Whomever Kansas University’s basketball team plays in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, it will be playing an unknown opponent with a major chip on its shoulder.

Kansas (30-4) is slated to play in Chicago on Friday against the winner of the play-in game. That showdown, scheduled for Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, will feature Florida A&M and Niagara battling for the 16th seed in the West region.

Both coaches were livid at being selected for the play-in game, both for the travel inconvenience and the diminishing of the honor that went with winning their conference tournament.

“We’ve earned the right by winning our tournament,” FAMU coach Mike Gillespie Sr. said. “There are teams that didn’t win their tournament, didn’t win their league, that are already in.”

Niagara coach Joe Mihalich agreed.

“Let me be diplomatic here. I’m confused,” Mihalich said. “There were five schools with a lower RPI than us, and our conference was ranked 24th, not as good as we’ve been, as we were 15th last year. We’ve won 11 in a row.

“I don’t know how they came to this, but they did, and we have to go play a game on Tuesday.”

Niagara basketball player Charron Fisher, right, explains to teammate Rydell Brooks why they have to play a qualifying basketball game to gain a spot in the NCAA tournament. Niagara will face Florida A&M in the play-in game Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner advancing to play Kansas University in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday in Chicago.

The play-in game has been controversial since its inception in 2001, after the Mountain West and Western Athletic conferences split up and each was given an automatic bid. The women’s NCAA Tournament decided to reduce its number of at-large bids. The men decided to implement the play-in game to preserve the at-large opportunities.

This year’s edition will be especially rough on Florida A&M. The Rattlers (21-13) won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday with a 58-56 win over Delaware State. The victory was clinched when Brian Greene hit the game-winning jump shot with one second left, sparking a mob at center court.

Florida A&M’s players then returned to Tallahassee, Fla., from Raleigh, N.C., early Sunday morning. Now, they’re leaving for Dayton early this morning on a hastily-arranged flight.

“Our guys haven’t slept,” Gillespie said. “If we’re talking about the best interest of the student-athlete, this isn’t it. This is an injustice.”

Florida A&M participated in the play-in game in 2004, too, beating Lehigh before moving on and losing, 96-76, to top-seeded Kentucky.

But the game is new to Mihalich and the Purple Eagles. Niagara, a school in upstate New York north of Buffalo, is 22-11 and got its automatic berth by beating Siena, 83-79, to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament.

Florida A&M coach Mike Gillespie celebrates with his team following their 58-56 win over Delaware State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament final on Saturday in Raleigh, N.C.

Mihalich, though disagreeing with the placement, feels his team can use it as motivation.

“You can look at the glass half-empty or the glass half-full, and we’ve decided the committee just did us a favor,” Mihalich said. “We’ll go to Dayton, and we’ll play a champion, a team who won a great game (Saturday) on a last-second tip-in.

“We’ve practiced real hard, we’re ready to play, and we’re in a great frame of mind. These guys can’t wait to get going.”

Florida A&M finds plenty of drive, too. The Rattlers have six players from the Chicago area, the next leg of their seemingly endless road trip if they can survive Tuesday’s unwanted showdown.

“Realistically, the talent level between Florida A&M and Kansas is night and day,” Gillespie said. “But our guys are fearless. They believe they could beat the Chicago Bulls in the United Center if they had to.”