KU junior Matt Kleinmann spent the summer working with an architecture firm in Kansas City and now sees things differently each time he enters Allen Fieldhouse.

Stepping into Allen Fieldhouse as he enters his fourth year as a student at Kansas University, redshirt junior Matt Kleinmann sees things through different eyes.

Following a summer internship with 360 Architecture in Kansas City, Mo., he now looks at the old barn – site of today’s 7 p.m. battle against UMKC – as both a college athlete and a hopeful designer.

“It was a neat chance for me to be on the outside looking in from a different perspective,” Kleinmann said. “There’s a great opportunity for me to be able to bring experience as a college basketball player and continue with sports down the road for a career.”

The Overland Park native spent the brunt of his summer days working with a team that helps design basketball arenas for college teams – naturally right up his alley.

So, first test. While sitting on the floor at Allen Fieldhouse, taking a gander around one of college basketball’s greatest venues, what would he change?

“I would not change a single thing in here,” Kleinmann said of the inner portion of the arena itself. “This has such a great tradition, and part of that’s because they haven’t touched it for over 50 years. And that’s an amazing thing to be able to come in here and say this is one of the best, if not the best, venues to play college basketball in the country.

“But I’m sure there’s a lot of facility stuff, locker rooms they’ve talked about, stuff like that that can really probably use improvements. They update stuff every five or 10 years, so there’s always a chance to update and that kind of stuff’s really interesting – especially here.

“It’s really neat to be outside of that bubble of KU basketball, working in Kansas City and getting to know people,” Kleinmann continued. “The last four years, three-and-a-half years, I spent as a KU basketball student-athlete. Now that transition phase is kind of interesting.”

But before Kleinmann gets in full-on “real-world” mode, he still has two more seasons of on-court eligibility.

If his internship created any hurdles for getting back on the court at summer’s end, it was that his conditioning needed some catching-up come August.

Kleinmann’s one escape for exercise this summer was a morning boxing class he took with teammates Cole Aldrich, Sasha Kaun and Sherron Collins.

With a regular 9-to-5 gig, it served as Kleinmann’s best means for a cardiovascular workout. Plus, Kleinmann said, he’s noticed improved positioning in the paint and footwork.

“It’s a lot about aggressiveness, getting really good timing,” he said. “As a post man, I know that anything I can do to get better footwork alone is more than enough. There’s very strong parallels to getting a rebound.”

Now Kleinmann could have some added tools to help him make a Christian Moody-like contribution as a veteran walk-on. But as always, he maintains his stance as a team guy – whether it be on the floor or in the office.

“It’s the little things that I want to do to help teammates, and that’s my goal,” he said. “And that’s the same approach (Moody) took – help the team get better first and good things will happen.”