Thanks to the hiring of a pair of new coaches, it’s going to be a great deal tougher for Kansas University to make it through the Big 12 Conference with a 13-3 record.

You know who benefits from that the most, other that chief rivals Kansas State and Missouri?

Kansas.

That’s right, Kansas.

The tougher it is for the Jayhawks to get through the Big 12 season and conference tournament, the better prepared they’ll be for any surprises that might be waiting for them in the NCAA Tournament.

The more contrasting styles they face in the Big 12, the better.

Kansas State’s new coach, Bob Huggins, and Missouri’s brand-new hire, Mike Anderson, know each other well, having coached against each other in Conference USA when Huggins was at Cincinnati and Anderson was at UAB. Their teams had a couple of things in common: They each put five quick athletes on the floor and put more of a premium on quickness and explosiveness than on height and bulk.

Both coaches relied heavily on pressure defense, though Anderson’s teams applied it even more relentlessly, trapping in a random sort of way that made them difficult to scout. KU had no trouble exploiting the “40 minutes of hell” style in a 100-74 tourney victory in 2004, but it won’t always be that easy. Both coaches have a knack for teaching and motivating.

Anderson’s mentor, Nolan Richardson, was the most underrated coach of his time, and it was only his mouth, not his performance, that cost him his job.

Unlike Richardson, for whom he played at Tulsa and coached under at Arkansas, Anderson is not a controversial figure. In Richardson, Anderson has a winning resource on whom he banks for advice.

Unlike Huggins, Anderson brings no baggage, so there was no reason for Mizzou administrators to shy from him the way they shied from Huggins.

As well as Anderson’s teams performed at UAB, where he had an 89-41 record with three NCAA Tournament appearances in four years, being able to recruit to the Big 12, instead of to Conference USA, should before long give Anderson even more talented rosters.

John Calipari, a pipe dream from the start, would have been the ideal pick for Mizzou, but he had no interest in leaving Memphis.

Texas, the final Big 12 school in the NCAA Tournament, was bounced in overtime Saturday by LSU, but with the news of Anderson’s hiring breaking, the conference still came out a winner on the day.

State-of-the-art facilities; deep, rich basketball traditions; and strong fan support all are important factors in making for strong conferences, yet no single factor trumps the quality of a league’s coaches.

Consider the names the Big 12 can boast: Bob Knight, Rick Barnes, Bill Self, Huggins, Kelvin Sampson, Anderson. Texas A&M has made remarkably quick strides under Billy Gillispie. Scott Drew has upgraded Baylor’s talent, and it will start to show next season. Iowa State made a needed change, and Greg McDermott, the former Northern Iowa coach, will get a chance to show what he can do on a bigger stage, as will Sean Sutton when he replaces his father.

The Big 12 didn’t get any bigger with the hiring of new coaches. It did get better.