Lubbock, Texas ? At the airport, it was one maintenance man, with a tiny back-yard fertilizer dispenser filled with salt, against snow that was falling at a rate that had forecasters predicting the worst storm in 25 years.

At the hotel, upon check-in after an oh-so-slow cab ride, one desk clerk asked if we were in town for “the big game.”

“Big game?” the younger clerk asked. “What big game?”

She was wondering how there could be a big game in town when football season ended last month.

“I sure didn’t think you meant basketball when you were talking about a big game,” she said.

Bob Knight, winningest Div. I men’s coach of all-time, hasn’t converted Lubbock, a flat town filled with cotton farms, into basketball country, even if he has made the former Big 12 doormats into a tough out.

There was a strong Texas Tech presence at the airport, where a group of about 25 students wearing Red Raiders T-shirts burst into loud applause every time a football recruit walked through the revolving door that separated the passenger terminal from the baggage-claim area.

“Enjoy your weekend in Lubbock,” the students urged the recruits.

Showing they already possess the big-time athlete strut, most of the recruits didn’t even acknowledge the students with so much as a glance, much less a “thanks.”

Football players are treated like gods here. Given that, it’s worth wondering whether Knight could be persuaded to go to a place where snow storms are the norm and rabid college basketball fans are yearning for better times.

Could Knight end up back in the Big Ten at the University of Minnesota? Don’t completely rule it out, but if you’re a fan of Big 12 basketball, root against it.

It will feel plenty like basketball country inside at United Spirit Arena for today’s 3 p.m. tipoff because Kansas University is in town. Every school gets up for that.

When KU played here two seasons ago, the students stormed the court at the end of a controversial, 80-79 double-overtime Texas Tech victory.

Aaron Miles rebounded the ball with 7.9 seconds left, and the Tech coaches screamed, “Foul him!”

Those orders were followed, but the referee didn’t see it that way. Miles got smacked in the eye and was whistled for traveling. Darryl Dora hit the game-winning three-pointer with 3.6 seconds left, and a team that came into town with a 20-1 record finished the season 23-7, losing to Bucknell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Afterward, Kansas coach Bill Self said: “There’s so much at stake when you are talking about the league, the NCAAs and so much at stake, to lose a game like this obviously is going to be very, very disheartening.”

So much so the team appeared to be suffering from a five-week hangover from it.

“I think the biggest carryover effect through that game was we lost Christian (Moody), and right when Christian came back, we lost Keith (Langford),” Self said. “I think injuries had more of a play on that than anything. … That was a tough one, but there’s no excuse. We played that game on Monday and we had until Saturday to regroup and we just didn’t get it done.”

Today, KU will be trying to get it done for the 11th game in a row.