KU's Sasha Kaun stuffs Nebraska's Aleks Maric. Kaun helped limit Maric to 19 points in the teams' first meeting Jan. 12.

A steady, sometimes spectacular basketball big man, Aleks Maric figures to make some money playing the game he loves.

“Nobody has told me that,” Maric, the University of Nebraska’s 6-foot-11, 275-pound senior center, said of being a “lock” for the NBA.

“I’ll leave that to the higher power, the man above. Who knows how injuries are going to go … if I’m going to make it to the NBA or when.”

Maric – he entered his name in the draft in the summer of 2006 but decided to return to school to play for coach Doc Sadler – is currently regarded as a second-round pick by NBAdraft.net.

That Website predicts NU’s leading scorer (16.6 ppg off 57.7 percent shooting) and rebounder (8.2) will be chosen No. 48 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He’d love to be an NBA rookie with international basketball experience. Maric dreams of representing his native Australia in this summer’s Beijing Olympics.

“I hope so. I love playing for my country. I’ll never turn it down,” said Maric, a second-team all-Big 12 pick last year named to the preseason all-league team before his senior season. “The Olympics is the ultimate goal, representing your country on that stage. I love Australia, especially Sydney.”

Maric, a Sydney native, was named to Australia’s 12-man national team roster in ’06 but was removed from the squad because of a shoulder injury suffered before the World Championships in Japan.

Maric, who will start for the Cornhuskers in today’s 12:45 p.m. battle at Kansas, scored 19 points off 7-of-12 shooting with four rebounds in NU’s 79-58 loss to KU on Jan. 12 in Lincoln, Neb.

KU senior pivot Sasha Kaun, who also is listed as a second-round pick by NBAdraft.net (No. 50, Golden State) scored 10 points off 4-of-6 shooting with three rebounds in that game.

“I think he is definitely capable of playing pro ball. He is a skilled guy. Skill wise and knowing the game … he’s a very smart player,” said Kaun, who has attended several camps with Maric in the past and considers him a friend.

Kaun won’t be the only Jayhawk worried about containing Maric today.

“I don’t think we did a good job of stopping him (in Lincoln),” Darnell Jackson said. “He’s a big guy who seals down on the post. We have to do a better job on him.”

“I guess we’ll have to try to keep the ball out of the deep post,” Brandon Rush said. “We outplayed them (Huskers) at their house. They’ll come in with more motivation.”

¢ Havoc sought: A goal for KU today might be causing some turnovers. The Jayhawks have forced an average of 11.0 turnovers in four conference games after forcing 20.1 in the nonconference season.

“Coach said yesterday we’re not forcing turnovers like we used to,” Rush said.

Self explained his stance: “We talked about how our defense can create more havoc. We are defending pretty solid. The competition is better. Missouri plays five perimeter players; Nebraska will play four. It’s harder to get them to turn it over.”

¢ Self addresses rumors: Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis recently wrote that there are rumors Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton isn’t on solid ground at OSU “partly because some folks in Stillwater harbor fantasies that they can throw enough money at Bill Self to get him to come home (to coach).”

Davis asked OSU athletic director Mike Holder if Sutton would be back next season.

“That’s what I would anticipate happening. He’s got a five-year contract … Right now I’m just trying to support Sean like any other coach, so I’m hoping we get a lot more wins between now and March Madness. Having a coaching background, I have some empathy for what it’s like to struggle,” Holder said.

KU coach Self was asked about the matter Friday morning on Jim Rome’s national talk show and by the local media before an afternoon practice.

“It’s not even worth talking about,” Self said. “I have one of the premier jobs in the country, and they’ve (Cowboys) got a good coach who is doing a good job. I coached him (at OSU). Certainly that’s not even in the thought process.

“People will say stuff all the time about various issues. Certainly that is not one that warrants any discussion.”

Other rumor mongers have said Self could become the next coach of the NBA’s SuperSonics if they move from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

“I’d not heard the Sonics. It’s unbelievable with the Internet and everything … it takes one person to say something one time and all of a sudden you have rumors going. There’s nothing to any of that at all,” Self said of both rumors. He indicated he’s not miffed at the rumors, that it goes with the territory in the Internet Age.

“I really enjoy going on Rome,” Self said of appearing on the show known as “The Jungle.”

¢ Ankle update: KU guard Sherron Collins, who sprained his right ankle last Friday and has played with pain since, is expected to be available today. Collins said he’s been receiving treatement “three to four times a day. It’s sore but I’m OK.”

¢ Tough loss: Nebraska, 11-5 overall and 0-3 in the Big 12, hasn’t played since last Saturday when the Huskers dropped a 72-70 decision to Baylor in Lincoln. It was Baylor’s first Big 12 road victory in 26 games.

“I really don’t know what to say,” an emotional NU coach Doc Sadler said after that game, one in which NU hit just 21 of 34 free throws. “I can’t ask for more effort than what we’re getting. It’s frustrating. But it is what it is. That’s what I told the team. : It’s gotta hurt. I mean, it’s the worst feeling since I’ve been here.”

Riding newfound momentum, the Bears won again on the road, in five overtimes, on Wednesday, at Texas A&M.

¢ Charities: Like KU, NU has had some problems at the free-throw line. The Huskers, who made 11 of 20 in their 21-point loss to KU in Lincoln, rank ninth in the league at 67.6 percent.

KU is 11th at 66.2. In league games only, NU ranks ninth at 63.4 percent; Kansas fourth at 74.2.

“Excluding Kansas, if we’re over 70 percent from the free-throw line, we have a chance to win every game. I firmly believe that,” Sadler told the Lincoln Journal-Star.