Item: Iowa State’s Curtis Stinson became the eighth Big 12 Conference basketball player to record a triple-double Saturday.

Query: Has a Kansas University player ever notched a triple-double?

Officially, no. Unofficially, yes.

According to meticulous mastermind Bill Mayer, our resident Wilt Chamberlain expert, Uncle Dippy – as Mayer loves to dub the legendary one – recorded at least a pair of triple-doubles during his two-year stint with the Jayhawks in the late 1950s.

Both involved points, rebounds and blocked shots. But blocks did not become an official NCAA statistic until the 1970s. Neither did assists, the other common road to triple-doubledom.

Since the inclusion of blocked shots and assists into the pantheon of college stats, several KU players have flirted with triple-doubles.

The latest was point guard Aaron Miles, who collected 14 points, nine assists and nine steals against Iowa State in 2003.

Three more former Jayhawks came within two of the magic circle – Danny Manning, Jerod Haase and David Magley. All three had double-figure scoring and rebounding games in which they also were credited with eight assists.

At first thought, you might suspect the 6-foot-11 Manning, who owns a handful of school career records, also would have come close via the blocked-shot route, but Manning didn’t fit the mold. He was a far better passer than shot-blocker. Manning finished with 342 career assists and 200 blocks.

In fact, of the 14 instances of near triple-doubles in the KU record book, only one contains blocked shots. That would be Greg Ostertag. In 1994 against Oklahoma State, the 7-foot-1 Ostertag had nine points, 11 boards and eight blocks.

Also on the list are near-misses for guards Darnell Valentine, Cedric Hunter and Kirk Hinrich. And yet, unlike Miles, the third strong category for that backcourt trio wasn’t steals. It was rebounds.

As a matter of fact, Miles and only two others are listed because of steals, and their names will surprise you – Nick Collison and Mark Randall. Collison had 24 points, 16 rebounds and seven steals against Oklahoma State in ’03. And Randall had 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals against SMU in 1989.

The remaining names on the list are Alonzo Jamison and Mike Maddox.

Mike Maddox??? It’s true. Even though Maddox didn’t become a regular until his senior year and averaged only a little more than seven points a game, the 6-foot-7 forward collected 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists against Oklahoma in 1991.

Now a mover-and-shaker bank president in Lawrence, Maddox’s best all-around performance as a Jayhawk came only six days after Jamison had recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists against Pepperdine.

Who will be the first KU basketball player to notch an official triple-double? Of the current crop, I’d say the two with the best shot are Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers.

Theoretically, Rush would do it through the points-rebounds-assists route, whereas Chalmers most likely would be via points, assists and steals.

I realize Chalmers also could do it with double-digit turnovers, but the turnover is the only individual statistic diligently compiled during games and completely ignored by the NCAA.