A middle-aged Kansas University basketball fan, who never has been identified, screamed insults at Colorado center David Harrison outside the Buffaloes’ locker room Feb. 2, 2002, at Allen Fieldhouse.

Harrison, the Buffs’ colorful sophomore center, defused a potentially dangerous situation by approaching the fan and shaking his hand moments after CU’s crushing 100-73 loss to the Jayhawks.

It seems the 7-foot, 250-pound Harrison, who returns to Allen Fieldhouse tonight for a 6:30 p.m. battle against the Jayhawks, never considered stooping to that fan’s level — or even worse, taking a swing at the fan.

“Believe me, I wouldn’t hit him, but the first thing that went through my mind was how much trouble I’d get into. It really wasn’t worth it,” Harrison told the Journal-World last October at Big 12 Conference Media Day in Dallas.

“No matter what he said, my actions would have been more punishable. He wouldn’t have been suspended. He wouldn’t have been fined. He wouldn’t have been kicked out of school. He had all the cards in that situation.”

Harrison angered KU fans for a variety of reasons last season, indicating the Jayhawks would “get theirs” in the KU-CU game in Lawrence — a rematch of KU’s 97-85 victory in Boulder — and also saying Oklahoma, not Kansas, had the best team in the conference.

The NBA prospect, who scored five points and grabbed 11 rebounds in CU’s 60-59 victory over KU last month in Boulder, has said nothing negative about the Jayhawks this season, and nothing controversial at all the past couple of weeks.

CU coach Ricardo Patton, who apparently didn’t like some of Harrison’s comments about officiating, has not let the pivot speak to the media since the Buffs’ 73-70 loss to Missouri Feb. 1 in Columbia, Mo.

Back in the preseason, Harrison said he expected KU fans to boo him tonight.

“I waved (at fans) last year. I liked it,” Harrison said. “I don’t expect me to come in and have them say, ‘Hey, it’s Dave, how are you doing?’ You can boo me if you want to. They really don’t like me,” he added of the Jayhawk fans.

Reporters who deal with Harrison on a regular basis love the big guy, who they say is not a rotten apple.

He just has the gift of gab, much like outspoken analyst Charles Barkley.

“Everybody says I’d be really good at that,” Harrison said of being a TV analyst. “I have too colorful a vocabulary to be an announcer.”

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No ejection: Iowa State athletic director Bruce Van De Velde told the Des Moines (Iowa) Register that he believes Aaron Miles should have been ejected from Sunday’s KU-ISU game.

“I’m really concerned about (Miles) taking a swipe at the back of the head of Jared Homan,” Van De Velde told the Register Monday. “I thought he should have been kicked out of the game. It was a punch. It was an inappropriate action.”

Miles popped ISU’s Jared Homan in the back of the head with an open hand during a scuffle after ISU’s Jackson Vroman shoved KU’s Wayne Simien.

“I was confused why Miles was left in the game,” Van De Velde said. “I thought that was a poor decision by him and the officials. Our kid was trying to separate (Vroman and Simien), then somebody punched him in the back of the head. (Homan) showed a lot of restraint.”

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McDonald’s finalists: KU signees David Padgett, J.R. Giddens and Omar Wilkes are three of 100 finalists for the McDonald’s All-America game. The two 10-player teams will be announced Feb. 27. It is believed both Giddens and Padgett will be in the All-America game, set for March 26 in Cleveland. Free State’s Keith Wooden also is on the list of 100.

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Naismith finalists: KU’s Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich are two of 20 finalists for the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year Award. The winners of the men’s and women’s Naismith Awards will be honored April 11 in Atlanta.