OAKLAND, Calif. -- Rising out of another smoldering rubble of another lost weekend -- Oklahoma, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Tulsa, Minnesota and UCLA all down; North Carolina and Sean May down and out; Connecticut cowering in embarrassment (or was it Central Connecticut? It's difficult to distinguish which Nutmeg State power is which, what with those nutty marshmallow schedules) -- came not only Rick Pitino but also ...

Kansas.

	Kirk Hinrich's recent outings are proving his health is "back" to 100 percent.

Yeah, Kansas, left for dead after early-season losses from coast to coast. Kansas, which looked to be in annual meltdown mode about four months early. Kansas, rock … choke … Jay-hoax.

But hold it! Wasn't that the lads from Lawrence exploding all over worthy California on Saturday? Scoring 19 of 21 points to sew up matters in the first half? "Sharing the rock," as point guard Aaron Miles would say, so that those five multifaceted starters could score in double figures? (Miles alone rung up 16 points and 11 assists on Jason Kidd's former Assist U.). Continuing to rehab star Kirk Hinrich's bad back and get him off from the three-point line? (Twelve in the last three games.) Busting up, breaking past and burying the local Bears (6-2) under a flurry of transition buckets, 63-percent shooting and a final of 80-67 that could have been much worse?

Wasn't that virtually forgotten Kansas (7-3) earning the plaudits of coach Roy Williams, who conceded "sometimes we're really, really good"? Not to mention the envy of Cal's Ben Braun, who gushed over the visitors' starting lineup, calling it "complete … at another level … terrific … maybe the best I've ever coached against"?

Most definitely, it was not the same Kansas that stumbled out of the blocks in November. Which means that the Big 12 should be forewarned that, like Frodo and the hobbits, Roy and the 'Hawks are not only back. They're baaad.

No less than the frightening silver-and-black-clad troglodytes from Raider Nation got an initial taste of Kansas chutzpah.That transpired as one of Oakland's characteristic horde of colorful thugs pelted the Jayhawks' bus with epithets and physical debris when the team arrived at the Arena here for the midday opener of the Pete Newell Challenge. (With obvious malice aforethought, the NFL scheduled the Raiders-Chiefs game next door at the Coliseum the same afternoon, giving the usual cartoon-dressed Raider psychopaths tail-baiting in the parking lot easy access to the unsuspecting Kansas college boys.)

"They were yelling and booing us down," said Nick Collison later. "Most of us are Chiefs fans. So (freshman guard) Jeff Hawkins got the bright idea of giving them the thumbs down from the bus. Lucky the windows were closed. I don't know what that crowd hit the bus with."

"Somebody said they unloaded some ribs at us," laughed Williams. "I was kind of hungry anyway. Maybe we should have left the windows open."

Later, after the jammering Jayhawks had opened up the Cal defense like some split salmon in the wharf kitchens along the Bay, Williams trotted the event's legendary honoree, former Cal coach Newell -- still spry, tan, silver-haired and as immaculately turned out as the best-looking 87-year-old on earth should be -- into the Kansas locker room to speak to his team.

"I just wanted to say I think you're a wonderful team … you play the game the way it's supposed to be played," said Newell. "On defense you pressure the ball, anticipate, close the passing lanes. On offense, it's great to see such a well-executed inside passing game. Fellas, I said before the season you'd be one of the teams in New Orleans. So just keep that in mind …"

Such closure hardly was on Williams' mind after his team stunk up New York amid defeats to North Carolina and Florida, then journeyed to Oregon and lost there, too. "We were embarrassed at the Preseason NIT. I can't ever remember when my team didn't even compete before," he said last week upon arrival at the Newell Challenge headquarters in the Berkeley hills. "McCants made my guys look like 10-year olds! Then when Hinrich hurt his back in that game -- he's our emotional leader -- we were shocked, stunned, lost confidence, the whole bit."

The effects lingered. "Everybody was trying to do it by themselves," said Collison. But the team rallied furiously against Oregon at Portland's Rose Garden -- "the second half turned us around," said Hinrich, whose back has gotten better and better -- and then defeated ornery Tulsa at Tulsa, "the hottest ticket there since Elvis came to town," laughed Williams.

Don't be cruel.

At least, not about Kansas' shortcomings. The team's still getting nothing from the bench -- the starters, including massive Wayne Simien (17 points and 11 boards vs. Cal) and slashing swingman Keith Langford (who despite a broken nose helped hold Cal's Joe Shipp to 1-of-6 shooting in the second half), combined for 45 of KU's 49 shots, 75 of 80 points, 26 of 29 rebounds and all nine steals. Moreover, the Jayhawks went into disturbing lulls to allow both UCLA (Dec. 21) and Cal back into games that were early blowouts.

But: "Now that we're more comfortable, we know where each of us is going to be," said Simeon. "This was the plan all along."

It's not unfathomable that Williams would plan a return to his roots to get his team back up to snuff -- that is, to his recruiting roots in Cali, where he's stolen off with no less than 17 natives during his career in Lawrence. (Two more West Coast gold chippers will arrive next season in Omar Wilkes from L.A., yes Jamaal's son, and David Padgett from Reno, Nev.) As it happens, the most recent KU All-American, Drew Gooden from El Cerritos High in the neighborhood -- whose father and grandfather sat behind the Kansas bench wearing Drew's KU jersey -- might have been lighting up the Arena on Saturday himself, were he not traipsing around the NBA as a Memphis Grizzly.

"Other than my respect for Pete Newell, we came here so that Drew could play in front of the home folks," laughed Williams. "Last time I wait to schedule a guy's home game in his senior freakin' year!"

As for the esteemed Newell, latter-day fans undoubtedly equate him with his renowned, off-season "Big Man's Camp", which has turned around almost as many athletes' careers as the Betty Ford Clinic. Yet Newell was more famously a triple-crown-winning mentor -- his U. of San Francisco team won the 1949 NIT when it was the biggest tournament of them all; his Cal Bears copped the '59 NCAA championship; and his '60 Olympians (including Oscar Robertson and Jerry West) not only won gold but remain, "Dream Team" be damned, maybe the best pure hoops outfit ever.

Not only that, Newell can take credit for: