Have you taken an in-depth look at the Big 12 Conference portion of Kansas University’s men’s basketball schedule?

You know, of course, that the Jayhawks will open conference play tonight at Colorado, but did you realize they won’t play again until a week from Wednesday? Furthermore, did you know there are five Saturdays in January, and the Jayhawks don’t have a home game on a single one of them?

Back when people were wearing polyester clothes, disco dancing to the Bee Gees and thinking a cell phone was a communication device in jails, you could count on league basketball games to be played on Wednesdays and Saturdays. No exceptions.

Then along came television — specifically ESPN — and suddenly we had no idea when a team was playing unless we read it in the newspaper or in TV Guide. The Jayhawks could be playing any day or night of the week, so we had to be vigilant or we’d miss them.

Also, there was a time when college basketball games never were played on a Sunday. The pros played on Sundays, never the colleges. Then television dangled dollars. Do you know how many Big 12 games the Jayhawks will play on a Sunday this season? Four — two in Allen Fieldhouse and two on the road.

Four, incidentally, is the Jayhawks’ magic number the rest of the way. Kansas has four Sunday games, four Monday games, four Wednesday games and four Saturday games. So at least you know the Jayhawks won’t be playing on a Tuesday, Thursday or Friday.

Hold it. That’s not exactly right. KU still has one nonconference game remaining, against Richmond, and it’s Jan. 22, a Thursday night. Well, at least you won’t have to worry about Tuesdays and Fridays.

Here’s another Kansas schedule quirk: The Jayhawks will be finished with both Colorado and Kansas State before January is over. KU’s home-and-home games with the Buffaloes are less than three weeks apart and only 14 days separate the two meetings with the Wildcats (Jan. 14 and Jan. 28).

Putting it another way, Kansas will have wrapped up with Colorado and Kansas State before it has even played a game against northern division foes Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State. KU won’t meet Nebraska for the first time until Feb. 15, six weeks from now.

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As you know, in the Big 12 teams play home-and-home games with schools in their division and one game with each member of the other division — three at home and three on the road.

This season, the Jayhawks will have the southern division’s Oklahoma, Baylor and Texas Tech at home with Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas on the road. On paper, that’s a square deal. For example, what if the Jayhawks had Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State on the road, and Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A&M at home? You’d hear plenty of squawk from the Jayhawks — and rightly so — with a schedule like that.

For all we know, Kansas could win a third straight regular-season Big 12 championship, but it’s unlikely the Jayhawks will post a 14-2 record like they did last season and almost assuredly not a 16-0 record like two years ago. In fact, we may never see another 16-0 league season again. By anybody.

This time I wouldn’t be surprised if a 12-4 record was good enough to win the league championship and the top seed in the conference postseason tournament in Dallas. That hasn’t happened since the Big 12 started competition in 1996-97. The worst record by a league champ has been 13-3 by Texas in 1999 and Iowa State in 2001, but you have to win on the road and there seem to be more league teams than ever capable of defending their home turf.

Then again, it could be that one of the contenders will catch fire in February and ride a wave of momentum down the stretch. Injuries often play a role. So do off-the-court distractions.

Still, Kansas looms as a definite contender. In the seven seasons of Big 12 Conference basketball, the Jayhawks never have had a league record worse than 11-5 and it’s difficult to imagine this team falling below those numbers.