Nearly 100 Kansas University students napped under heavy blankets, played video games, watched television and listened to CDs Friday afternoon while camping just inside the frosted north doors of Allen Fieldhouse.

“Maybe they’ll be so cold by the time the game starts their vocal chords will be frozen,” University of Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson quipped about the campers.

Fat chance that the early birds, who will jostle today for prime seats, will be muffled by the cold.

Today’s long-awaited noon matchup between No. 1-ranked Arizona (14-1) and No. 6 Kansas (13-4) figures to boil the blood of fans and competitors alike — even in wintry Kansas.

“You can tell our guys are excited, having an opportunity to play Kansas,” Olson said Friday. “You could just tell in our practice yesterday and at breakfast this morning this is not like playing ‘Podunk Center.’ This is a big-time game, and athletes love to play in this type game.”

Olson knows all about the electric game-day atmosphere in KU’s fieldhouse. Ted Owens’ Jayhawks blistered Olson’s University of Iowa Hawkeyes, 89-54, on Dec. 7, 1974.

“We played here when I first got to Iowa and the program was 10th in the league,” said the 68-year-old Olson, in his 20th year at Arizona after working nine years at Iowa and one at Long Beach State. “We got hammered here, but got hammered at a lot of other places that year, too.

“This crowd is the best I’ve seen anywhere in terms of organization and how they go through warmups with the team. Whoever started it here has done a great job with the tradition.”

It all started, of course, with Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of the game, who is buried at Lawrence’s Memorial Park Cemetery.

“No. I assume he’s still there,” Olson said, asked if he’d take his team to the snowy gravesite. “If I’m here in the summer, I’ll do that.”

He instead planned on spending some time Friday night with KU coach Roy Williams, who like Olson, knows all about the magnitude of today’s contest between the Pac-10 and Big 12 powers.

Arizona head coach Lute Olson is surrounded by media before the top-ranked Wildcats take the floor for practice at Allen Fieldhouse. Olson was the center of media attention Friday. KU plays host to Arizona at 12:05 p.m. today.

“Since we lost Wednesday night, it’s lost some of the luster I’m sure,” said Williams, still steamed about the Jayhawks’ 60-59 loss at Colorado. “Hopefully our intensity will be higher than Wednesday.

“We have had some great games in the fieldhouse in my 15 years, conference-wise for sure. Nonconference, we’ve had some great battles with Kentucky, Indiana, UCLA, now Arizona. The respect people have for Lute Olson, the fact they are No. 1, the fact we are such a basketball-appreciative area makes it a marquee matchup.”

Olson believes the Jayhawks will be motivated coming off a road loss and playing at home.

“We would rather they had won,” Olson said. “When you lose, guys who are competitive come out with smoke coming out of their ears, but I’m sure there’d be smoke coming out of their ears anyway.”

The Jayhawks, who have won 25 straight home games, normally play with more emotion at Allen Fieldhouse. Yet Williams scoffs at the suggestion the game’s location gives KU a huge edge.

“Lute Olson has played a few basketball games. His kids will not come in here, shrivel up, go in a corner and hide,” Williams said, noting Arizona beat Oregon by nine points on Jan. 2 at Oregon’s hostile MacArthur Court. “Last year our team didn’t fold over and play dead just because the game was at Arizona.”

The Jayhawks stopped the Wildcats, 105-97, on Dec. 1, 2001, in Tucson, Ariz.

KU seniors Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, who started that game, lead the Jayhawks in scoring at 19.4 and 16.9 points respectively. Returning Wildcat point guard Jason Gardner leads Arizona in scoring at 13.8 points a game. Shooting guard Salim Stoudamire averages 11.2 points, while power forward Rick Anderson contributes 10.6.

Olson uses up to 10 players a game, while the Jayhawks’ lack of depth has been well chronicled this season.

“I don’t know,” Olson said, asked if depth would be a factor today. “In looking at the tape of the Colorado game, there were four guys who played 36 or more minutes. It’s pretty obvious, No. 1, they (Jayhawks) have to be in great shape, especially playing at that altitude, but it’s also an indication Roy’s bench is not very deep.”

KU again will be without forward Wayne Simien, who is slated to miss his sixth straight game as he rehabs his dislocated right shoulder.

“The rules say you can only play five at a time, not eight or nine,” KU sophomore Keith Langford said. “We’ve had our first guys play 30 minutes before without fouling out. Hopefully we can do it again.

“I’m sure in the media’s eyes we are the underdog. We are not looking at it that way. In nobody’s eyes is Arizona invincible. Neither are we invincible. We just have to play harder and smarter than we did against Colorado.”

The Jayhawks may need to play close to perfect to win.

“We’ve got to play the total game. We got to play our bleep off,” a fiery Williams told the media Friday. “We’ve got to do it for 40 minutes. You can talk all the cliches, but that’s the frickin’ truth. No miracle answer … we’ve got to play the first minute, 17th minute, 34th minute, 40th minute. This is a team that has no holes.”