Kansas University’s men’s basketball fans have been known to travel to all corners of the United States to watch their beloved Jayhawks play games.

Regular-season games and NCAA Tournament games, that is.

Nobody knows how many — if any — KU supporters will trek to Canada to catch four practice games Sept. 4-6 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and surrounding areas.

“We absolutely do encourage fans to attend,” KU coach Bill Self said, quickly adding, “it also falls on a tough weekend with Labor Day and also the situation with it being our first football game.”

KU’s football team will open its season against Tulsa on Sept. 4 at Memorial Stadium.

“We don’t want to try to promote our situation over the football game,” Self said. “We know how important it is for the (football) opener. This is the only time we could go.”

NCAA rules dictate foreign tours must be taken when school is not in session and that the tours cannot be held within 30 days of the regular season. The tours can be taken once every four years.

It remains to be seen if any travel companies will sponsor packages. KU will be playing in small gyms that seat between 1,500 and 2,000 fans, and the games are meaningless exhibitions. Many details must be worked out, including whether admission will be charged and tickets issued.

Self will conduct 10 closed practices in Lawrence before the trip in accordance with NCAA rules. The Jayhawks will play University of British Columbia on Sept. 4 at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver; Langara College at Langara Gymnasium in Vancouver and University College of Fraser Valley at Student Activity Centre in Abbotsford on Sept. 5; and Simon Fraser on Sept. 6 at East Gym in Burnaby. They’ll head home later that day.

Self hasn’t decided how he’ll use his players in those games.

“We don’t know how we envision it,” Self said. “We’ll use 10 practices to determine what our top 10, 11, 12 is at that point in time and play them accordingly. In some games, we may play everybody. On a deal like this, I look forward to the practices more than the games.”

Of the doubleheader, Self said: “That’s a day we’d probably play everybody. We might use a certain rotation of eight in the morning and eight in the evening.”

Self will have a mix of four returning starters and five scholarship newcomers for the 2004-2005 season.

“It gives us a chance to get the season started a little early,” senior guard Aaron Miles said. “It gives the freshmen a chance to play a couple of games. I think it’ll help us.”