The Big Three-Oh on The Big Five-Oh.

On the Golden Anniversary of Allen Fieldhouse, Kansas University’s men’s basketball team made it 30 straight victories over Kansas State.

That’s a remarkable total, of course, but it hardly was achieved with a remarkable performance.

Games like Wednesday night’s often are called “lunch-pail” contests. The Jayhawks, coming off that one-for-the-ages two-point victory over Oklahoma State on Sunday afternoon, weren’t likely to produce another memorable outing.

They didn’t, but that didn’t take anything away from a genuine night to remember.

When the fans showed up, they found blue T-shirts with an Allen Fieldhouse anniversary logo on their seats, along with a reprint of the game program from the barn’s March 1, 1955 debut.

In keeping with the retro theme, the Jayhawks emerged for the tipoff wearing generic-looking white uniforms with blue trim from a bygone era. I’m not sure which era, but the jersey and trunks were so baggy they retained a contemporary look.

That left it to the cheerleaders … er, spirit squad … to give us the real throwback look. The women were wearing mid-calf-length skirts with bobby socks and bands in their hair, as well as a ’50s Jayhawk logo on their vests.

They looked terrific, and I loved those old-style megaphones. I wish the spirit squad had brought those oversized voice amplifiers out on the floor during one of the interminable TV timeouts — nothing retro about them — and given us another taste of the days of yore.

Kansas' Wayne Simien skies for two of his game-high 25 points in the Jayhawks' 72-65 victory over Kansas State. Simien also had 20 rebounds in the victory Wednesday at Allen Fieldhouse.

Another product of bygone days wasn’t on the agenda. A late-afternoon fire in a concession stand infiltrated the arena with smoke that didn’t dissipate by game time. The smell reminded me of those days when fans could leave their seats at halftime and adjourn to the concourses, where it was permissible to fire up a cigarette.

Only the honor guard carrying the flags for the national anthem looked out of place. They were TOO retro, dressed as they were in Revolutionary War togs.

Basketball didn’t exist in those days, of course, although you have to believe that if Dr. Naismith had been born a century earlier, the dreadful winter at Valley Forge might have been more bearable if, for instance, the Harlem Globetrotters had shown up from time to time to keep the troopers’ minds off frostbite.

6Sports video: Seniors help Jayhawks knock off Wildcats 6News video: Family has ‘magical’ night at Fieldhouse Hear Bill, players: Kansas State postgame comments Hear Simien, Lee, Langford, Miles: Senior Night speeches Video: Seniors thank family, players and fans at Senior Night Photo Gallery: KU vs. Kansas StateJpgJpgJpgJpg Scorecard: Grade KU’s performance against Kansas State Fieldhouse at 50 Allen Fieldhouse Anniversary program 6Sports video: ‘The Stilt’ comes in as Fieldhouse’s No. 1 6News video: Changes coming to venerable fieldhouse Sign up for cell phone updates Sign up for e-mail updates

I couldn’t help but think, too, that while there may be no crying in baseball, tears flow in buckets in college basketball.

During the pregame ceremony honoring the seniors, not a single one of them had a dry eye. Keith Langford’s mom wiped his cheek a couple of times, and Wayne Simien was choked up as soon as he walked across the floor amid the obligatory flower shower to hug his parents.

Some moments by themselves are worthy of the price of admission, and, while it was nice to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Allen Fieldhouse, the fans came to witness the Senior Night tribute and, in most cases, anyway, the long-winded postgame senior speeches.

Overlooked among the pageantry, the passion, the tears and the filibusters was the fact Kansas had clinched at least a tie for the Big 12 Conference championship.

If the Jayhawks lose at Missouri in their regular-season finale Sunday, they could wind up in a tie with both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State for the conference crown.

If that happens, Oklahoma would receive the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big 12 tournament at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena based on head-to-head competition. But KU would be the second seed because it knocked off the Cowboys.

Still, it goes without saying the Jayhawks want to win the championship outright, and as sure as Allen Fieldhouse will be 51 years old next March 1, KU will have to perform at a higher level in Columbia, Mo., than it did against K-State.

Emotion may have been wafting all over Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night, but it wasn’t the on-the-floor emotion the Jayhawks displayed against Oklahoma State.

Not that it mattered. Few KU fans will ever forget the last two home games of the 2004-2005 season.