St. Louis ? To Stanford University guard Casey Jacobsen, any No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament faces a thorny issue.

“Being a No. 1 seed is not roses,” Jacobsen said Friday. “People want upsets. They like to see them, so there is a sense of worry and anxiety for No. 1s. Hopefully, we can put Kansas in that position because it’s not fun.”

Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, left, sends freshman Chris Hernandez into the game Thursday night in St. Louis. Stanford was an 84-68 winner over Western Kentucky in the opening round of the Midwest Regional.

Jacobsen should know. Stanford, a No. 8 seed this year, was a No. 1 seed in both the 2000 and 2001 NCAA Tournaments.

“Yes, there was pressure on us last year because of expectations,” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery acknowledged.

No one knows more than Montgomery how a No. 8 can reach out and bite a No. 1.

“Two years ago we lost to a No. 8, but North Carolina was probably misplaced,” Montgomery said.

In other words, Montgomery believes North Carolina that year was a more talented team than your average eighth seed.

“I think the obvious thing is that seedings have been proven to be faulty as representing team strength,” the Stanford coach said. “No. 5 seems to be a bad number this year, for example.”

Indeed, three No. 5 seeds have fallen to No. 12 seeds in this year’s tournament.

Not only does Kansas wear one of the four No. 1 yokes this season, the Jayhawks will have to play Stanford, a 20-game winner, without gimpy-ankled Kirk Hinrich, the yeast in their bread, the turbo in their charger.

“I know Kirk Hinrich a little bit,” said Jacobsen, the Cardinal’s leading scorer (21.9), “and he’ll try to play. But Kansas is No. 1 for several reasons and he’s just a piece of the puzzle. Whether he’s in the lineup or not, we have a number of things to worry about.”

Those are worries, though, that Jacobsen is happy to have.

“The 8-9 winner has given us problems in the past,” he said, “so I’m happy to be in a position to give problems to Kansas.”

Still, Jacobsen said he also understands how teams can rally ’round the adversity factor.

“I don’t know Kansas’ state of mind, but I know they’ll want to silence all those doubters about their past (NCAA) performances and the Holy Cross game, and that makes them more dangerous,” Jacobsen said.

Stanford will be dangerous, though, with Chris Borchardt healthy. Borchardt is a seven-foot junior who couldn’t participate in the 2000 and 2001 NCAAs because of foot injuries.

All Borchardt, who averages 17.1 points and 11.5 rebounds, could do was watch and cheer “my butt off.”

Now he’ll be a handful for KU inside players Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Wayne Simien.

“I might be a couple of inches taller,” Borchardt said, “but I don’t know if there’s anyone quicker than Gooden or with more post moves than Collison. And Simien is a big guy, too.”

Bottom line is Stanford relishes its No. 8 seed and hopes to capitalize on it.

“Last year guys started panicking because we weren’t supposed to lose,” Borchardt said. “You can’t play that way. You have to be loose.”

Chuck Woodling can be reached at 832-7147.