Kansas City, Mo ? Officially, it’s the Big 12 tournament.

Unofficially, it’s the one-more-shot-at-Kansas invitational.

The top-ranked Jayhawks (27-2), fresh off a perfect 16-0 romp through the conference schedule, will be trying to make it 19-0 and prove that nobody but nobody can beat them this season in the Big 12.

“It’s not out of the question” that someone could beat the Jayhawks, said Baylor coach Dave Bliss, whose Bears lost 87-72 at Kansas in a game most Jayhawk fans felt was a weak effort.

“But you better learn how to run backwards. They really fast break and put pressure on you.”

Kansas, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 12 Oklahoma State and Texas have first-round byes and will be waiting on Friday for the winners of today’s first-round games. If the tournament winner emerges from one of the eight lower seeds, it will be the first time anybody has been able to win four games in four days.

In today’s first game, ninth-seeded Colorado meets No. 8 seed Nebraska.

Then it’s 12th-seeded Texas A&M against No. 5 seed Texas Tech, which brings a turnaround record of 21-7 into Kemper Arena on the heels of Bob Knight’s first season as head coach.

In the evening session, 10th-seeded Baylor meets No. 7 seed Kansas State and sixth-seeded Missouri goes against No. 11 Iowa State.

If Kansas and Oklahoma State both win on Friday, they would meet in the semifinals on Saturday in a rematch of a game the Jayhawks won by 18 points in Stillwater.

“They’re beatable,” said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton. “But it will take great effort on someone’s part. And they’ll probably have to have a bad night.”

Since the Jayhawks probably have a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament already wrapped up, there is really not much for them to play for. Everybody else will either be looking to improve their seeds or make a good showing and play their way into the 65-team field.

“If we would happen to get beat, I don’t think it takes anything away from our season,” said Kansas forward Nick Collison, who scored a career-high 28 points against Missouri on Sunday that clinched the unbeaten conference season.

Fueled by three juniors in Collison, Kirk Hinrich and conference player of the year Drew Gooden, the Jayhawks have been so dominant they lead the league in nine statistical categories. Their scoring average (93 points per game) and field goal percentage (51.6) are both the best in the nation.

“The thing that gives them a leg up on a lot of teams is they have unbelievable leadership,” Bliss said. “Drew’s been so good a couple of games he has taken the team on his back. Kirk Hinrich has the same ability. Collison has the same ability. Their leadership is uncommon.”

The 6-foot-10 Gooden, a unanimous choice for Big 12 player of the year, led all conference players in both scoring and rebounding.

“Basically, games are going to be won by teams that are the most difficult to score against,” said Knight. “I think Kansas is a superb offensive team and they’re going to be very, very difficult for anybody to defense.”

A common criticism of past Kansas teams has been a lack of toughness. This team, which won several games in the final minute to stay unbeaten in the conference, does not seem to have such a weakness.

“Our best teams have always been pretty doggone tough regardless of what may have been written,” said Williams, who has won more than 80 percent of his games in 14 years as Kansas coach. “And this one has that toughness. But you also add something  confidence. This is a confident team.”