It’s marvelous to see that the myopics who got their needles stuck so long in one groove finally realized Darrell Arthur is not the only person involved in the Kansas University basketball program.

The 6-foot-9 Texan is a catch, but it got tiresome hearing virtually nothing about any other Jayhawk of late while Darrell waffled and dreamed. True, the media fostered the massive overkill, a la Pogo : “We have met the enemy and they is us.” But chat rooms, e-mails, blogs, phone calls and message boards showed countless souls also ate it up foolishly, even childishly.

How about C.J. Giles, Sasha Kaun, Julian Wright, Darnell Jackson, Brandon Rush, Russell Robinson and Mario Chalmers? They’ve held down the fort pretty niftily the past year or so. Sherron Collins and Brady Morningstar skipped the shadow-boxing long ago and also offer terrific promise.

The addition of Arthur will give KU perhaps the biggest, most talented and versatile 10-deep crew it EVER has had. But Bill Self’s Jayhawks were going to have a fine 2006-07 season whether Darrell Arthur or Cosmo Kramer got that final scholarship. Rodrick Stewart, Jeremy Case and Matt Kleinmann are around for cannon fodder.

I got the notion fans consider Arthur such a savior they’d congregate just to watch him walk across Potter Lake to go to class, or multiply fishes and loaves.

Wilt Chamberlain the guy ain’t. Danny Manning, well, maybe Arthur could be if he’d stick it out four years and anchor at least one NCAA title team. That’s a pretty tall order even for somebody with Darrell’s credentials. Raef LaFrentz, Nick Collison, Wayne Simien? Could be, but it’ll take four years to reach their level.

Heck, if Arthur is the phenomenon some wishful thinkers project him to be, he has to measure up to Tyler Hansbrough, the Poplar Bluff, Mo., kid who won national freshman-of-the-year honors in 2005-06 playing for Roy Williams at North Carolina. Another contender for that ’06 Fabulous Frosh honor was Rush. Maybe Rush ought to remind Darrell Arthur that it’s not as easy as he might be led to believe.

Let’s not shortchange the kids Self had set for his roster before Arthur moved into the mix. They publicly will declare how delighted they are to have Darrell as a compadre; they’ll also be pondering what they’ll do to make sure they get their minutes and their honors. If Arthur can be a straw that helps stir the drink to titular contention, all well and good. But I’ll bet right now the teammates are saying to themselves he will have to get his laurels the old-fashioned way, by earning them.

Humorist Jerry Seinfeld has a great take on something like this frenzy by fans to see who the new people might be, shifting focus from deserving guys who’ve long been toting the load. Jerry employs the TV remote control to make his point: “Women want the control to see what’s ON television; men want it to see what ELSE is on.”

As for sports and their impact on the scene, hope you saw our photo of that group of distinguished KU professors Saturday. Boss Dolph Simons Jr. had a great column about their significance and why they should draw more attention and support, since they help form the core of KU success.

Imagine if Jayhawk alumni and friends got as focused on people like that as they do on the recruitment of a Darrell Arthur. Those superstars have done it; so far, Darrell ain’t.