Washburn University basketball coach Bob Chipman kidded counselor Keith Langford at his June Ichabod youth camp in Topeka.

“I’d say, ‘Keith, we’re going to put two or three guys on Wayne (Simien), you’ll be open, and you’ll set a fieldhouse record with 60 points,'” Chipman said, revealing mock strategy to the Kansas University guard five months in advance of today’s KU-Washburn exhibition. “‘You’ll be the lead story on ESPN, the headline story.'”

Game time is 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse.

All practical joking aside, Chipman will show no favorites tonight, even though the 26th-year Washburn coach is especially fond of Jayhawks Langford, Wayne Simien, Jeff Hawkins, Aaron Miles and J.R. Giddens, all of whom have worked at his camp.

“They’ve done a lot for me. My camp … it’s me and them and 250 kids. They are in charge of running a gym, coaching games, giving feedback and at the end signing autographs,” Chipman said. “They are coaches.”

Tonight, they are No. 1-ranked Division One players — players Chipman’s No. 5-ranked Division Two players must try to stop.

“We’ll play it straight-up man-to-man, which will be a disaster,” Chipman said. “Playing a game like this, you should really try some ‘Mickey Mouse’ defenses to try to keep it close. We want to get something out of it and hope KU gets something out of it so we won’t do that. We’ll try to get it up and down the floor and play man at least the first four minutes, until everybody fouls out.”

Chipman considers the game a mismatch despite the fact his Ichabods trailed by just four points with 2:59 left in Monday’s 81-72 loss at Purdue.

Travis Robbins, a 6-foot-6 senior from Clover, S.C., led Washburn with 25 points in that exhibition.

“We competed hard, drawing charges, diving for loose balls. We won the hustle stats,” Chipman said.

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He wouldn’t have been shocked had Washburn won.

“I’m looney enough every time I line up I think I’m going to win,” said Chipman, who is 0-4 against KU the last 11 years. “It was one of those games probably just by playing them close is victory for us.”

He can’t imagine defeating KU tonight and its four senior standouts: Miles, Langford, Simien and Michael Lee. He plans to shake the hands of all four after the contest.

“Those seniors, to me … I’ve watched KU basketball a long time. It may be the last group of great college seniors. There may never be a group like that group again in college basketball,” Chipman said. “Winners, players like that … they are leaving early now (for NBA).

“They are scorers, shot-makers. They’ve gone Final Four, Final Four, Final Eight. Langford is underrated, Lee is underrated, Miles is a leader, does what you want a point guard to do. Wayne has to be the best person ever. He’s special.”

As far as Chipman’s own team, he returns two starters and eight letter-winners off last year’s 27-5 team.

“Overrated,” Chipman said, asked his opinion of the No. 5 rating. “We have a good team. We have some talent. We have better guard play. We are not where some of our teams have been.

“I say we’re not workmanlike, but we did outwork them the other night,” he added of Purdue. “I’d say the ranking is off last year’s performance.”