Tyrel Reed looked at the ground and fiddled with a cell phone. Connor Teahan peeled off his still-dry game uniform and sat next to Reed. A few lockers away, Chase Buford chatted with junior Brennan Bechard. Next to Buford sat Cole Aldrich, his burly shoulders hunched over, giving a local T.V. reporter a dose of his cheery Minnesota charm.

Reporters crammed into Kansas’ locker room like tetris blocks, circling Kansas’ regulars, who had just punched their second straight ticket to the Sweet Sixteen with a convincing 75-56 victory against UNLV.

Reed, Teahan, Buford and Aldrich sat quietly – a part of the madness, but unmistakably in the shadows.

“You can just see how big the NCAA tournament is,” Teahan said, sitting in front of his locker after the UNLV game. “We’re expected to go so far, you get it, and you want to be able to do the same.”

The quartet is content to sit back this season as Kansas’ blue-chip upperclassmen lead. But don’t call them the forgotten four. Kansas’ four-man freshman class is relishing this NCAA tournament ride, taking notes, and patiently waiting for its chance at the big-time.

Minnesota “Nice”

Cole Aldrich is Minnesota. From his refreshing “always happy to see you” smile, to his lumberjack hands, you’d half-expect Aldrich to douse every meal with maple-syrup and recite lines from “Fargo” as he sets a high-ball screen.

Aldrich, a McDonald’s All-American, came to Kansas as the latest big-man export from the state of Minnesota – a state with a history of celebrated big-guys.

Former Boston Celtic and NBA Hall-of-Famer, Kevin McHale, grew up in Hibbing. Joe Przybilla of the Portland Trail Blazers is from Monticello. Kris Humphries of the Toronto Raptors is from Minneapolis.

“The list goes on and on,” Aldrich said.

Unlike the aforementioned trio, Aldrich left his home state for college. The then 6-foot-10 forward with the impressive wing-span chose Kansas, a school that had been high on his list for years.

Aldrich’s first season hasn’t been without a few speed bumps.

Aldrich said he struggled to adjust to the speed of the college game. Kansas’ big-men were stronger, faster and more experienced.

Aldrich’s growing pains were magnified at Late Night in the Phog, as he struggled on offense and with simple tasks like catching post entry passes.

Frustrated with his slow transition to college ball, Aldrich called his old Jefferson High teammate, Steven Wheeler. He had a question for Wheeler, a sophomore guard on the Amherst College basketball team.

“Was it as tough for you as it was for me?” Aldrich asked Wheeler.

“Yea,” Wheeler said, reassuring his friend that most people struggled to adjust to college basketball. “It ain’t easy.”

Aldrich soon found his niche in Kansas’ rotation as the Jayhawks’ fourth big man.

“I knew coming in I wasn’t going to be looked upon to be a scorer,” Aldrich said. “My thing right now is being able to block shots, play defense and grab rebounds.”

Aldrich is averaging 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds, while playing 8.4 minutes a game, and the freshman center had 11 points and 11 rebounds in Kansas’ 109-51 victory against Texas Tech on senior night.

“He’s going to be a great player for this program,” senior forward Darnell Jackson said. “He has a lot in his package, even though he’s young and he doesn’t know the game yet.”

Kansas’ resident Minnesotan got his first taste of the NCAA tournament against Portland State, playing 10 minutes and scoring two points. He followed that up with two points in three minutes against UNLV.

“I knew it was going to be a blast,” Aldrich said. “I knew it was going to be jaw dropping and all that. But I didn’t know it was going to be this fun.”

With the graduation of senior center Sasha Kaun and Jackson, and the possible defection of sophomore forward Darell Arthur to the NBA, Aldrich will no doubt play more minutes next season.

But right now, Aldrich doesn’t want this ride to end.

“When I get on the floor, I try to give everything,” Aldrich said. “I try to score whenever I can, I try to block a few shots… Well, I try to block every shot.”

Heading Home?

Chase Buford stood on the court of five-year old Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., on Friday. Except Buford, a freshman walk-on, wasn’t able to be himself. On this day, Buford was Rene Rougeau, UNLV’s 6-foot-6 starting power guard. His job? Emulate UNLV’s 6-foot-6 starting guard and give Kansas’ starters a good look at UNLV’s offense.

Here’s life for Buford during Kansas’ tournament run:

Eat, sleep, bang your 6-foot-3 200-pound frame against Jackson, Kaun, and Arthur at practice, and then take a seat three rows behind the Kansas bench with fellow walk-ons Brennan Bechard and Brad Witherspoon while your team plays its way to the Sweet Sixteen.

“I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m a part of something this special,” Buford said. “I’m having a blast.”

And why not? Buford’s attempting to equal the feat that his father, R.C. Buford, accomplished 20 years ago: Being a part of a Jayhawk national championship. R.C. was an assistant coach for the 1988 National Champions.

Buford’s heading to Detroit this weekend, back to the same city where his father’s 1988 clinched its Final Four berth.

Buford said his dad has kept the stories about 1988 to a minimum.

“He has talked about some parallels,” Buford said.

The coincidences don’t end in Detroit though. If the Jayhawks find a way to win two games this weekend, Buford will be heading back to his hometown, San Antonio, the site of this year’s Final Four.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind,” Buford said. “I’d love for us to get back there, but right now I’m doing my best not to think about it. We got to worry about Detroit first. We got a tough task in Detroit.”

Shooters alike

Conner Teahan and Tyrel Reed eyed the television screen inside Kansas’ Qwest Center locker room, and focused on the closing seconds of Western Kentucky’s first-round upset of Drake.

As the seconds ticked down, Western Kentucky’s Ty Rogers slipped open and released a guarded three-pointer from 25 feet. Swish. Game Over. Cue up “One Shining Moment” music.

Teahan and Reed just watched. They won’t be making any buzzer beating three-pointers this March. Maybe someday.

“With the class right now, It’s not like I expected to be playing,” Teahan said.

Teahan and Reed have a lot in common. They played AAU basketball together. Both are Kansas natives who grew up Jayhawk fans – Teahan in Leawood and Reed in Burlington. And both possess shooting strokes that any father would gladly bestow on his son. Teahan is 12-20 from three-point range in limited minutes, and Reed has made 11 of his 24 three-point attempts despite battling nagging ankle problems.

Teahan and Reed have been buried at the end of Kansas’ deep bench since conference play began.

But you wouldn’t know it by listening to them talk after Kansas clinched a spot in the Sweet Sixteen. “This is why I came here. Just to be able to be in the NCAA tournament, be a No.1 seed and be going to the Sweet Sixteen,” Teahan said.

“Just being out there, being able to play a little bit, getting used to the atmosphere, it really helps freshman,” Reed said.

Hawks in Waiting

The flashbulbs popped and the cameras rolled as the Jayhawks modestly celebrated their victory against UNLV. Aldrich, Reed, Teahan, and Buford stayed off to the side, away from the lenses and away from the notepads and recorders.

But these freshman will eventually become sophomores, and those cameras will be pointed at them.

This March is just a test drive, and coach Bill Self said the freshman will experience things that will help when the spotlight is on them.

“Seeing how all this works is very important,” Self said. “I think it’s important to play in the NCAA tournament, so you get a better feel for later when you’re going to called on to help lead the team.”

—Edited by Russell Davies