LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Wasn't it Dorothy who lamented to that cute little Toto that "we aren't in Kansas anymore"?

Or was it Roy Williams whose Kansas team didn't seem to be in Kansas anymore? At least not as of Saturday afternoon when No. 1 (any more questions?) Arizona kept climbing back into another significant game, kept clawing away at a huge deficit, kept sending wave upon wave of athletes out onto the hallowed hardwood of Allen Field House, until the home team had been swallowed into oblivion by the same kind of mighty twister that sent Dorothy and her dog, and most of the other Kansans in the vicinity, hurtling into Oz.

Not that the proud Jayhawks were left searching for their courage, heart or brains. Or that they were left to stew in some kind of Totoian mess, muttering like, well, mutts. But after Lute Olson and his rapidly rapacious horde had finished their stunning 91-74 blowout -- a goateed, lefthander named Salim Stoudamire absolutely tornadoing the house for a career high 32 points mostly from downtown Topeka as Kansas was fogged in Phog for the first time in 26 games -- the losers did sound confused.

"This was unbelievable," said Kansas' Nick Collison.

"I don't think I know what happened," said Kansas' Jeff Graves.

"It's impossible to figure out, much less explain it," said Williams.

So it was left to Kansas' Keith Langford -- the slashing swingman who had ripped Arizona for 22 points in that halcyon first half in which the Jayhawks had once led by 20, but who could only scratch for five points in the second half when they were outscored by 30 -- to sound the simple, irrefutable explanation about his team's worst home defeat in 14 years. "It go in ... " said the wily new Wizard of Oz and latter-day logician of Lawrence, "... or it don't."

It Go In for Kansas at will in the first half when the Jayhawks looked every bit the contender for national honors they were perceived to be at the beginning of the season when this matchup looked like it would be Number One vs Number Two in college hoops' own Super Bowl weekend. Arizona had held up its end by shrugging off a lone loss at LSU and rising again to the top. "They've got three guys I tried my darndest to recruit -- and they don't even start," said Williams, speaking of freshmen Hassan Adams and Andre Iguodala and Kansas native Dennis Latimore. "We're not playing Alvamar Tech here, folks."

Meanwhile, Kansas had stumbled out of the box before winning 10 in a row to climb back up to No. 6. But a shocking loss at Colorado earlier in the week was another setback -- exposing the team's lack of depth, especially on the boards. "We'd rather have had them won," Olson said, flicking any advantage aside as easily as he flicks that silver mane into place. "Guys who are really competitive play the next game with smoke coming out of their ears."

Smoke was billowing everywhere as the homeboys tore apart both Olson's newly installed 1-3-1 zone defense (with Luke Walton out top and little Jason Gardner underneath) and the Wildcats' man-to-man, as well. Early on, the inexperienced Graves -- an emergency fill-in for KU center Wayne Simien who dislocated his shoulder earlier this month -- got loose inside as Gardner looked lost and Olson fried the ears off his soft center, Channing Frye. The Arizona coach was concerned he had nobody to go head-up against either of the Jayawks' All-Americans, Collison or versatile two-guard Kirk Hinrich. He was probably right, but as Kansas roared to a 44-24 lead mostly against the zone, Arizona actually did resemble Alvamar Tech ... the Al Tech jayvees.

"Yeah, we were embarrassed. This is what we do, we're number one and we're getting blown out? We were getting embarrassed all over the court," said Walton, who not only didn't guard anybody in the opening stanza but was hurtling headlong into traffic -- thank heavens Daddy Bill was not calling the contest -- and had twice as many turnovers (4) as points (2). It wasn't just the Arizona defense that was awful, either. (A couple of Kansans named Jeff Hawkins and Michael Lee even swished 3s, quickly forcing the Arizona staff to check their scouting résumés.)

At the other end, against the haunted wail of that "Rock ... Chalk ... Jayhawk" hometown noise, Gardner delivered a month's worth of uncatchable stuff. Twice he fired passes nowhere near a teammate and so far out of bounds that Walton and Stoudamire stared at him in disbelief, possibly wondering if The Lutester would call his own granddaughter, Julie Brase, the assist leader off the Arizona women's team, to the rescue.

By halftime, although the visitors had cut the lead to 52-39, it didn't seem to matter. The old Field House was sizzling with electricity, Kansas had shot nearly 65 percent with 14 assists and eight steals; the frontline of Collison, Graves and Langford had dominated the lane, combining for 41 points and 10 rebounds to their counterparts' 12 and 4; and Williams seemed so confident he stayed out on the court for much of the intermission, emceeing ceremonies in which former Kansas star (and current Celtic) Paul Pierce's uniform number was retired.

Olson, of course, was not exactly asleep at the wheel in the Arizona locker room. The recent Hall of Famer didn't get particularly, hysterically mad -- although you could have fooled the red-faced, mistake-prone 'Cats who felt his sideline wrath. He just got even.

"Yeah, he was angry. He challenged us," said Walton.

"Lute told them he was embarrassed, that he never thought he'd say a team was tougher than us. It was the first time in his career he didn't think we could guard a team man-to-man, that we were getting out-fought. Sure, I've seen him more upset," laughed Arizona associate head coach Jim Rosborough, "like maybe in the old days at Iowa when we were getting our butts whipped every night."

"He questioned us, questioned our manhood. That got us going," said Stoudamire, who has never been above questioning the coach right back -- sometimes in the surly manner of his cousin, the former Arizona guard (and current Trailblazer) Damon Stoudamire.

Such behavior, including some serious lip in the Arizona State game three days earlier -- "He was pouting and sulking. He knew it and the whole team knew it," said Rosborough -- earned Stoudamire a long seat on the pine as the 'Cats held off their dangerous Sun Devil rivals. But after his team's and his own personal explosion on Saturday, the SS storm trouper owned up.

"Coach said a negative attitude affects the whole team," Stoudamire said. "My body language, slouching on the bench, stuff like that. I agreed, totally. I'm through doing that. I learned my lesson. I got positive and stayed positive."

Indeed, with Arizona slouching into the second half seemingly out of weapons, it enabled Stoudamire to be even more liberal with his wild, free-spirited shot, ahem, selection.

Reporter: " You looked like you were going to fire it up from anywhere."

Stoudamire: "Somebody had to. It's got to be me. I'm by far the best shooter on this team."

And, so moments after the break ...

With the halftime cheers for Pierce still ringing through the rafters (no problem), with Kansas' senior stars set to do their thing, Hinrich shooting a 3 (no problem), Collison poised to outlet the rebound (no problem), whoops ...

(PROBLEM!)

Suddenly out of nowhere Stoudamire darted for the steal, raced down the court and converted a layup. Snap ... crackle ... Just like that, the contest popped Arizona's way. Three ... four ... five times down the court came Kansas. Result, nothing. Eight ... nine ... 10 times down the court, a foul shot, big deal. On their 12th trip of the second half, the Jayhawks' Collison somehow managed to sneak away for a breaker. But by that time Arizona had gone 10-0 and 15-1 to take the lead on the way to a crushing 30-9 run during which they also tightened up that zone (a defense Olson calls "50").

In the process, Stoudamire switched with Walton at the top to give the 'Cats more size on the wings. The effect was that Kansas kept fanning on its trifectas (16 of 24 misses) and the inside kept being shut off, while Collison and Langford were denied any more open looks; the two combined for 14 baskets in the first half, four in the second. That's compared to the team totals of nine baskets and 10 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.

In the Arizona offense, meanwhile, Stoudamire was avoiding most bricks while leading his mates down the yellow brick road. A 3-pointer from in front of the Arizona bench. Another from the opposite corner. A spinning drive. "The guy was on fire," said Hinrich, normally a demon defender. "I played really dumb against a guy on fire." Stoudamire was a neatly identical 6 for 9 from two-point range and 6 for 9 from Tripleville -- "He's the best shooter in the country," said Gardner; "the kid gets mad in shooting drills when he misses a single shot," said Rosborough -- all the while preening for TV airtime as the hosts seemed helpless to stop him.

Backcourt partner Gardner (23 points, seven rebounds, six assists) helped a lot as Arizona finished the game scoring 67 of the final 97 points. "The greatest run I've ever seen," Arizona senior Ricky Anderson blurted. "We came out of halftime like animals." But it was Stoudamire -- as a freshman last season he had laid a smelly 2-for-19 egg against Kansas -- who decimated the 'Hawks the most with major-league daggers.

"This is a tough place to play," said Double S. "But (we) thrive in situations like this. We had no doubt in our minds we were going to win this game. Myself? I just kept my intensity up and played with no conscience."

Conversely, a conscience-stricken Williams declared: "The second half had to be my worst nightmare ... and at the same time the worst coaching job I've ever done in my life."

Not that -- with Simeon strapped to the Kansas bench decked out in a burgundy suit accessorized with some kind of monster neck chain -- Kansas was equipped to do anything else. The frenetic pace of the first half was bound to take its toll. Kansas scored its card deck (52) first, Arizona its (52) in the final half, when it counted. Simply put, which Olson always manages to do: "Our depth was certainly key. I do think probably we tired them."

Speaking of which, Arizona's bench players contributed 45 minutes to the Kansas pinesters' 27; when the Wildcats' Frye seemed fricasseed, Olson merely replaced him with burly customers Isiah Fox and/or Latimore. And that's not even to mention the rookie bullpen pair of Adams and Iguodala, who tend to make Arizona even quicker and more athletic than the team which answers the opening whistle.

The visitors also laid to rest the notion -- put forth by ace Arizona publicist Rich Paige to the enrichment of, uh, nobody? -- that they're jinxed when playing the 6th-ranked team in the country. "A Disturbing Trend," Paige astonishingly headlined in his game notes.

"The Wildcats have a 3-12 record all-time against teams ranked No. 6 nationally, its worst record vs any ranking slot in the AP Top 25 ... Arizona has lost seven straight games to the sixth-ranked team ...In fact, UA has never won a true road game against the team ranked No. 6 by the AP."

(Whew! And you thought the 'Cats would never get over that hump.)

(Whew! And you thought Peter Gammons had the only grasp of all the useless sports information known to mankind.)

"In the second half we hit the boards, we took care of the ball and we hit shots," explained an obviously overjoyed Olson, who also attributed his team's nailing 22 of 26 free throws to "mental toughness." Kansas had beaten Arizona last year in Tucson, but this was Olson's first coaching trip to Lawrence since his long-ago days at Iowa.

"This is the best environment (pause for smile) ... outside of (Tucson's) McKale Center ... in the country," he gushed. "Everything is choreographed. The students are part of the warm-ups. It's a first class situation here. Roy and I talked before the game about continuing this series immediately."

Immediately? Like…now? A doubleheader?

Well, exhausted Kansas had to get right back out there in the Field House on Monday night against Texas. And as for Arizona? "Hey," said Langford, that loquacious logician. "They're a great team. But they aren't un-defeatable."

They aren't?

Hey, it go in or it don't. We'll get back to you about that one -- in March -- when Arizona tries to go somewhere over the rainbow, for real.

Bounce Passes
A Super G'Day: Kudos to some former heavenly hoopsters, who painted basketball all over the IS (International Sportsworld) this weekend:

Brad Johnson, a former small forward for Florida State University and Owen High School in Black Mountain, N.C., where he was a schoolmate of ESPN's own Brad Daugherty. You might know him better as Tampa Bay's Super Bowl-winning QB Brad ("I'm Going To Disneyland") Johnson.

Andy Roddick, a former dunking machine at Boca Prep in Boca Raton, Fla. You might better know him better as the new American hope tennis guy, A-Rod, who won that match for the ages at the Australian Open, 21-19 in the fifth set, thereby setting himself up for an easy defeat in the semifinals and enabling ...

Gil Reyes, the former basketball trainer for Jerry Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels at UNLV, to get more on-air love in Australia than Nicole Kidman. You might know him better as that heavy-set, swarthy fellow in the "Goodfellas" dark glasses and mobster fedora who left the Rebs to train Andre Agassi for all those major championships-- the latest, AA's fourth Aussie Open title where he defeated not Roddick, but Germany's Ranier Schuettler (no relation to either the royal family of Monaco nor Schindler's List), who may or may not be the third cousin, twice removed, of his wife, Steffi Graf.

It's Called Steps: What was with all the excitement -- and multiple replays ad nauseum -- over that hotdog, final-seconds, down-the-lane, fake-and-pass play that Florida's Matt Walsh got away with in a blowout against Vanderbilt last week?

Pete Maravich was making that play ... twice as fast ... twice as tricky ... at key moments ... in important games ... before Walsh was born. And he wasn't even T-R-A-V-E-L-I-N-G.

Kentucky M.D. Madness: Those wild and crazy Kentucky fans are at it again in the Kommonwealth. According to wire service reports, Dr. James Guiler, a Kentucky grad and sponsor of Wildcat Madness, last year's fund raiser for the school's basketball museum, was recently accused of branding one of his female patient's uterus with his alma mater's initials before removing the organ in a hysterectomy. In a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for "emotional distress," Stephanie Means alleges that a videotape of her surgery on Aug. 14 at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington clearly shows Dr. Guiler using a cauterizing tool to write "UK" in letters two inches high. (Guiler did not immediately return calls, according to the AP.)

"They want to see that (this) isn't done to other women," said Means' attorney, Michael Dean.

LeBronned Out:

Here's hoping this is the deal that goes down: The Cavs win the ping pong lottery. They select James. James refuses to play, says he'll go Foreign. Veraggio Tutti Frutti and all other Euro clubs refuse his price. James says he'll go Globetrotters. Globies refuse his price. James says he'll go drag. Nancy Lieberman and Geno Auriemma refuse his price. James says he'll go to college. Jerry Tarkanian -- (see above) first double mention of Tark the Shark in same column since Gambler Splashing Players In Hot Tub days -- comes out of retirement to recruit James for UCLA. Sam Gilbert climbs out of grave to pay James' price at UCLA. Quin Snyder says James is misunderstood, profile reminds him of Duke kids so he takes job in Westwood and coaches James at UCLA. Alas. UCLA gets put on probation for 150 years and James spends season driving Hummer back and forth to YMCA ball.

Curry Kirkpatrick is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espn3.com.