Yet there is little of the generic about Keith Langford, the Jayhawks’ freewheeling senior swing man who rarely sees a one-on-one opportunity he doesn’t like and seldom spews the party line when he has a microphone, tape recorder or television camera in front of his face.

Ask Keith Langford a question — as several writers and broadcasters did during Wednesday’s Big 12 Conference Media Day at a hotel near the Country Club Plaza — and you know the 6-foot-4 left-hander won’t drown you in a waterfall of cliches.

For instance, although blessed with uncommon leaping ability and an uncanny knack for taking the ball to the basket and scoring among the tall timber, Langford always has been considered a tweener by pro scouts.

Essentially, he has been labeled a forward in a guard’s body and projected as no better than a second-round pick in the NBA Draft.

“A lot of times I feel I don’t get some of the respect I deserve,” Langford said frankly as he sat among a handful of media at a round table. “But it’s not what people write, it’s what my teammates think.”

What people write can have a profound effect, however, as Langford knows only too well after penning an opinion column for the University Daily Kansan, the KU student newspaper, last season and reading his e-mails.

“I wrote something about weapons of mass destruction,” he said, smiling, “and somebody wrote me and said, ‘You’re a KU basketball player. You should be writing more about the games.'”

In other words, it didn’t take long for Langford to realize that opinions are like noses. Everybody has one. Including Langford, of course.

“I loved writing a column,” he said. “I’m probably the most argumentative guy on the team. I want to get people to thinking. Sports columnists mess up players’ minds. I want to mess up regular peoples’ minds.”

Good thing Langford made that last statement from the back of the room, because the outburst of laughter from the media who heard his quip would have disrupted a rock concert. Langford broke them up — me included — with that one.

Momentarily, he was informed by a member of the KU sports information department that it was time to move on to the radio and TV folks, but before Langford departed I asked him if he thought it was difficult to write a column.

“No, it’s not hard,” he said. “I just write what interests me. I’m not afraid to hurt people’s feelings.”

How unusual it is for someone of Langford’s tender years to realize a column writer needs more than a pen, a computer and an attitude. He also needs a thick skin. Elephant epidermis. Rhinoceros rind. Deflection of disparaging rebuttals is mandatory.

Photo Gallery: Big 12 Media Day No. 5 guy still unknown Woodling: Langford’s personality one-in-a-million Lee considering football career 2004 KU Media Day

Hopefully, Langford will become a regular sports columnist — or political or local columnist — someday. I would love to see it. Over the years, I’ve seen several former KU athletes go into the radio and television fields, but I can count the ex-jocks who went into the print media on the fingers of Venus de Milo’s hands.

First, however, I’m sure Langford wants to prove to the NBA scouts that he isn’t a marginal pro prospect, that he may not have all the tools they’re looking for, but that the skills he does have are ample enough to project him as, if not a star, then as a contributor who comes from a winning program and who knows what it takes to stay at the top.