In that regard, I AM surprised that Kansas and Syracuse, the two protagonists in today’s NCAA Midwest Regional second-round game at the Dayton Arena, have met just twice previously once in 1968 in Allen Fieldhouse as part of the old Sunflower Doubleheader and in a 1996 Elite Eight game in Denver.

I’m sure I saw the ’68 game that Kansas won, 71-41, but I’m sure you’ll forgive me for not remembering it. I’ll bet Jo Jo White had a heckuva game, though. He was the main attraction on that club, although those Jayhawks did have a promising sophomore named Dave Robisch.

How can it be that Kansas and Syracuse, two schools that almost always reach the NCAA Tournament have met only twice previously? It’s probably because the only other time Kansas or Syracuse would meet would be in a preseason tournament like the Maui Classic or the Great Alaska Shootout or the Preseason NIT and the two schools never seem to show up in the same November tourney fields.

Or maybe it isn’t a coincidence. Kansas coach Roy Williams has never made a secret of his dislike for playing his best friends in coaching, and Williams and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim are golfing buddies, members of the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee and upfront men in Coaches Versus Cancer.

Earl Richardson/Journal-World Photo

“Roy and I do like to play golf,” Boeheim said. “One of the great NCAA rules is that they limit our recruiting time in the summer so we can play golf.”

I’d love for Kansas and Syracuse to play a regular-season home-and-home series. I’m sure the Orangemen would treasure a trip to tradition-rich Allen Fieldhouse and I know Kansas would relish a chance to play in the largest on-campus basketball facility in America the Carrier Dome.

When Syracuse played host to Seton Hall early last month, the attendance was listed at 29,453. Also, the Orangemen drew 22,082 for Connecticut and 21,054 for Georgetown. With crowds like that, Syracuse doesn’t have to worry about having to drop men’s lacrosse or men’s snowboarding.

A couple of decades ago, I watched a Kansas football team defeat Syracuse in the Carrier Dome. As it stands now, however, I doubt if Kansas will ever play basketball in the Carrier Dome unless Syracuse is an NCAA regional site and the Jayhawks are sent there.

If Kansas does play in Syracuse, chances are Boeheim will be the coach. Boeheim, 56, has been there for 25 years and he doesn’t look a day older than he did when he succeeded Roy Danforth in 1976. Nobody ever accused Boeheim of being charismatic like, say, KU’s Williams, yet Boeheim isn’t the drab Ichabod Crane look-alike you see on the bench during games.

His humor is under-stated. For instance, asked the secret to his longevity at Syracuse, Boeheim said: “You get critics, but eventually you wear them down. They quit or get fired. Eventually, after about 20 or 22 years, they shut their mouths.”

In truth, Boeheim’s philosophy is never to build the Syracuse fans up so much that he lets them down. Thus the Orangemen are rarely ranked high in the preseason polls, even though they’re usually a factor in the Big East race and commonly make some noise in the NCAA Tournament.

Next year, for example, Boeheim will no doubt emphasize the loss of seniors Damone Brown and Allen Griffin while downplaying the return of Preston Shumpert, one of the best players in the Big East.

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Somehow Boeheim is able to avoid the McDonald’s All-American Syndrome, too. While the mere fact a player has signed with Duke or Kansas or North Carolina or UCLA seems to enhance that player’s McDonald’s chances, it isn’t necessarily so at Syracuse, and that may be by design because the more McDonald’s All-Americans you have the more your fans expect you to win.

So when you watch today’s Kansas-Syracuse game on television, don’t underestimate Jim Boeheim. At a time when teams hope to survive and play another day, the crafty Boeheim has the method of surviving to play another year down pat.