) at 11:10 a.m. Sunday.

“I think all three of us have had a pretty good year,” said Hinrich, who averages 11.6 points and 7.1 assists a game. Gooden averages 15.6 points and 8.2 boards, while Collison averages 13.5 points and 6.4 boards.

“It’s not fair to say we’re KU basketball. Jeff (Boschee), Eric (Chenowith), Kenny (Gregory), a lot of guys have done the job. You can’t single us out.”

Yet KU’s sophomores sure do attract a lot of attention.

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“I mean everybody is going to talk about this (sophomore) class,” Hinrich said. “Nick and Drew are great players and have had two great years now. We came in together, but still everybody else is playing good. We’re all a team. It’s not fair to single us out.”

“Oh, you can see improvement that we three have made in nine months,” Gooden said. “It’s not even been a year, more like nine months. By this time next year, hopefully we’ll show even more drastic improvement. But right now, I think we have improved enough to step up and do the job in the NCAAs.

“This is it the time of year you dream about. This is where you get your love … in the NCAA Tournament.”

Not just the sophomores, but Gregory, Chenowith, Jeff Carey, and the others, too.

KU’s “team,” Hinrich said, could be formidable this postseason.

“We have the talent and ability to win the whole thing,” Hinrich said. “I really believe that. It’s a matter of working our butts off, having a good time and hopefully winning.

“There are so many teams out there, probably 10 or 12 that have a shot at winning it all. It’s not like we’re Cinderella. We have the talent and can win it all.”

The Jayhawk sophomores think they learned last year what it takes mentally to survive and advance in the NCAAs.

“Only the strong survive,” Gooden said. “Michigan State, Wisconsin, Florida and North Carolina were strong enough last year to get those four slots. You have to want it, pick up the intensity from the regular season.”

All three sophomores figure to benefit from last year’s NCAA experience.

“A year ago I didn’t know what to expect,” Collison said. “Now I do. It takes effort, even greater effort than the regular season. I think we’re in a position to make a run.

“In the tournament, everything is so even. I think we’ll play well and make some noise.”

“I think our confidence level will be high,” Hinrich said.

If the sophomores’ confidence edges into cockiness, senior leader Kenny Gregory is on hand to bring everybody down to earth.

“I congratulate ’em for all the things they’ve done,” Gregory said. “But like I tell them every day, they haven’t won anything yet. What I’m preaching to ’em is, ‘Let’s get this hyped up sophomore class some rings.’ They get all the notoriety and haven’t won anything yet.”

He continued, breaking out in a wide smile: “I tell ’em ‘Wait til you guys have won something. I have a couple of conference championship rings.’ They don’t have any. Hopefully they’ll have a ring soon.”