Kansas City, Mo. ? Left standing with his tongue in his mouth during pregame introductions, Colorado freshman center David Harrison lashed out with his tongue afterward.

“Drew Gooden is not this All-American great guy,” Harrison said after Kansas’ 102-73 flogging of the Buffaloes on Friday afternoon at Kemper Arena.

As is customary during the Big 12 Conference tournament, starters from each team are introduced alternately. Each starter runs out to midcourt and shakes hands with the foe’s corresponding starter.

So it went during the introductions of four Colorado-Kansas starters. Not, however, with the Harrison-Gooden intro. Harrison went to midcourt, but Gooden ignored him and joined his teammates in the free-throw circle instead.

Momentarily, Harrison smiled and loped over to join his teammates in the other free-throw circle.

Following the game, Harrison sat in the CU dressing room and talked on and on about his feud with Gooden and the Jayhawks  a spat that began when the two teams met for the first time in January in Boulder.

“I’m apparently a person with no class,” said Harrison, a 7-footer from Nashville, Tenn., who led the Big 12 in field-goal percentage this season. “I’m the bad guy. I get booed. He gets cheered. Drew Gooden could kill my whole family and I’d still be the bad guy. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Harrison had fanned the flames on Thursday when he was quoted as saying Oklahoma was a better team than Kansas even though the Jayhawks are ranked No. 1 in the nation.

That inflammatory comment caught Colorado coach Ricardo Patton by surprise.

“I don’t read the papers,” Patton said, “and I didn’t hear about until just before the game and by then it was too late.”

Patton didn’t take Harrison to the woodshed, but the CU coach did talk to the outspoken freshman about his incendiary remarks.

“As I said to David, you don’t have to like them, but you have to respect them,” Patton stated. “That’s part of the maturation process.”

Harrison stressed he does respect Kansas, but added: “You don’t get respect from the crowd, the officials or the Kansas players. It’s like it’s a different game.”

Harrison had a verbal run-in with a KU fan following the Buffs’ game on Feb. 2 in Allen Fieldhouse, but made no controversial statements after that contest because he wasn’t allowed to talk to the media.

On Friday, Harrison held little back.

“There’s ill will,” he said of feelings about Kansas, “but if it’s there, it’s there. I’m not going to stick out my hand  no.”

Asked if Gooden said anything to him during the game, Harrison replied: “He said I can’t guard him and ‘Look, (bleep), you’re down 30.’ But I talked back. That’s what players do.”

Harrison, by the way, isn’t taking back his comment about KU not measuring up to Oklahoma.

“I still feel the same way. That’s my opinion,” he said. “Kansas is No. 1 in the nation, but, in my opinion, Oklahoma is a better team.”

Be that as it may, Harrison’s coach disagreed. Emphatically.

“That team is getting ready to win the national championship, or try to,” Patton said. “They’re awfully good. I think their chances are as good as anyone’s.”

Last year Patton had accused Kansas coach Roy Williams of negative recruiting, a charge Williams denied.

Asked if he and Williams had patched up their relationship, Patton replied: “I don’t think there’s anything to patch up. We discussed it, and it’s way behind us.”

Harrison’s postgame comments overshadowed a solid performance by CU forward Stephane Pelle, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and a 19-point outing by forward Michel Morandais.

Colorado, 15-14, is hoping to receive an NIT bid and play again next week. The Buffs are the only team in the lower half of Big 12 standings with a winning record.

“I’m not sure what will happen,” Patton said about the NIT, “but in this conference the teams in the bottom half are as good as the top teams in some other leagues.”