Eleven of the 60 players projected by espn.com to be selected in tonight’s NBA draft faced Kansas University this past season and for the most part didn’t do too much damage against the Jayhawks.

Texas’ LaMarcus Aldridge and P.J. Tucker did shred KU in the regular-season game at Austin, Texas, but those were exceptions.

The 11 prospects projected to go in the top 48 in the draft averaged 15.8 points and shot .485 from the field during the season. Against KU, those totals dropped to 13.4 ppg and .389.

KU led the nation in field-goal-percentage defense (.370) and didn’t do so by fattening up on stiffs. (See chart).

Sitting next to KU coach Bill Self at a golf skins game news conference Tuesday, new Kansas State coach Bob Huggins offered an opinion as to the key to the Jayhawks’ defense.

“The guy sitting to my left is why they play such good defense,” Huggins said. “They play great defense everywhere he’s been. When you combine that with having long, athletic guys. : But the most important thing is they’re fundamentally sound because they’re extremely well coached.”

Said Self: “We’ve been in the top 10 in the country in field-goal-

percentage defense in, I think, six of the last seven years. We’ve always guarded well, but I think these guys have natural, instinctive things, plus great length, and that makes a big difference. If you can slide and you’re long, you can cover a lot of ground.”

Think Brandon Rush shutting down Terrell Everett in the final moments of the comeback victory over Oklahoma in Allen Fieldhouse. Think help defenders clogging the lane when Kentucky’s Rajon Rondo made his move.

The physical play of Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson and the shot-blocking abilities of C.J. Giles and Julian Wright gave KU different ways to shut down teams on the inside as well.

“Field-goal-percentage defense isn’t necessarily THE stat because steals can offset baskets,” Self said. “Our guys did such a good job of stealing the ball and being sound. That was the thing that amazed me. Most of the time if field-goal-percentage defense is that low, the team doesn’t have many steals.”

Once Julian Wright began to eat away at Christian Moody’s minutes and Mario Chalmers stole much of Jeff Hawkins’ playing time, KU began forcing far more turnovers yet didn’t get any less sound defensively. Those lineup changes played a big factor in a second-half-of-the-season surge that carried the Jayhawks to a first-place tie in the Big 12 regular season and to the conference tournament championship.

In an opening-round upset loss to Bradley, KU did a sound job of containing the best NBA prospect, Patrick O’Bryant, but was shredded by second-tier NBA prospect Marcellus Sommerville. That seemed to be the trend all season for KU: Shut down the top prospects, get burned by lesser ones.

Chet Stachitas of St. Joseph, who torched KU for 27 points, won’t be drafted. Neither will Nevada’s Nick Fazekas, who five nights earlier dropped 35 points on the Jayhawks. Fazekas entered his name for the NBA Draft, but withdrew it because talent evaluators, unimpressed by his speed, quickness and explosiveness, didn’t project him as a first-round selection.

Thomas Gardner, who scored 40 points in a victory over KU, is ranked as the 89th-best prospect by espn.com. Sommerville, whose 21 points played a huge part in giving KU a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, is rated 84th by the all-sports Web site.