OKLAHOMA CITY ? Its canal redevelopment may not be as long as the Riverwalk in San Antonio, its Bricktown area may not be as large as the West End in Dallas, and its renovated restaurants and clubs may not be as historic as Kansas City’s Westport.

But there’s one thing Oklahoma City has that no other city can claim this week: Kansas University’s men’s basketball team.

“It’s America’s team,” said Chris Condren, a civil attorney and leader of the Kansas University Alumni Association’s Oklahoma City chapter. “I’m a proud and obnoxious Jayhawk, and I’m glad we can welcome all the Jayhawks from all over to come here and have a good time. We’ll put on a good party for all the Jayhawk faithful.”

And the party will go on, even if war breaks out with Iraq.

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will not be postponed in case of war, NCAA president Myles Brand said Tuesday afternoon. He consulted with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge before making the decision.

First-round games begin Thursday, including the Jayhawks’ clash with Utah State at Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Tipoff is scheduled for about 8:40 p.m.

The Jayhawks are scheduled to practice at 6 p.m. today. The session is open to the public.

Scarce tickets

It will be the only chance for many KU fans to see the players in action, at least early on. All 550 tickets allotted to KU already have been swept up by students, faculty, staff, team members’ families and donors to KU’s Williams Educational Fund.

“More tickets will be available for Saturday,” said Kirk Cerny, a senior vice president for the alumni association. “Our fans are resourceful, and they will know how to find them. Of course, we have to get by Utah State first.”

KU’s official team hotel, the Marriott Oklahoma City, is a 15-minute drive from the arena and already is booked solid. Hotels in the downtown area, especially near the arena and the city’s Bricktown dining-and-entertainment district, also were filling up fast.

¢ Oklahoma City travel tips

The heightened interest isn’t a surprise, given that Oklahoma City is a five-hour drive from Lawrence — close enough for the KU team to take a bus Tuesday evening — and even closer for the alumni hotbeds of Wichita (8,000 graduates in Sedgwick County) and Dallas (4,500).

Then there’s the Oklahoma City-Norman-Bartlesville-Tulsa area, which boasts 2,815 degree-holding Jayhawks.

Expect many of them to cram into Jim Cowan’s Bricktown Brewery, the official home for KU pep rallies and watch parties during the tournament, just as it was for KU’s last visit in 1998.

The business — like Lawrence’s Free State Brewing Co., Bricktown is the state’s first brewery since Prohibition — is big enough to hold 895 people on two levels. It’ll serve a $12 game-day, all-you-can-eat buffet featuring hickory-smoked pork and beef brisket, plus potato salad and fries.

Kansas on tap

A special brew, “Kansas Common,” will be on tap.

“Our brewer’s a huge basketball fan,” Cowan said. “It’s a very smooth, easy-to-drink beer with a good body to it. And it’s only for winners.”

Thursday’s pep rally starts at 4:30 p.m. at the brewery, and will feature KU cheerleaders and the pep band. People without tickets will be encouraged to stick around to watch the game on one of the brewery’s four 12-by-12 big-screen TVs, or on any of the 22 other smaller televisions sprinkled throughout the renovated warehouse.

“It’s our chance in Bricktown to feel like we’re on a college campus,” Cowan said.

All the Jayhawk activity is expected to double Cowan’s normal Thursday-night business, although the KU fan doesn’t like to think much about such mundane matters these days. U.S. troops are poised to go to war, he said, moving a basketball tournament — even the season’s most important one — down the priority list.

“We don’t have any control over it,” Cowan said. “I just hope everything goes as planned.”

And that includes a quick victory, both for U.S.-led forces and the KU basketball team.