St. Louis ? Down by the Mississippi River under the Gateway Arch sits the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial — arguably the most insipidly named national monument in the nation.

The site should be called the How the West Was Won National Monument. That’s what it’s all about. The museum depicts, through an assortment of exhibits, how manifest destiny forged the United States into the greatest nation in the world.

I’m beginning to believe manifest destiny also applies to Kansas University’s men’s basketball team. The more the Jayhawks reach the NCAA Final Four, the stronger they become in pursuit of the national title.

Two years ago, Kansas reached the Final Four because it had plenty of oxen. Coach Roy Williams’ team really could pull the wagons. In fact, I still believe Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Boschee, Aaron Miles, Wayne Simien and Keith Langford comprised the best nucleus is school history.

Last year, minus Gooden and Boschee, the Jayhawks had to work harder while suffering more adversity — mainly Simien’s shoulder injury — to reach the last stop. But they made it.

This year, with two more oxen (Hinrich and Collison) left behind and with a new trail boss in Bill Self, the Jayhawks are nonetheless one game away from reaching the promised land.

One of the questions most asked by the media of the Kansas players and coaches in St. Louis is whether the experience of playing in back-to-back Final Fours gave the Jayhawks an advantage against opponents who hadn’t been there in years, if ever.

Or to resurrect that old World War I ditty, how you gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen Paree?

All the pregame give-and-take is merely rhetoric. Georgia Tech’s players, for instance, said Saturday they didn’t believe the Jayhawks would have an edge based on their Final Four experience going into today’s showdown at the Edward Jones Dome.

“I don’t think it makes too big of a difference,” Tech guard Marvin Lewis said. “We’ve been in big games before.”

Sure, they have. Heck, the Yellow Jackets won at Duke earlier this month, and hardly anybody ever leaves Cameron Indoor Stadium a winner. But this is the NCAA Tournament, where tomorrow can be the first day to begin preparing for next season — a day without sunshine even with nary a cloud in the sky.

All five KU starters sat on a dais and fielded questions from the media for about 30 minutes Saturday afternoon. During that span, the five acted as loose as the loosest slot machines in Las Vegas (sorry, NCAA, about the gambling analogy).

Even the lone KU starter who never has been to a Final Four — freshman guard J.R. Giddens — was, uh, giddy. As Giddens sat next to senior Jeff Graves, he switched name placards with Graves, then switched them back, all the while smiling. Giddens may not have a rigid bone in his body.

Even Wayne Simien — described by Self as a “deep thinker” — was smiling and grinning from time to time, as were Miles and Langford, who already have climbed the mountain twice.

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In the media-session setting, one KU player would be asked a question — for the most part about making the adjustment from Williams to Self — and the others would giggle in a way that must have reminded them of a memorable midseason moment that never would be revealed for public consumption.

That’s just another way of bonding, of course. Shared team experiences, like shared intimacies, stay within certain boundaries.

We know a lot about this KU team at this stage, as we should. We know it has battled through nagging injuries all season. We know it can struggle on short rest. We know the bench lacks scoring punch.

We also know Simien is a stallion, Miles is a bulldog, Langford is a gamer, Giddens is a gazelle and Graves is an enigma without a Rolex.

We’re aware of this team’s strengths and weaknesses from Assists to Zebras. Most of all, we know that if the Jayhawks do roll a turkey and make a third straight Final Four appearance, they will do so as much because of their intangibles as with their tangibles.