If this basketball season were an episode of “Cheers,” Kansas University freshman Nick Bahe would be in trouble.

It seems no one in Lawrence knows his name — or, more accurately, how to pronounce it.

“I’ve had people that come up to me and are like, ‘Is it Bah-ee or Bay-he,'” said a smiling Bahe. “No, it’s BAH! To set the record straight, it’s baa … like the sheep.”

No one likely will butcher Bahe’s name this weekend when he travels home to Lincoln, Neb., where the Jayhawks will take on his hometown Nebraska Cornhuskers at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Devaney Center.

“That’s the one place I know where if I get in, the announcer’s not going to mess it up,” said Bahe, a 6-foot-2 walk-on point guard. “A lot of people in the stands are going to know who I am, so it’ll be a lot of fun.”

While it would be Bahe’s dream to play in front of the 20 or so family members who will be in attendance, he said a struggling KU squad’s winning was the most important part of his return trip home.

“All week I’ve been laying in bed at night and thinking of the experiences I’ve had at Devaney,” Bahe said. “Some have been good, some bad.”

Bahe played for Lincoln Southeast High in four state basketball tournaments in Devaney, but walked away each year with a loss — including two state championship-game defeats during his junior and senior seasons.

“I’m not going to lie, there has been a lot of heartache and sadness coming out of those locker rooms,” said Bahe, the 2003 Gatorade player of the year in Nebraska.

In fact the last two Kansas-Nebraska games Bahe attended in Devaney might not have ended exactly the way Bahe wanted. Kansas won last year’s game by 30, but needed a last-second jumper by Keith Langford in 2001-02 to stay unbeaten in the Big 12 Conference.

6Sports video: Jayhawk freshman Bahe gets to play in front of hometown crowd

Then again, Bahe hadn’t decided he was going to walk on at KU at that point.

“You hate to see a team like Nebraska that had fought so hard lose,” Bahe said of KU’s 88-87 victory two years ago. “But, then again, Kansas fought real hard too, and it was fun to see them win it on a great basketball play.”

Bahe — a high school quarterback who went against the family tradition of playing football at Nebraska, like both his father and uncle did — said he knows firsthand that Nebraska is a dangerous team.

“They’re obviously really tough at home,” said Bahe, who is good friends with Nebraska guard Jake Muhleisen, who also attended Lincoln Southeast.

Bahe, who spent last summer playing pick-up games with the Cornhuskers, said Nebraska has players that can “really shoot it from downtown,” but might be more talented athletically this season than in past years.

“This team is very good, and they’ve obviously shown that by beating Missouri, beating Tennessee, beating Arizona State,” Bahe of the Cornhuskers (13-7 overall, 3-6 Big 12). “This is going to be a good game.”

Bahe — who was recruited by Nebraska and Creighton and had scholarship offers from Boise State, Ohio, Bowling Green, Marist and Cal Poly — said he was glad he made the decision to come to Kansas.

“It’s been everything I’ve hoped for and more,” said Bahe, who has scored five points in 34 minutes. “The amount of people I’ve been able to meet, and the amount of places I’ve been able to go with all of this has just been unbelievable.”

• Working OT: Langford has been working on his shot with assistant coach Norm Roberts.

“I’ve been staying after practice and putting up shots and free throws. That’s no big deal. Anybody who wants to be a player does that,” said Langford, who said his jammed left finger hasn’t been the cause of his recent shooting woes.

• Walk-on update: Matt Kleinmann, a 6-10 senior from Blue Valley West, who has been to several KU games on unofficial recruiting visits, is averaging 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. The 63 percent shooter has received scholarship offers from Pacific and William & Mary. Rice and South Florida also have shown interest.

It is highly likely he will attend KU as a non-scholarship player.

“I’ve always been a KU fan,” Kleinmann told the Johnson County Sun. “I’ve talked to KU a lot. I can walk on if I want to. I’ve been to a lot of practices and met the coaches and guys.”

Kleinmann, who has applied to KU’s School of Architecture, has a 3.9 grade-point average. In January he won two silver awards in the National Scholastic Arts and Writer competition out of 4,000 entries nationally.

• Recruiting update: KU has started recruiting Mario Chalmers, a 6-1 high school junior point guard from Anchorage, Alaska. Chalmers averages 28 points, eight assists, seven steals and five rebounds a game.

Chalmers has an early list of KU, Arizona, Marquette, Maryland, North Carolina, Syracuse, Texas, UCLA, Wake Forest, Washington and Wisconsin

“(KU assistant) coach Joe Dooley is coming to watch Mario next Thursday,” coach Ronnie Chalmers told Shay Wildeboor of rivals.com. “I would say that Kansas is in the beginning stages when it comes to their recruitment of Mario. Mario is wide-open right now and is not leaning toward any particular school.”