A year from now I might look even dumber than some readers already think I am. But if I’m picking in the NBA draft, and have to choose between Kansas’s Kirk Hinrich and Texas’s T.J. Ford, it’s Hinrich.

At 6-foot-3, Kirk is five inches taller. He’s also stronger, faster, a better shooter from inside, outside and at the free-throw line; he has two more years of big-time college experience than the 5-10 Ford.

Sure, the ball-distributing T.J. was named college player of the year as he sparked Texas into the NCAA Final Four, but his body is going to take a beating as a pro point guard, and he hasn’t yet shown Hinrich’s versatility.

Add the fact Kirk has been a kingpin in KU’s visit to back-to-back Final Fours and has proved he can take a licking and keep on ticking. Think of the injuries he’s battled, including that horrible NCAA Tournament ankle sprain in 2002.

Hinrich also is a better defender than Ford and his added height should be helpful. Lots of teams will outsize Ford and post him up with a taller adversary. Kirk isn’t as likely to face that handicap.

I can’t see either guy moving into a starting role with an NBA team next season. But if both are first-round draft choices, as expected, they’ll be used a lot to justify the selection.

Great as Ford is with the ball, he has had a number of modest performances at Texas, where a talented group of teammates has been able for two seasons to cover up such lapses. In the two games Ford faced Kansas, as a freshman and sophomore, KU won.

Hinrich was asked to do a lot of things for Kansas the past two seasons and did virtually all of them well, including stints as a small forward. For all his skills, Ford hasn’t yet shown that kind of adaptability. At a mere 5-10, he has some steep hills to climb.

Hinrich is one of those kids who might blossom slowly but who will grow into a key spot with some team that is willing to wait a little. Originally, Ford indicated he’d return for his junior year at Texas. Then somebody convinced him he could make more money sooner by leaving early. Hinrich didn’t have to battle that dilemma.

KU’s 6-10 Nick Collison is another prospect who may have to be patient for a while. Yet he, like Hinrich, has the attitude and the physical traits that could pay off big down the line. A number of scouts have noted how “efficient” Nick is in the paint — how he can get so much done so easily via patience and efficiency.

Nick can shoot from mid-range. Something else we can’t overlook is his ability to use either hand on the close-in stuff. How many key buckets did he make with that crafty left hand the past season? Dedicated to his craft, he should only get better with seasoning.

Reports vary. Some think Hinrich will go ahead of Collison in the draft, others have it the other way. Whether they are top-10 choices is anybody’s guess because there is a lot of talent and big influence from foreigners. Man, what an impact non-Americans have made in recent years. This figured in forcing several high-profile collegians who had indicated they would come out early to withdraw and go back to school.

Consider the clout the foreigners and their success in the NBA will have on high schoolers who would like to go right into the pros. Darko Milicic, he of Serbia, has scouts drooling and high schoolers like Charlie Villanueva reconsidering.

Last year, 69 college and high school players applied for the draft and only 24 withdrew. Plenty of disappointments, just as there will be this year. The evidence is that Hummer Hustler LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Milicic may be the top three picks. After that, we can only hope Hinrich and Collison go high enough for maximum paydays.

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Kansas icon Phog Allen used to say that the tenure of a college athletic director generally runs no longer than the hiring of two unsuccessful major sport coaches. Lots of times that proves out, but KU’s Lew Perkins seems to have a honeymoon. He didn’t hire Mark Mangino in football or Bill Self in basketball. Should both have good seasons, Lew will have a solid foundation for future success.

As for the current era of good feeling, Perkins’s regard with the public may hinge on the trend toward making basketball fans pay bonus amounts for their seats. Wanna guess what the outcry might be the first time KU forces a couple little old ladies with modest incomes who’ve been supporting the team since about 1940 to “move on down” — and offers them replacements in the peanut gallery?

Man, there have to be more tender and compassionate ways to produce more bucks than by turning dedicated folks into refugees after they’ve supported the clubs through thick and thin. At least let ’em die. Even in Allen Fieldhouse, there have been some dog years; think of those who’ve persevered.

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Here’s another classic case of weenies trying to play the race card in KU athletics. Roy Williams stayed as basketball coach in 2000 because of deep loyalty to three prize recruits — Drew Gooden, Hinrich and Collison. Gooden left a year early of his own volition. Critics of Roy’s recent move to North Carolina tried to make it appear Williams felt OK after the two white kids finished but lacked loyalty to the black kids he’d recruited and had coming back.

Boy, if you buy anything like that, you probably also think Amelia Earhart is living as a mechanic in a tool shed at the Lawrence airport, Osama bin Laden is disguised as a German Baptist in Lone Star and Saddam Hussein is doing graduate work here in social welfare and human relations.