Lew Perkins strolled into Allen Fieldhouse around halftime of the Kansas University women’s basketball game and took his customary seat on the floor east of the north basket.

It was Sunday evening, and in about an hour Perkins was scheduled to appear at a media session that would reveal KU’s football bowl destination.

Momentarily, Perkins summoned Andrew Steinberg, one of the athletic department’s numerous assistant ADs, extracted a bill from his wallet and handed it to Steinberg.

At the time, I figured Perkins wanted a box of popcorn – the only item I’ve ever seen him consume at a basketball game – to stifle hunger pangs prior to the media conference.

As it turned out, however, Perkins had dispatched Steinberg to a nearby grocery store, and it wasn’t to purchase bags of Tostitos. When Perkins dispensed oranges at the media gathering, it was pretty obvious where they came from.

Not that it really made any difference whether Perkins had sent an aide for the munchies that sponsor the Fiesta Bowl or the citrus that symbolizes the Orange Bowl because the Fiesta and the Orange are both BCS big-money operations that will dispense the same amount of money to each participant.

Little doubt existed the Big 12 would have two BCS teams and that Oklahoma, winner of the league championship game, would be one of them. But who would be the other? Would it be Kansas or Missouri?

On paper, Missouri owned a clear-cut advantage. The Tigers had captured the head-to-head meeting, and were ranked higher than the Jayhawks in the BCS standings. Yet Kansas was the surprise choice.

Why did bowl organizers pick Kansas over Missouri? According to Ralph Russo of the Associated Press, it was because “the Jayhawks figure to travel better :”

Do you believe that? Does anyone really believe Kansas would send more fans to a bowl game than Missouri? Mizzou clearly has the larger fan base. The Tigers drew at least 10,000 more bodies per game than the Jayhawks during the regular season.

At best, you could perhaps rationalize that the two schools’ fan bases are a wash, but to suggest Kansas would lure more fans to a bowl site than Missouri makes no sense.

In monetary terms, it really didn’t make much difference whether Kansas went to the Orange Bowl and Missouri to the Cotton Bowl, or vice versa. Even if the two schools were flip-flopped, the Big 12 would bank almost the same check.

So this wasn’t about money. This was about prestige. This wasn’t about keeping up with the Joneses. This was about one-upmanship. This was all about the ability to trumpet a BCS appearance.

Perkins mentioned Sunday that he had been on the phone all Saturday night lobbying for the Jayhawks. Obviously, it wasn’t ALL night, and yet you have to wonder if Perkins’ jawboning tipped the scales.

Did Perkins promise the Orange Bowl something Missouri couldn’t? Or wouldn’t? Did Perkins guarantee KU would sell more tickets than Mizzou? Did he promise Miami would be deluged with KU fans?

Then again, maybe Perkins had nothing to do with Orange Bowl officials tapping Kansas. But I’m more inclined, based on his reputation as a behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealer, to think Perkins is the reason the Jayhawks fit into the BCS slipper.