Things had taken on a much healthier perspective once hyper fans finally faced the truth: This Kansas basketball team even up to Saturday was not as good as the one of a year ago. It probably never can be, either, after harsh reality delivered that vicious bite via a shoulder injury to Wayne Simien.

This doesn’t preclude the restructured, dedicated Jayhawks’ winning a Big 12 title or two, regular or postseason, even taking several games in the NCAA Tournament. But they’ll need massive luck and charitable bounces.

The loss of the marvelously developing Simien for even a few games is a terrible setback. He was fast becoming a more-than-effective replacement for Drew Gooden; by March, Wayne could have become even more instrumental than Drew in another KU drive to the NCAA Final Four.

Now newcomer Jeff Graves, and, later, Moulaye Niang have to bust out big-time. Bryant Nash, Michael Lee and Jeff Hawkins must perform far better — fast — than they ever dreamed they could. Otherwise, February could dawn dark and dreary.

Last season, veterans Drew Gooden and Jeff Boschee partnered with Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and Aaron Miles. In the wings were fifth-year senior Jeff Carey, up-and-coming Keith Langford and Simien and walk-on veteran Brett Ballard.

Those guys practiced with a flourish the Hoopster Hippocratic Oath: “First, do no harm.”

Gooden ran off to become a millionaire, Boschee, Carey and Ballard departed. That moved Simien and Langford into starting roles; they had been terrific. Langford’s prospects, fortunately, remain unlimited. He may even revive the mid-range jump shot as a key weapon. Until Saturday, Simien periodically bordered on brilliance. Now the other starters must dig down even deeper; the bench guys have to show the world why coach Roy Williams chose to sign them.

For all the excellence of Hinrich and the emergence of the much-improved Collison as the inside bell-cow, the Jayhawk bench has yet to produce the help Langford, Simien, Carey and Ballard generated in 2001-2002.

Show-time, boys!

With Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State making noise, can KU win another regular-season Big 12 title? You get to the postseason tourney and anyone can take over, particularly a well-coached Kansas team that will be far better-tuned, with or without Simien.

Come the NCAA Tournament, and the door of opportunity opens for everyone, even a darkhorse such as Kansas might become.

But Kansas ’03 is a far cry from the Kansas of ’02. We’ll learn an awful lot about the newer guys in the trips to Iowa State and Colorado and the visits by Nebraska, Wyoming and Kansas State. Then there are those big-time tests with Arizona on Jan. 25 and Texas on Jan. 27.

Let’s hope January isn’t the cruel month it showed it might be when Simien was hurt.

• How far does Kansas football have to travel?

There were something like 118 big-school grid programs in the NCAA and 28 bowls this year. That means 56 schools got more practice time and at least semi-rewarding postseason activity. That’s nearly half the big schools in postseason stuff.

If you’re in the top 50 percent, you might get a trip, right?

In the Big 12, Kansas and Baylor are on the bottom two rungs of the ladder. That leaves them in the bottom 16-plus percent just in their league, let alone the 50 percent or better they have to become nationally. At this stage, KU fans would welcome any kind of bowl game, even the Hoka-Mani-Dokia-Flobberol Bowl. That would mean the Jayhawks had won at least six games.

Not even close so far. Probably not next fall, either. But if Kansas State can explode from the hopeless status of the pre-Bill Snyder era to get as good as it has become, Mark Mangino might work the same kind of magic here.

Sports Illustrated once ran an extensive piece on K-State’s role as the worst big-school program in America. Already, some Kansas fans are chafing over the prospect of an 11th straight Wildcat win over KU the coming fall. Tough road ahead.

• Nowadays, athletes are encouraged to try anything that makes them more effective. Wasn’t always that way. Coaches once didn’t want basketball players doing silly things in a weight room (Wilt Chamberlain changed all that here) and indulging in one-handed shots instead of the dependable two-flips.

The recent death of the legendary Hank Luisetti reminded me how change once was opposed.

Friend of mine, Bob Arnold, was a standout basketeer when we were Wyandotte High kids. Bob could shoot well with two hands. But he’d heard about this Luisetti guy at Stanford and had seen films of his “revolutionary” running jumper. Bob began practicing the caper and got doggone good. Only problem was, his coaches at WHS were of a conservative bent and forced him to cool it in 1942 and ’43.

Later, Arnold played for Park College in the Navy V-12 program, then was transferred to UCLA where he lettered two years and was the first non-Californian ever to make All-Pacific Coast. UCLA coach Wilbur Johns was familiar with Luisetti’s moves and gave Arnold the green light. He’s now retired after an industrial executive career in Houston.

Bob played at UCLA with some dandies, including Don Barksdale and Bob Waterfield, also a footballer of note. But Arnold had to escape the restrictive Wyandotte cocoon to blossom. He understandably has always been a dedicated Luisetti fan.