Kansas City, Mo. ? From where I’m sitting, the Big 12 looks like a four-bid league. Then again, I would need a significant upgrade to sniff the Bob Uecker seats on press row at the Sprint Center, a brand-new facility that best could be summed up in two words: nothing special.

Perhaps a better view of the action would reveal the subtleties that must be escaping me and are seen by others who attempt to frame it as a conference worthy of six spots in the NCAA Tournament. Doubtful.

Obviously, Kansas deserves a bid, and at least a No. 2 seed, even if it didn’t play like a tournament team in the first half of Friday night’s 64-54 quarterfinal victory against an undersized Nebraska that is nowhere near as talented as any team that will earn an at-large berth on Selection Sunday.

The stands were packed with Kansas fans, but they weren’t much heard from until the second half. Their silence was perfectly understandable. For one thing, many of them were gassed from enduring first the hassle of finding someplace to park, and then making the long, hilly walk to the Sprint Center. Plus, what exactly happened that would inspire them to cheer in the first half? Nothing.

KU committed 12 first-half turnovers and trailed 27-22 going into the locker room for disappointed coach Bill Self’s lecture.

“That’s good for us,” Rush said of the game. “We’re going to have some games in the tournament where we’re going to have to grind it out, grind it out, grind it out.”

Beware of the trap door. The grinders KU faces in the tourney after the first round will be more difficult to shake than the Cornhuskers, so it’s important the Kansas players realize they can’t play the way they did Friday and get away with it.

Kansas will find out in the tourney that the Big 12 Conference, beyond the top four teams, reeks of mediocrity by comparison to juggernauts such as the Pac-10 and Big East. The Jayhawks have the talent, coaching, and experience to take on all comers, but only if the sort of listless effort evident in the first 20 minutes Friday isn’t seen again until November, when the multi-directional schools visit Allen Fieldhouse for paydays and pastings.

One such stiff awaits Kansas in the first round of the tourney. How many Big 12 teams join the Jayhawks in the field of 65 will be known Sunday.

Texas should get at least a No. 2 seed. Kansas State went 10-6 in conference play and has the nation’s best player, Michael Beasley, so give the Wildcats a spot.

Oklahoma, despite a style of play more befitting of C-SPAN than ESPN, certainly has earned a spot.

Baylor? The Bears have gone 5-8 in their last 13 games, a stretch that included a four-game losing streak in February and an opening-round 91-84, double-overtime loss to Colorado, no way to finish a drive for a berth.

Texas A&M? As impressive as those nonconference victories over Ouachita Baptist, Arkansas Pine Bluff and Florida A&M were, the Aggies went 8-8 in Big 12 play. Friday’s 63-60 victory against K-State was a step in the right direction, but a victory today against Kansas is needed to guarantee a place, and it’s a victory the Aggies won’t get.