What can UNI give the team that has everything?

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - The Kansas men's basketball team has a junior guard named Conner Teahan. He won the Mr. Show-Me Basketball award in 2007, given to the top high school player in Missouri.

Teahan, who is healthy, has played just 73 minutes for the Jayhawks this season.

That is what Northern Iowa is up against Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament when it meets No. 1 Kansas.

Several past Mr. Show-Me Basketballs were college stars and even went on to the NBA. At Kansas, one is a deep reserve.

Bill Self will start three former McDonald's All-Americans against UNI today. Which is surprising. You might have guessed he had four or five.

Could any Panther start for the Jayhawks? Four of the five UNI players I asked laughed and then paused to consider it before answering.

“They've got a lot of talent,” Ali Farokhmanesh said. “Be pretty hard for one of us to start for them.”

“I don't know the answer to that one,” said senior forward Adam Koch, who is merely the Missouri Valley Conference's Player of the Year. “That's tough to say. They've got a lot of talented guys.”

UNI's Kwadzo Ahelegbe's replay was different and direct.

“All of us,” he insisted. Of course, he wasn't under oath. But he gave this explanation: “We're competitors, we play hard. What coach doesn't like that?

UNI probably could have found some playing time for Teahan, who averaged 25 points and 8 rebounds as a high school senior in Kansas City. I asked him the same question I posed to the Panthers.

“The kind of system they do is different from what we do,” he said. “I'm sure some of the their guys, like Koch at the 4, I'm sure they could do something.

“They have guys that can really play, that can really shoot. They're a solid team.

“But we have five great players starting.”

UNI 7-foot center Jordan Eglseder has faced just one opponent his own height this season, Garrett Stutz of Wichita State. Today he contends with Cole Aldrich, a 7-footer who may be the nation's best college center. Aldrich has 123 blocked shots this season. The Panthers have 66.

Aldrich is projected as an NBA lottery pick this June. So is Jayhawk freshman wing Xavier Henry.

Ahelegbe, as he showed in the second half of his team's 69-66 first-round win over UNLV here Thursday, is a clutch point guard. He's forceful and talented.

But on Saturday  his counterpart is Sherron Collins, perhaps the best point guard in college ball not named John Wall.

Kansas is the team the most people, including President Obama, picked to win it all. So what do you do today if you're UNI?

“They like to go in transition, so we have to slow them down,” said UNI guard Johnny Moran. “We have to be physical with them. We have to remain tough for 40 minutes, contest every shot.

“It's definitely going to be tough.”

Some mid-majors get a win in this tourney, accept their second-round beatdowns to a much-higher seed, and return home pleased with the overall experience. Others hunger for more.

“We got things rolling a year-and-a-half ago,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said, “and since that time, these guys expect to win. And so, I don't have to have to do a lot as our head coach in terms of trying to make up something different or trying to trick them into believing they can win a basketball game.

“They understand that Kansas is the best team in the country right now for a lot of reasons. But they also . . . they expect to win.”

“We set a goal to play in the Final Four,” Moran said. “We're not changing that now.”

Can the Panthers give that perfect performance needed to turn the nation its ear Saturday night?

“Why not?” said Ahelegbe.

An Iowa-like snowstorm, with six to eight inches projected, is supposed to hit here Saturday. Is it an omen if Oklahoma freezes over?