Kansas University’s Aaron Miles played basketball Tuesday night as if he’s tired of being considered the No. 2 point guard in the Big 12 Conference — behind Oklahoma State’s John Lucas.

After playing like a sausage for a lot of the minutes in the squeaker against Vermont, Miles got into a rhythm that indicated he’ll also be an offensive force for the Jayhawks this season. Sure, that 2-for-2 three-point blast by Aaron was impressive. Even more notable was that he maneuvered to be considered a scoring threat from 10- to 15-point range as well. His 4-for-5 field-goal night was comforting to those with Final Four or even national-title dreams for the Jayhawks.

If Aaron can deal more misery with a consistent midrange shot, he could make some All-America mixes.

Miles was lauded for his defense against Vermont. He hit a highly crucial basket, but his 1-for-9 shooting and his five turnovers against nine assists were unsettling. At times Aaron seemed in a trance; it sounded as if coach Bill Self had to strain to find ways to compliment him.

When the preseason league team was chosen, OSU’s Lucas was on the first unit and Miles was not. That leaves him no better than a No. 2 status at his critical position. Yet the door is ajar to reverse that between now and late March.

Purists say Miles is a far better defender than Lucas and that Aaron distributes the ball much better. Two years ago he got lost in the hype for Texas’s T.J. Ford, although Aaron was consistently on a par with T.J. in the assist department. (You shoulda read the hate mail I got from Texans when I wrote that KU’s Kirk Hinrich was a better professional prospect than Ford, and should be drafted higher, which he was. Old Kirk has made that hold up pretty well. He’s playing a vital role in Chicago while Ford is ailing with a bad back and didn’t come close to the rookie performance of Hinrich.)

Now the talented Lucas, with a fine Okie State club, is casting new shadows over Aaron Miles. But with continued strong defense, quarterbacking excellence and improved scoring, a la the St. Joe’s outing, Miles can earn No. 1 on the final all-league team.

The presence of the free and fluid Russell Robinson to give Miles more rehab time could be another big factor in Miles’ making a bigger splash. Russell, too, can score, and by January he and Miles could be driving other opponents even nuttier than they did St. Joe’s.

Miles

• Detroit Pistons basketball coach Larry Brown is in the hip-hop realm again because of another hip replacement operation. He had to take time off recently after rushing back too soon. When that ghastly Detroit-Indiana melee ensued over the weekend, you couldn’t be sure whether Larry’s pain was caused by the incident or his hip. As for the whole mess, Detroit’s Ben Wallace’s ridiculous reaction to a hard but not flagrant foul by Ron Artest started it.

Back to Larry’s pelvic hinge. In the 1980s, Brown needed a hip replacement and went to an area KU graduate noted for his orthopedic surgery excellence. He told Larry he could give him a fine hip but that he’d have to give up jogging, a passion for Brown. Larry wouldn’t accept that and found a medic in Columbia, Mo., who said he’d operate and Larry could keep running. It wasn’t long before Larry not only had to have his other hip done but also had to have the first one repaired.

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By my count, this latest surgery must have been his fourth. If he keeps jogging this time, reserve a wheelchair.

• In all the hassle about the name on the Missouri University basketball palace (suppose the Laurie’s had an only son named Murgatroyd), there are at least two pleasant aspects. The court bears the name of Norm Stewart, who has played or coached in more than half the games MU has ever played, and there’s also a meeting/hospitality room to memorialize the late Wilbur Neil “Sparky” Stalcup. He recruited Norm to Mizzou and head-coached there from 1946-62.

Sparky’s brother, Max, was a former high school coach who wound up as a tremendous teacher at Lawrence High. Max was in continuing education and his wife, Lucile, also was a noted teacher. She still lives here. By the time she and Max retired, they had 82 years of education contributions between them.

KU’s Phog Allen and Sparky Stalcup became good friends as coaches and Sparky later was MU’s athletic director. Both engendered amazing rascality and inventiveness that sometimes had hilarious results.

Norm Stewart recalls that he came here in 1954 to play in old Hoch Auditorium. There were blizzard conditions and when the Tigers went to their cramped dressing room at halftime, the windows had been opened, snow as blowing in and it was an ice box.

“Sparky made it clear that ‘that damned Phog Allen’ did this and asked us what we were going to do about it,” Stewart says. “Then he left the room and we took a vote on whether Phog had done it or that it was a Sparky trick.

“The vote was 6-6,” Norm cackles, “and then we went out and got murdered 86-69. Good idea, bad result.”

But MU got revenge at Columbia, 76-67. That dropped Kansas into a two-way league title tie with Colorado. Only one team to the NCAA then, no playoff, Colorado won a drawing out of a hat; a fine Jayhawk team with such stars as B.H. Born, Dallas Dobbs, Allen Kelley, Harold Patterson and Larry Davenport had to sit at home. Colorado fell to Bradley, 61-55, in the NCAA Regional semifinals.

Bradley lost to LaSalle in the NCAA finals in Kansas City. That Kansas team, sidetracked by Sparky, Norm and Mizzou, was good enough to beat both. I watched that game with KU’s Dick Harp and we both grieved a little.

But I’m glad Norm and Sparky are escaping the muck and mire of the present train wreck in Columbia — football, basketball, the tainted arena, the whole sorry mess. Time was when Tigerland was hostile but not wallowing in such ugly disarray.