The Big 12 Conference finally has a men’s basketball challenge series to call its own.

The league, which has negotiated with the Southeastern Conference and Pac-10 in the past for an early-season nationally-televised showcase of games, on Thursday announced completion of a four-year deal with the Pac-10 schools.

Two Pac-10 teams will play a pair of games in the challenge, making sure nobody in the

Big 12 is left out of the

November/December extravaganza.

“I think all of the coaches are pleased. It is a good way to bring notoriety to the league,” KU coach Bill Self said Thursday.

His Jayhawks will meet Arizona on Nov. 25 at Allen Fieldhouse in the initial game in the series, with KU returning the game to Tucson, Ariz., the following season.

“You are playing a good opponent like Arizona, plus the exposure will help market our league,” Self said of the positives of the challenge series. “I think our league deserves to be marketed in that form. We are one of the premier leagues. The Pac-10 is one of the premier leagues. I think it’s great for all parties.”

All but the KU-Arizona game and the Texas Tech-Stanford contest on Dec. 22 will be played in a window between Nov. 29 and Dec. 2.

“I’m sure they strategically put it on those dates,” Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie said, realizing Nov. 29-Dec. 2 figures to be a prime period when football is winding down and basketball emerging as a headline-grabber.

As to why the KU game will be played on the 25th, KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating explained: “We arranged that game prior to the whole schedule falling in. That also may have happened with the Stanford-Tech game.

“(Also) Arizona is playing two games in the series. They didn’t want to mandate a (Pac-10) team play a game at home and on the road in that short (four-day) window. Each year there will be a couple games that probably do not fall in what looks like the window.”

Contrary to rumor, the KU-

Arizona game does count in the challenge series standings, Keating stressed.

He indicated the home team’s TV network likely would carry the games. Thus, next year, the Big 12’s partner, ESPN, would carry the KU-Arizona game with the Pac-10-affiliated FOX network likely carrying the rematch the following season.

The other games in the challenge next year: Oregon at Kansas State, Oklahoma at USC, Washington State at Baylor, Iowa State at Oregon State, Washington at Oklahoma State, Missouri at California, Arizona State at Nebraska, Stanford at Colorado, Texas at UCLA, Texas A&M at Arizona and Stanford vs. Texas Tech at a site to be determined.

“This series of games with the Pac-10 will showcase some of the best college basketball in the country,” Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said. “Our two conferences annually produce highly rated teams and multiple NCAA Tournament teams. This series will provide quality matchups that will help to build the strength of our teams’ non-conference schedules. We are excited to have the opportunity to do this with the Pac-10 in a way that allows all of our teams to participate.”

Some of the league’s coaches like KU’s Self have been part of a challenge before. His Illinois team went 1-2 against ACC teams in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge from 2000 to 2002.

“Being part of the ACC-Big Ten challenge was so good to all the teams involved,” Self indicated.

“It brought great exposure to the league,” said Texas A&M’s Billy Gillispie, who spent two years as an assistant under Self at Illinois. “I’m sure this will be the same way.”

Texas Tech coach Bob Knight said he wasn’t eager to play on the West Coast so early in the season.

“There are plenty of teams within an hour’s flight that we can play in a non-conference season,” Knight said. “I don’t know. If the people in the conference office, who I think have done a really, really good job with this league, feel it’s something worthwhile, then let’s try it and see.”

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USC game separate: KU’s game at Southern California next season will not count as a game in the Challenge.

“All the games are return games,” said Keating, noting KU’s game against USC will be a return game completing a two-year home-and-home series with the Trojans. “Whoever plays next year will be a flip-flop. They wanted to set a cycle where the second year was a return. We’d need somebody different the following year. It’d upset the scheme of things.”

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Upcoming game: Iowa State coach Greg McDermott’s Cyclones will take an 11-5 record, 2-0 in the Big 12, into Saturday’s 1 p.m. home battle against KU (14-2, 1-0). The Cyclones are expecting a powerhouse opponent, similar to Ohio State, which handed ISU a 75-56 setback on Dec. 19 in Columbus, Ohio.

“We played Ohio State, and I think they (Jayhawks) are more talented than Ohio State,” McDermott said. “We’ll know more on Saturday, but I think Kansas is better. They can come at you in so many different ways. They are so balanced. They will be tough for us and anybody who plays them.”

The Jayhawks were to fly charter to Ames, Iowa this afternoon. Weather permitting, they’ll fly back right after the game.

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Anderson on rout of OSU: Missouri coach Mike Anderson took notice of KU’s 87-57 win over Oklahoma State on Wednesday. His Tigers will visit KU on Monday.

“Whether it’s by one point or 30, a loss is a loss,” he said. He was an assistant on the Arkansas team that fell at KU, 89-78, on Dec. 21, 1985. “Hopefully, we can get in there and avoid a loss. But you can’t compare scores. You can’t do that. If you do that, a lot of teams would just get beaten on paper and go home.

“You’ll see some scores like that,” Anderson said of the KU-OSU score. “As conference play continues, I think you’ll see a lot of games come down to the wire and be a lot closer.”

Of KU’s victory, Self assessed: “We are getting better. Last night was the best we’ve looked in a long time. Our practice sessions have been a lot better. Our second unit has done a great job lmaking life difficult on our first unit at practice, something we didn’t have the first month and a half.

“This tells us we have a chance to have a really good club if we continue to improve. It was just one game – one game where everything fell just right.”