It’s early in the season — really early — but never too early to offer a few random opinions about Kansas University men’s basketball.

Miles Rhymes With Smiles. Nobody ever will trumpet senior point guard Aaron Miles as a great shooter, but how many times does a basketball player record double-digit assists without a single turnover? Miles did it Monday night with 10 assists and a giveaway goose egg.

Stephen Vinson and Nick Bahe Could Pass for Twins. The two walk-on guards look strikingly similar, but you easily can tell them apart because Vinson, a Lawrence High product, now sports a goatee. On the bench, where they spend most of their time, the two act like they have an ongoing bet about who’ll be the first to reach the huddle during a timeout.

Russell Robinson Can Play. The fluid young guard from the Big Apple looked like a million bucks against Nevada the other night, but Robinson is still a freshman, and you have to expect that some nights he’ll look more like a dollar bill. By the way, has anyone noticed that Robinson wears the same jersey number (3) as KU football standout Charles Gordon?

Christian Moody Looks More Athletic. Is that possible? Physiologists might be skeptical, but the only walk-on player starting for a Top Five team seems to improve in direct proportion to his playing time. Moody is never going to be a great player, yet he reminds me a lot of Chris Piper, the perfect complement to do-it-all Danny Manning on the 1988 title team.

Wayne Simien Always Packs a Lunch. Nobody is perfect, but Simien is one of those players who seems to show up for work day in and day out. He may be a tweener in the eyes of the NBA scouts — not nifty enough for small forward and undersized for a power forward — but Simien lets it all hang out. Instead of 23, he should be wearing No. 22 because he’s a walking double-double.

Not All Committees Are Unwieldy. Bill Self’s quartet of Simien complements and replacements — Moody, Sasha Kaun, C.J. Giles and Darnell Jackson — combined for 14 points and 16 rebounds against Nevada. That’ll work.

How Now Alex Galindo. He may be way down on the depth chart, but no Jayhawk made better use of garbage time than the slender freshman who spent most of the preseason nursing an injury. Galindo counted three baskets on reserve layups off baseline drives. He may not be quite ready for prime time, but keep checking the listings.

David Padgett Has Become An Historical Footnote. I thought of Padgett, who hails from Reno, Nev., only because the Jayhawks were playing his hometown team. Otherwise, the 6-foot-11 forward is out of the collective KU conscience while spending a red-shirt season at Louisville. Perhaps the Jayhawks and Cardinals will meet down the road, although, curiously, the two basketball powers haven’t played since 1993.

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Keith Langford’s Funk Can’t Last. The slashing senior southpaw is shooting just 37.5 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the free-throw line. Langford’s career FG percentage is .504, and his FT percentage is .664. Slow start, fast finish?

Michael Lee Could Be, Might Be. Former Kent State basketball player Antonio Gates is making a splash with the San Diego Chargers as a tight end. Lee isn’t big enough to play tight end, but the 6-3, 215-pounder resembles a prototypical NFL strong safety.

Ed Hightower Goes on Forever. Hightower, one of the nation’s most recognizable college basketball officials, worked the KU-Nevada game. Maybe it’s just me, but Hightower doesn’t look a day older than he did when he refereed the Jayhawks’ national-championship victory over Oklahoma in 1988.