Here’s a fun fact Kansas University’s men’s basketball coaches will be quick to reveal when visiting with the many blue-chip prospects attending Friday’s Late Night in the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse:

Thirteen ex-Jayhawks are in NBA camps, drawing paychecks during the exhibition season.

The NBA, of course, is the ultimate goal of most preps who consider top programs like KU.

Last year, Kansas had nine players compete during the NBA regular season, the same total as UConn. Kentucky led all colleges with 13 players, followed by Duke with 10. Nebraska and Iowa State had four apiece, tying for second behind KU in the Big 12 Conference.

“There’s nine guys who have guaranteed contracts right now,” KU coach Bill Self reported, referring to Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce (Boston); Kirk Hinrich (Chicago); Drew Gooden (Cleveland); Scot Pollard (Indiana); Jacque Vaughn (New Jersey); Nick Collison (Seattle); Greg Ostertag (Utah); and Wayne Simien (Miami).

After that …

“We hope Aaron (Miles), Billy (Thomas), Keith (Langford) and Eric (Chenowith) will end up on rosters and give Kansas 13,” Self said. “It’d put us right at the very top of colleges that produce NBA players. I think they have realistic chances. We’re pulling for all of those guys.”

Miles is in camp with the Golden State Warriors, Thomas with the Washington Wizards, Langford with the Houston Rockets and Chenowith with the Denver Nuggets.

“They are all excited,” Self said of the players trying to earn a living in the NBA.

One player whose status with his team has changed a bit since NBA Draft Day is Simien. The Heat have a whopping 19 players in camp, including guys like Alonzo Mourning and Udonis Haslem, who will battle Simien for precious minutes next to Shaquille O’Neal.

In the offseason, the team added Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, Jason Williams and James Posey to a team already stacked with talent.

“He obviously will have to perform at a pretty high level to play over Antoine or Udonis,” Self said. “Wayne told me things are going well. He is working on doing some different things. If he can do some things they want him to do, he said he’ll get some time. He also said they are loaded, and they are … they are loaded.”

Heat coach Stan Van Gundy loves Simien.

“He is the most fundamental big guy I’ve ever seen coming out of college. It’s unbelievable,” Van Gundy told the Miami Herald on Friday. “He does a great job positioning on the boards and getting the ball in the low post.”

¢ Collins stars on gridiron: One recruit who will attend Late Night is Sherron Collins, a 5-foot-11 senior guard from Chicago’s Crane High. Collins, who has a final list of KU, Iowa and Illinois, also is a standout football player.

He scored on a 43-yard interception return and threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Claude Bowen on a flea flicker in Friday’s victory over Chicago Austin. Collins finished with two interceptions and two receptions for 41 yards as Crane improved to 5-2.

“This is what I’m capable of doing all the time,” Collins said. “We had everything going for us,” Collins told Chicago’s Sun-Times.

The game was called with 4:36 to play after personal-foul penalties were called against both teams and a small skirmish broke out among rival players following Collins’ touchdown pass.

The other senior to attend Late Night will be Darrell Arthur, a 6-9 forward from Dallas who is considering KU, Indiana, North Carolina, Baylor, SMU and Texas.

Juniors who have said they would attend: Cole Aldrich, 6-10, Bloomington, Minn.; Alex Legion, 6-3, Detroit; plus prep teammates Jeremy Price (6-9) and Lance Storrs (6-5) of Decatur, Ga. Kansas City Central sophomore Travis Releford (6-3) also will attend. Tyrel Reed, a 6-2 junior from Burlington, also may be on hand.