March is finally here. The one month most college students dream of, from March Madness to spring break to spring training, has arrived. It is, without a doubt, the best month of the year.

Saturday, the Jayhawks can start the month off right ­­by winning the Big 12 regular season outright.

Coach Bill Self has high hopes for the game. He said Thursday that he expected it to be one of the best atmospheres since he’d been at Kansas. Self wants it to be at the top of his list, up there with Michigan State in 2003, and Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech in 2005.

While the students will pack into the Fieldhouse and cheer on the ’Hawks, there is one player that can take away the regular season title: Texas’ Kevin Durant.

This isn’t to knock on Texas guard D.J. Augustin, who is having a great year, too. But Durant is the one guy who creates match-up problems for Kansas, as well as every team he’s faced.

Self said sophomore forward Julian Wright would have the tall order of guarding Durant, at least to start. Wright is agile and athletic enough to guard Durant in the low post and on the perimeter.

But the more interesting match-up would be putting freshman forward Darrell Arthur on Durant. That is, if Arthur stays out of foul trouble. Arthur is more physical down low and may be able to force Durant to take bad shots. But who am I kidding? Kansas should just hope to contain Durant with whomever it can.

The stats Durant averages are ridiculous: 25 points, 12 rebounds, 48 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range. This is unheard of, especially in the Big 12, where stat lines for forwards usually read 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Self said Durant was the best player the Big 12 had ever had. Well, coach, let’s think of some great Big 12 players: Kirk Hinrich and Paul Pierce, both former Jayhawks; Andre Emmett of Texas Tech; Marcus Fizer and Jamaal Tinsley of Iowa State; and T.J. Ford of Texas. Of course, I’m leaving several off, but Self is right. The Big 12 hasn’t seen a player dominate the way Durant has.

On top of that, he is arguably in the midst of the best season an individual has ever had in college basketball. Self went as far as saying Durant could carry Texas on his back all the way in the Big Dance, similar to what Danny Manning did for Kansas in 1988.

I don’t know if Texas is that good, but it might just be.

No doubt, on Saturday one of the best players college basketball has ever seen will play in the best venue in college basketball, Allen Fieldhouse.

At least, as Self said, Durant won’t be making a return trip. Luckily for Kansas and the Big 12, Durant is likely to jump to the NBA after the season.

Note: Another good match-up, which has been overlooked because of Durant, is Augustin and freshman guard Sherron Collins, two of the premier point guards in the league.

Davison is an Overland Park senior in journalism and business.

— Edited by Kelly Lanigan