St. Louis ? So, Kirk Hinrich, how does your left ankle feel?

“Frozen. My foot is permanently frozen,” Kansas University’s junior guard quipped Friday, asked for the umpteenth time about his severely sprained ankle  one that will likely keep him from playing in tonight’s KU-Stanford second-round NCAA Midwest Regional battle.

Tipoff is 7:05 p.m. at the Edward Jones Dome.

“It may never thaw out,” added KU’s emotional leader who, if healthy, figured to guard Stanford’s leading scorer  6-foot-6 Casey Jacobsen  tonight.

Hinrich was kidding  he doesn’t have frostbite following nonstop ice treatments. He was in fine spirits Friday after shooting free throws during KU’s afternoon practice session.

He walked without limping from the trainer’s room to the locker room after the practice.

“I’m actually encouraged the way it feels now compared to last night,” said Hinrich, whose string of never missing a game (he’s played in 100 of 100 college contests) is in serious jeopardy tonight.

Drew Gooden, in fact, said it would take a “miracle” for his buddy to play.

“It’s made a lot of progress. For having no pressure or weight on it to walking around decently, that gives me encouragement,” Hinrich said. “If I can get out there and not hurt the team, I’ll try it. If there’s too much pain I will not play because I am confident my teammates can do the job. If I’m not 100 percent or close, it’s probably not a smart thing to do.”

KU coach Roy Williams said he’d watch Hinrich closely at shootaround and warmups and make a game-day decision on whether Hinrich will play. He’ll likely take the word of Dr. Larry Magee over KU’s fiery floor general.

“I trust Kirk with anything in the world except him telling me the truth about wanting to play in that game,” Williams said, aware the ultra-competitive Hinrich might fib to the coach about his physical condition in order to be included in the lineup.

“I have to make sure the decision is the best thing for him, too.”

“If I can’t tell him, I’ll have somebody else tell him,” Hinrich replied with a grin.

KU trainer Mark Cairns said Hinrich had not been officially ruled out, noting, “If we can get the same kind of progress tomorrow we had today, then hopefully things will work out.”

If not, Hinrich wanted it known to his teammates he’d definitely be ready for next Friday’s Sweet 16 battle against either Illinois or Creighton in Madison, Wis.

“I just said to them, ‘If I can’t get in this one, I’ve just got to get one more,”’ said Hinrich, asking his teammates to make sure he can play again this season. “I’d definitely be ready for the next one.”

Hinrich  he said his ankle was “50 percent” on Friday  would have been replaced in the lineup by Keith Langford had the game been played Friday night, Williams indicated.

Langford, who stands 6-4, would likely guard Jacobsen, who averages 21.9 points a game.

“I know he’s a great player. I know in a couple games he put up 40 points,” Langford said of Jacobsen, who scored 49 versus Arizona State and 41 against Oregon. “But in the Big 12 I’ve guarded Kareem Rush and Andre Emmett. There’s some pretty good players in our league, too.”

The 6-foot-10 Gooden might actually guard Jacobsen some.

“If I am a 3 (small forward) I will guard Casey Jacobsen, who is a guard. It’ll be a tough matchup for me, but he’ll also have to guard me,” Gooden said.

Williams also will likely try 6-1 Jeff Boschee on Jacobsen. “Casey can shoot. He can post up. The best thing about him is his intelligence,” Williams said of Jacobsen, who hits 44.4 percent of his floor shots while making 63 of 166 threes for 38 percent.

“It’ll be an eye opener for Keith. Whether it’s Keith, Boschee or Drew on him, it’ll be eye-opening because he’s so talented.”

Stanford has other players like 7-foot center Curtis Borchardt (17.1 ppg, 11.5 rpg) who Williams calls “one of the top five big men in the country.”

But this one might boil down to how the Jayhawks react with Hinrich, if he can answer the bell, or without Hinrich if he can’t.

“You lose Kirk you lose more than one player. You also lose our backup point guard,” said Williams, who will start Aaron Miles at point with Boschee moving to backup point to go with his shooting guard duties, along with senior Brett Ballard. “You lose your best perimeter defender. You lose the guy who makes your break go. You lose a guy who can shoot, penetrate and play basketball.

“It changes our team a great deal,” Williams added. “At the same time, they are not going to give us a three-day break and say, ‘Let’s try again on Wednesday.”’

The Jayhawks will not brood over the possible loss of Hinrich.

No way.

“Last night, I gave myself about 30 seconds of the, ‘Why me’s’ and I was ticked off,” Williams said. “Then I went on. We have to play a game whether Kirk is out there or not.”

“We will not have Kirk unless there’s a miracle overnight. But we can run and compete at the same pace,” Gooden said. “If we don’t play with Kirk, we can act like Kirk is just having a bad game. We’re still a good team without Kirk.”

Perhaps KU will use the possible loss of Hinrich as a rallying cry.

“If they want to use it as a rallying point and it works, it’s fine with me, but we’ve not talked in those terms with our kids,” Williams said.

“It’s unfortunate Kirk is hurt and we probably will be without him, but me, Jeff, Keith will have to pick up the slack,” frosh Miles said. “The freshmen have to play like we are seniors. We have to be fearless. This could be a blessing in disguise for this team if some others step up.

“He is our emotional leader. He will be there emotionally for us no matter what. He might not be there physically.”