Some basketball teams can get away with mental lapses on defense, occasional breakdowns on the boards and fits of sloppiness because they are so adept at the college game’s great equalizer, the three-point shot.

Kansas University, ranked sixth in the country and picked to win the Big 12 Conference, doesn’t happen to be one of those teams.

If the Jayhawks justify their ranking, they will need to do so the hard way, by consistently out-hustling opponents, forcing them into costly mistakes, and minimizing their own turnovers. It doesn’t leave a great margin for error.

Contrary to what some might believe, Kansas can’t simply overwhelm teams with “talent,” a word too often thrown around about players who run faster, jump higher and dunk harder than most. Shooting is a talent, too, and there aren’t an abundance of shooters remaining in the program.

The Jayhawks’ intensity can’t fluctuate at either end because it doesn’t look as if KU will be able to rely on out-shooting its foes.

“We’re last in the league in three-point makes per game,” KU coach Bill Self pointed out.

The Jayhawks average 5.8 three-point field goals per game and rank ninth in the conference with an accuracy rate of .357. (They also are ninth in another indicator of pure shooting touch, hitting .671 from the free-throw line).

Self said he would like to see the team’s three-point percentage move close to 40 for the Big 12 season, and with Mario Chalmers increasing his attempts and accuracy, it just might.

Not that KU always needs to shoot well from long distance to defeat quality opponents. In victories against Florida, Southern California, and South Carolina, the Jayhawks shot an abysmal .255 on three-point attempts.

“I don’t think we’ve been as aggressive looking to shoot three-pointers as we were last year,” Self said. “However, we also have better inside scoring than we did last year.”

Getting the ball into Darrell Arthur never is a bad idea, but it would behoove the Jayhawks to look for scoring three points at a time more often than they have been. Just the opposite, by the way, can be said of Oklahoma State star Mario Boggan, who makes 69 percent of his two-point shots and less than 16 percent of his three-pointers, which hasn’t kept him from hoisting two long shots per game.

Getting his players to shoot more three-pointers is the issue for Self.

“I would say Brandon passes up open shots,” Self said. “Mario and Sherron (Collins) may pass up one or two a game and Russell (Robinson) is not looking to shoot as much as last year.”

Robinson, shooting .241 from long distance and averaging two attempts a game, should look to shoot even less, but Chalmers, Collins and Rush shouldn’t pass on open three-pointers and shouldn’t look over their shoulders jacking them.

Chalmers shot .425 and Rush .491 from beyond the arc in Big 12 play a year ago. If they can duplicate those numbers in a conference season that tips off tonight, it’s going to be tough for any of the other 11 teams to beat the Jayhawks, considering the games against the other three ranked Big 12 teams – No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 9 Oklahoma State, No. 25 Texas – all will be played in Allen Fieldhouse.