MADISON, WIS. ? Oregon and Kansas University both like to run, which could make for a fun NCAA Midwest Regional final today at Kohl Center.

“They like to get in transition and get it up and down the floor. So do we. I don’t think either team is going to change, so it should be a pretty exciting, fast-paced game,” KU point guard/Portland, Ore., native Aaron Miles said of today’s 1:40 p.m. battle between the top-seeded Jayhawks, who average 90.7 points per game, and the No. 2-seeded Ducks, who check in at 85.5 ppg.

Kansas freshman Aaron Miles is surrounded by the media during an interview session Saturday in Madison, Wis. Miles, a native of Portland, Ore., and the rest of the Jayhawks will take on Oregon today in the NCAA Midwest Regional championship.

The Ducks (26-8), the champs of the Pac-10, and Jayhawks (32-3), the champs of the Big 12, do not have webbed feet, that’s for sure.

Oregon has scored 100 or more points four times and 90 or more 16 times; KU has had 11 games over 100 and 19 over 90.

“We’re going to try to get up and down like we have all year. We’re going to try to see if our big guys can outrun their big guys and see if we can run back on defense as fast as we do on offense,” KU coach Roy Williams said, hoping fleet frontcourt players Nick Collison and Drew Gooden can outrun Ducks like massive 7-2, 300-pound Chris Christoffersen today.

Running the show for Kansas, of course, will be Miles, who admits he might have some extra bounce in his step going against an in-state school.

“It’s for bragging rights,” Miles said. “I know a lot of their guys. Me and Fred (Jones, 18.2 scoring average) go to church together. Me and Luke Jackson (16.9 ppg) played a couple championship games against each other in elementary school and middle school. James Davis (6.1 ppg) played (AAU) basketball with me. I know a lot of ’em.”

Miles he chose KU over Arizona, UCLA and Oregon never seriously considered the Ducks, though he did make an official visit there with fellow KU frosh Michael Lee, another Portland native and high school teammate of Miles.

“Oregon already had Luke Ridnour, a great point guard, a McDonald’s All-American, freshman of the year in the Pac-10,” Miles said of the 6-2 sophomore from Blaine, Wash. “They had some great players but I liked everything about Kansas. When KU got a commitment from Michael, my boy, that pretty much helped my decision.”

Miles wasn’t hooked on Oregon basketball as a youth, which didn’t help the Ducks’ cause in recruiting the McDonald’s All American.

“I used to watch Duke, Arizona, UCLA, Michigan when the Fab Five was there,” Miles said.

As a Fab Five fan, Miles is well aware Michigan’s Jalen Rose was a rare breed of point guard a freshman that led his team to a Final Four, back in 1992.

Miles is trying to become the first freshman point to lead his team to the Final Four since 1997 when Ed Cota (North Carolina) and Mike Bibby (Arizona) both advanced.

“I think I can. I believe I am capable of doing it,” Miles said.

His teammates also believe.

“Aaron is a very good player, passer. I think he is good enough to hold his own. He is one of the very good point guards,” Collison said. “I think everybody was a little worried about the matchup against Illinois. Frank Williams had inches on Aaron, had experience on Aaron. But Aaron was huge last night (in holding Williams to 6-of-18 shooting in KU’s 73-69 victory over U of I).”

KU coach Roy Williams has utmost confidence in Miles.

“Aaron has brought a lot of speed, athleticism and savvy. Each time out he understands the game a little more,” KU coach Williams said of Miles who had 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists versus the Illini. For the year, he has a KU freshman record 234 assists versus 106 turnovers. “I have to understand he’s a freshman point guard, but I’ve pushed him pretty doggone hard and he’s responded pretty well.”

How he responds today could be a big factor in whether KU reaches its first Final Four since 1993.

“I didn’t win a state championship last year,” said Miles, whose Portland Jefferson High team reached the state semis. “It hurt me a lot. This year my goal is to win the national championship.”