Dave Odom had one big regret after leaving Wake Forest for South Carolina following the 2000-01 season.

His departure from the Winston-Salem, N.C., school after 12 seasons meant the basketball traditionalist, who always had wanted to coach a game in Allen Fieldhouse, wouldn’t be able to join his Demon Deacons in Lawrence for the final game of a two-year series in ’01-’02.

“I’ve always been one who first and foremost really appreciates great basketball tradition,” said Odom, who, after arriving at South Carolina, made sure to set up another home-and-home with KU, a team Wake waxed, 84-53, Dec. 7, 2000.

The Jayhawks won the revenge game the following season, 83-76, with Skip Prosser at the Deacons’ helm.

“This is one of the two or three places in the country you’d think would be right at the top of your list as far as places you’d like to play,” Odom said.

Odom, 62, who has been coaching in college for 29 years, tonight will work a game in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time.

His unranked Gamecocks (5-1) will take on the No. 2-rated Jayhawks (6-0) in a 7 p.m. tipoff.

“I was recruiting in Kansas one time and rode through Lawrence and just kind of dipped up through there and looked at it from the outside, but I never went inside,” Odom said of the 50-year-old fieldhouse. “I was in such a hurry that day. I figured, ‘What the heck, I’ll be back.”’

He entered the building for the first time Friday, running his Gamecocks through a two-hour practice.

Head coach Dave Odom, here with Wake Forest during a game against against Florida State in 2001, now is coaching at South Carolina. Odom, who worked at Wake Forest for 12 seasons, and the Gamecocks will face Kansas University tonight at Allen Fieldhouse.

“It’s well kept. It looks like what I thought it would,” Odom said after the workout.

Last year’s 2004 SEC Coach of the Year isn’t sure his squad — which returns all-SEC pick Carlos Powell (6-foot-7 senior, 16.0 points-a-game average) from a 23-11 NCAA Tournament team — is ready for what awaits tonight in the Gamecocks’ first road game this season.

“It’s time. It’s time to get out and try ourselves,” said Odom. At home, the Gamecocks have beaten South Florida, Western Carolina, Winthrop, Temple and Appalachian State and lost to Clemson in overtime.

“It’s time to start experiencing adversity on the road. You can bob and weave and hide all you want, but eventually you have to stand up and find out.”

Odom says he’s most impressed with veterans Wayne Simien, Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Michael Lee, noting, “They are a very seasoned bunch. You’ve got four seniors who played a wealth of basketball at the very highest level.”

But he realizes anything could happen tonight. He was as shocked as anybody Dec. 4, 2000 when his final Wake Forest team whacked KU. He’s gone against KU one other time when Wake lost to the Jayhawks, 69-58, in a second-round 1994 NCAA Tournament game in Lexington, Ky.

“We could not have played any better that particular night, and Kansas would have had a hard time playing worse. Those things happen,” Odom said of the 2000 game.

“To Kansas’ credit, they didn’t try to alibi or make excuses. They explained it just the way I explained it. I certainly didn’t come out of that game saying we are a lot better than Kansas.”

Odom knows what his team will have to do to stand a chance in the storied fieldhouse tonight.

“Kansas is like other great teams. They get you early and get you late,” Odom said. “We have to get in the game. If you can get in the game, you have a chance to play it more on your terms.

“If we are lured into playing the game on their terms, it would be a difficult day at the ranch … or, to put it more appropriately, a difficult day in the Phog,” he quipped.

¢

More Odom: “When you reach the level of Kansas’ program, one of the things that helps you night in and night out is you don’t worry about the crowd. You know they are going to be there no matter who you are playing and that’s a tremendous advantage.

6Sports video: KU to face South Carolina S.C.’s Odom ‘appreciates great basketball tradition’ Wesley ‘excited’ about honor Miles on verge of assists mark Mayer: Four-year players a blessing for KU basketball X-Factor Game 5: S. Carolina 118, KU 109 Sign up for cell phone updates Sign up for e-mail updates

“What is never said, but simply understood, is that Kansas’ fans are not coming to see the other team play. They are coming to see the Kansas team play Team X, whoever that might be. I bet there are not seven or eight programs in the country can say that.”

¢

KU coach Bill Self on the Gamecocks: “They’ll press, play zone, some man, spread the floor, try to use athletic ability to get to the lane. Powell is very quick. He ‘outquicks’ guys on the post.

“I told our guys I felt Pacific was the best team we played until this point. South Carolina is definitely an NCAA Tournament team that should do well in the SEC.

“I do know this. They have good enough players and a great coach they could come in and beat us at Allen Fieldhouse if we don’t play the way we’re capable.”

¢

Lee on playing a team from the SEC: “That’s a big challenge. I heard they are very athletic. It’d be nice to get a tough challenge. But TCU played us well; Pacific played us well. We’ve had our share of tough challenges. This is another.”