Dallas ? Hello, Columbus. Shuffle off to Buffalo. See you in Seattle. Meet me in Milwaukee. Or Orlando. Or Denver. Or Raleigh.

Pick any one of those seven sites as the next destination for Kansas University’s men’s basketball team, because the Jayhawks will not be going to the eighth venue on the NCAA Tournament first- and second-round card.

“Kansas City, here I come” is not a song the Jayhawks and their fans will be singing after the tournament seedings are announced this evening.

But is it really that much of a disappointment that Kansas won’t be able to play 40 miles down the road in Kemper Arena?

To the fans, perhaps, but probably not the players.

Or as Texas coach Rick Barnes said following the Longhorns’ 64-60 win over the Jayhawks in Saturday’s Big 12 tournament semifinal at American Airlines Center: “Guys are young. I don’t think they care where they play.”

Barnes was talking about his own players, but it was more or less a generic statement, because once you’re at the arena, wherever it is, the court is the same size, the goals are in the same places, and three men wearing striped shirts will be running around blowing whistles.

No doubt the winner of Saturday’s Kansas-Texas game would have been sent to Kemper Arena as part of a regional pod. Oklahoma State, the Big 12 champion, will be the top seed there, probably a No. 2, regardless of the outcome of this afternoon’s championship game.

Every cloud has a silver lining — or at least a pewter one — and Kansas fans have seen enough of this bench-challenged team to know the more days it has off before playing again the better.

Kansas University's Wayne Simien (23), who was limited to nine points on 2-of-8 shooting, is harassed by Texas' Jason Klotz. Texas held off the Jayhawks, 64-60, in a Big 12 Conference tournament semifinal game Saturday in Dallas.

Then there is the history factor. Of the last four KU teams to reach the Final Four, three lost in the league tournament semifinals — including last year’s edition that bowed to Missouri, 68-63, then won five straight in the NCAAs before tumbling to Syracuse in the national-championship game.

In retrospect, no one should be surprised the Jayhawks struggled Saturday. Sure, Texas and its meatgrinder defense had a lot to do with it, but the Jayhawks haven’t been a good short-rest team all season.

In their only other back-to-back outings, the Jayhawks dumped Cal Santa Barbara in Reno, Nev., but stumbled the next day against Nevada. Even with one day of rest, the Jayhawks never were able to sweep. They divided all three of the Saturday-Monday contests on their schedule.

“Back-to-back games for this team,” KU coach Bill Self said, “will be difficult, no matter what.”

The Jayhawks definitely did not need to go into the NCAA Tournament after playing three days in a row. Self may not state it in public, but he has to be relieved his club — injury nagged as well as thin — will have an extra day of rest before plowing ahead.

Self did say something, though, that seemed a little surprising at first.

“We’re playing the best we’ve played all year,” he said following the four-point loss, “although it wasn’t evident today.”

He was right. Sandwiched between Saturday’s defeat and the Feb. 23 loss to the Longhorns in Austin, Texas, were four memorable games. In victories over Oklahoma, Nebraska and Missouri twice, KU shot 55.2 percent, including 45.6 percent from three-point range, and made 76.3 percent of its free throws.

No coincidence is it that each of those four games was played with multiple days of rest in between.

Wherever the Jayhawks are sent tonight, more good news is they would have to go deep in the bracket before facing Texas again. The two previous meetings proved the ‘Horns have the horses to neutralize Wayne Simien, the Jayhawks’ meal ticket. Simien made only seven of 24 shots against Texas in the two meetings and averaged 12.0 points.

Not many coaches can wheel out as many whales as Barnes can — or bodies, period. Texas is the antithesis of Kansas. In the NCAA Tournament, the ‘Horns will rely on their deep bench, while the Jayhawks will advance as far as deep breaths will take them.