Auburn Hills, Mich ? Tyler Cedarlind can’t believe his Irish luck.

Cedarlind, who graduated from Kansas University, will get a chance to watch his Jayhawks in person tonight as they take the court at The Palace of Auburn Hills for their NCAA Tournament opener against Bradley.

The game also will get him out of another celebration: an authentic Irish dinner with the in-laws right here in the greater Detroit area, where Cedarlind and his wife, Lark, have been living since he graduated from KU in 2000.

Pardon the science teacher for cutting a little jig at his good fortune.

“St. Patrick’s Day is a big holiday in Michigan – a huge holiday in Michigan,” he said Thursday evening, as he joined several hundred people to watch the Jayhawks practice at The Palace. “My wife’s family is so Irish that they cook corned beef and cabbage every year. Every year.

“This game is something that’s interfering with the family’s planning, but priorities – ahem – have to take over.”

So go ahead and pinch Cedarlind today if you want to. Over and over.

If KU wins, he’ll be dreaming anyway.

“There’s no green,” he said. “St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a holiday this year. If it’s not crimson and blue, it won’t be on my body. I’ll probably find some green beer before the game, but I’ll be like everyone else: It’s basketball, and it’s crimson and blue.”

Dozens of KU fans, and players, share similar thoughts about the annual holiday that usually spurs community parades, penchants for pinching and far-from-spontaneous consumption of all things green.

But this is March Madness, which trumps them all.

“We’ve got a game to play,” said Russell Robinson, a KU guard who admits that about the only green he’ll be sporting will be the two $1 bills in his pocket before the game.

Matt Kleinmann, a redshirt freshman forward, reminds everyone that his last name is German for “small man.”

And he’s 6-10.

“Here’s the thing,” Kleinmann said. “A lot of people assume I’m Irish, because I have red hair. But I’m German, 100 percent. There’s no Irish blood at all. I don’t think we have any green uniforms. There’s no green shoes. I think we’re going to be strictly game day – no Lucky Charms. We’ll just treat it like any other day.

“My holiday is March Madness. It falls under the headline of basketball. There isn’t anything else.”

Jeremy Case, a sophomore guard, thinks he might have found a way to stay focused while still squeezing a little green into the lineup for tonight’s game.

“I might put a green mark on my shoe or something, with green marker,” Case said. “Look for it on the top.”

But don’t worry, fans. He won’t be pulling out a Sharpie during the game.

“It’s not like T.O.,” he said, alluding to Terrell Owens’ semi-notorious signing of a football after scoring a touchdown. “It’s just green.”

Others could use a little luck.

Bob Gomez, a longtime ticket broker from Kansas City, Mo., didn’t expect to be taking time off this week, but he didn’t have much choice. KU is playing in a 23,585-seat arena with tickets still available at the box office.

He’s not selling anything this week.

But he’s happy to be a fan, and drove 750 miles to catch a Chicago Bulls game on the way to Auburn Hills. He even picked up a couple green Bulls T-shirts in Chicago, emblazoned with Kirk Hinrich’s name on the back so that he could sport the green at tonight’s game and, he hopes, Sunday afternoon.

If KU makes it to the regionals next weekend in Oakland, Gomez figures, his business luck will turn around.

“A lot of people are thinking we’re going to Oakland anyway,” he said. “That’ll be a tougher ticket.”