Those index fingers stretched so high, waving and wiggling “We’re No. 1” a fortnight ago now are aimed laterally.

It’s finger-pointing time.

When Kansas University’s men’s basketball team loses three in a row, it’s cause for alarm. Such things do not happen. Therefore, something must be wrong.

The Jayhawks indeed are in a slump. The swoon hardly is Armageddon, but losing does disturb the typical KU fan’s psyche to the point where he dwells on the negatives. Those fingers of negation, searching desperately for targets, have settled on the seniors, the freshmen and the coaching, although not necessarily in that order.

When it comes to the blame game, coaching always is No. 1, so Bill Self is on the hot seat. Some whisper he can’t control his players off the court. Others speculate the veteran players never have bought into his high-low offense. Still more believe he overestimated the quality of his freshman class.

Curiously, Monday night’s Kansas-Oklahoma game featured a classic example of recruiting guru egg on the face.

Two freshmen from the Oklahoma City metro area were on the roster of each team. Kansas had Darnell Jackson, a 6-foot-8, 240-pounder who was ranked as the 52nd best player nationally by Rivals.com. Oklahoma had David Godbold, a 6-5 guard/forward so lightly regarded that he didn’t sign a letter of intent until last spring.

In Monday’s game, Jackson played four minutes, grabbed a couple of boards, fouled once and was guilty of a turnover while Godbold logged 37 minutes, scored 15 points, snatched seven caroms and was charged with three turnovers. Take that, Rivals.com.

Jackson and two other freshmen — Sasha Kaun and C.J. Giles — were supposed to plug the holes up front caused by the losses of senior Jeff Graves and freshman David Padgett. It hasn’t happened. And that makes you wonder if the KU fans and students who bashed Padgett last season and greased the skids for his transfer to Louisville are having second thoughts. They should be. The 6-10 Padgett would look awfully good in a Kansas uniform right now.

This much is certain: Padgett performed better as a freshman last season than any of KU’s five freshman have this season. Granted a couple of the current KU frosh — notably Giles and Galindo — have been bothered by injuries, but the bottom line is that Self hasn’t received the production he expected — and needed — from any of his first-year players.

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On another front, would Kansas have stumbled Saturday against Iowa State and fallen Monday at Oklahoma with Christian Moody in the lineup? We’ll never know, but the Jayhawks do seem to perform more in synch when he’s on the floor. Moody has been a terrific story as a walk-on who has earned a starting role on the Top 10 team, but I guarantee you he would be the Jayhawks’ sixth or seventh man if Padgett were still around.

What about the seniors? Some bashers are using them as whipping boys because, after all, they’ve been winners since they’ve been here so they know how to win and therefore should be winning.

Well, let’s see.

Wayne Simien is having his best year. Simien is averaging 18.6 points and 10.8 rebounds a game and both those numbers are better than his previous highs of 17.8 and 9.3 established last year.

Aaron Miles is having his best year. Miles leads the Big 12 Conference in assists — by an average of about two per game — and his shooting percentages have skyrocketed. A career 40.2 percent shooter during his first three seasons, Miles has been shooting 45.6 percent. And he’s at 50 percent from three-point range after posting dismal under-30 percent long-range averages from his freshman through junior years. Oh, and he’s also hitting 79 percent of his free throws.

Keith Langford is not having his best season, but the snaky southpaw hasn’t dropped off much. He averaged 15.9 points a game as a soph, 15.5 last year and he’s currently at 15.3. The latter number would be higher if Langford weren’t shooting a paltry 59.4 percent from the free-throw line. That’s about seven percentage points below his career norm.

As far as I’m concerned, what’s wrong with the Jayhawks is nothing more than their record adjusting to their level of competence.