The chant, “Harry Potter, Harry Potter,” cascaded through the student section at Texas A&M’s Reed Arena last Saturday.

It was directed toward Kansas University’s Kirk Hinrich as the Jayhawks’ shaggy-haired junior guard stepped to the free-throw line late in KU’s 86-74 victory.

Seems the A&M students thought the native of Sioux City, Iowa, resembles the lead character in the recent movie adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s children’s novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his 11th birthday he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own.

“A couple of my teammates were joking about it, but I’m out in the cold cause I’ve never seen the guy,” said Hinrich, too engrossed in basketball and his studies to follow the Potter phenomenon.

“A couple guys got on me, but I really don’t know anything about that.”

It’s starting to appear Hinrich has magical powers of his own on the basketball court.

He is averaging 14.4 points a game on 55.3 percent shooting, an amazing percentage for a guard. He’s hit 32 of 73 threes for 43.8 percent and 35 of 47 free throws for 74.5 percent. He’s also grabbing 4.6 boards per contest while playing three positions for the Jayhawks point guard, shooting guard and small forward.

Hinrich could see time at all three positions this weekend when KU (18-2 overall, 7-0 Big 12) takes on Colorado at 3 p.m. Saturday in Allen Fieldhouse.

Everybody’s talking about Hinrich some KU students have held signs saying the lightning-quick player also looks like the child in the Mazda “Zoom Zoom” television ads especially since broadcaster Dick Vitale deemed him the most underrated player in the country.

“I don’t know about being underrated. It (Vitale’s statement) is definitely a compliment,” Hinrich said after scoring 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting in Monday’s 105-73 rout of Missouri in front of Vitale and 16,300 fans at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I don’t worry too much about what people say.”

He is concerned about what one person his coach has to say about him.

“Kirk is about as conditioned an athlete as I’ve ever coached,” KU’s Roy Williams said of Hinrich, who averages 32.4 minutes per game. “Every day he works as hard as he possibly can on each possession.

“I really got after ‘Bosch’ (Jeff Boschee) and Aaron (Miles) one time for not sprinting back on defense (Monday), Drew (Gooden) and Nick (Collison. But the times I have to say something to Kirk about working harder I just never have to do that. I may have to say something about making an easy play or don’t make a silly foul, but never have to say anything about working hard.

“During the offseason he devotes all that time to being in the best physical condition as an athlete he can be and tries to work on his game. The sucker can play.”

He’s playing so well, one caller to Williams’ weekly radio show worried about whether the 6-foot-3, 185-pound Hinrich might bolt early to the NBA.

“I think you are always aware of those things,” Williams said of players drawing the NBA’s interest. “Guards it’s hard for guards to go out early. The physical maturity of guards is something that is really important when you get to the level of the NBA. They have to be so much more physically stronger than a guy in college.

“Go back and look, guards going (early) does not happen nearly as often. I think Kirk is enjoying college basketball; Drew is enjoying college basketball.”

Yet once the season ends, Williams will make calls to NBA general managers regarding all of KU’s players.

“We’ve done it going back all the way to Greg Ostertag,” Williams said of the Utah Jazz veteran center. “Greg came to me one day (after his junior season) and said he’d probably go to the NBA a year early. I talked to people in the NBA about Greg. That part of it will not change. I’ll talk about all our guys.

“(CBS announcer) Billy Packer gave me something in Los Angeles,” the coach continued. “There are 55 guys in the NBA now who could still be playing in college, who still have eligibility.

“Those 55 guys are averaging six and a half minutes a game, 4.4 points a game, 2.4 rebounds a game and 0.8 assists per game. There’s one line I’m leaving out: They are averaging $700,000 or something like that.

“But the problem in the NBA is if you don’t produce, you are gone. If you are going to go to the NBA, you better be ready to play, because in a couple years you are out. They’ll bring in some other youngster behind you,” Williams explained.

“Michael Wright left Arizona early. He is out of the NBA now. Ousmane Cisse went straight from high school to the NBA. He is out of the NBA now. People forget about Dontonio Wingfield of Cincinnati, and he is out of the NBA now. So many don’t make it. Kevin Garnett and Kobe (Bryant) and some other guys have done pretty well.”