Jayhawks bent on beating reputation as March lambs.(University of Kansas basketball team)

When it is February in Kansas, it is time to talk about March. The Jayhawks are winning games, drawing poll votes, raising suspicions. They know what sort of greeting they'll receive the moment their name appears in a lofty position in the NCAA Tournament bracket. They know their school's recent history in this event, though many weren't around when the most harrowing chapters were written.

"That's something I think about a lot," says sophomore forward Nick Collison. "We've lost in the second round three straight years."

"We always have great regular seasons and bow early in the tournament," says senior wing Kenny Gregory. "I'd rather have a decent regular season and do well in the tournament--or both, have a great regular season and do well in the tournament."

In 1997, Kansas was No. 1 in the nation, No. 1 in the Southeast and 34-1 entering its regional semifinal game against Arizona. The season ended there. "It still bothers me to this day," coach Roy Williams says. In 1998, Kansas was the top Midwest seed with a 34-3 record and lost in the second round to Rhode Island.

That's all fine for ESPN Classic, but this team's sophomore nucleus thinks fondly of its tournament experience. Collison, point guard Kirk Hinrich and power forward Drew Gooden were just beginning to establish themselves as the core of KU's future when they earned a comeback victory over DePaul in last year's NCAA opener, then led top-seeded Duke in the final minute before falling by 5. Those efforts formed the foundation for this season's 18-2 record.

"The whole season, whenever we were behind we never came back," Collison says. "And the Duke game, we just kept battling, played tough. Duke was a 1 seed, and I thought we were every bit as good as they were. That gave us confidence."

The argument against Williams as a tournament coach tends to be a little overproduced, like some car-chase movie that exhausts both taste and logic trying to find new ways to crash Fords. It is true no other coach has led four No. 1 seeds that failed to reach the Elite Eight. But neither of his Final Four teams, in 1991 and 1993, was seeded to get there. He has not lost a first-round game. His NCAA Tournament record is 23-11.