JAKE PAULSEN/SUN PHOTOS NO PROBLEM ... Bishop Miege senior Travis Releford signs autographs for some of his young fans Saturday.

The time is 10:42 on a Saturday morning. Do you know where your missing Johnson County Kansas University basketball fan is?

You might do well to begin your search here, right outside these closed doors that lead into Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park. Here the gatherered throngs stand in a pair of lines that snake their way out of sight around the building’s edge, out toward Reinhardt Drive and presumably …. Lawrence?

Trust. It’s a long line. The patient multitudes have collected to pay homage to the KU Barnstormers, a group of traveling KU basketball seniors six strong on tour to allow their fans an up-close-and-personal glimpse and maybe even a touch of the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball championship.

Step right up.

PLACES, PLACES!

Long wait? Tell it to Ali Gascoigne and Tim George, a pair of 13-year-old Overland Park residents and seventh-graders at Indian Woods Middle School. They are the very first fans in line.

“We woke up at 8. We got out here at 9,” Gascoigne explained, with George nodding in agreement while leaning against the school’s closed doors.

Predictably, the two are decked in KU championship t-shirts and tote the famous Sports Illustrated with Mario Chalmers hitting “The Shot” on its cover.

Sometimes a bit of misinformation can be a good thing. The two OP kids came out operating under the assumption the autograph session with the KU players – Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun, Darnell Jackson, Rodrick Stewart, Brad Witherspoon and Jeremy Case – began at 10.

When in reality, the event was to begin at 10:30. Now at 10:45, it will still be 10 or so more minutes until these doors magically swing open and lead the kids and hundreds of others into an auditorium of Jayhawks, but it’s all good.

Nobody ever turned around 10 minutes before McCartney or Ringo, and neither of those guys ever took out Memphis in overtime. So they wait.

THE VIP TREATMENT

Actually, a group of a half-dozen or so wheelchair-bound fans gathered quietly in the corner of the auditorium got the very first shot at their crimson and blue stars.

Leading off, Bill Crow of Prairie Village. Appropriately Crow, well-known as a longtime superfan for nearby Shawnee Mission East High School, gets a friendly assist across the stage from another superfan, longtime Miege superfan James “Brownie” Browne.

“I just love being a Jayhawk,” Crow gushed. “This has been a dream year for us. I never expected this after the Bucknell and Bradley years. I’ll leave it at that, but you know what I mean.”

Highlights? Start the reel. “Russell (Robinson) came up to me and shook my hand with a big smile,” Crow reported. “That meant a lot to me. And Darnell (Jackson) was very easy to talk to.”

Another accomplished mission: Gascoigne and George got their shirts and magazines signed shortly after Crow crossed the stage.

Meanwhile, one wonders if Beatles security ever had to put up with this ...

“My fault,” security guard Mark Babcock said with a frown. “People are making off with the nametags on the table in front of the players. I should have taped them down.”

Welcome TO THE FAMILY

KU signee and Miege senior Travis Releford, one of the lucky group of high school all-stars set to take on the Barnstormers, looks right at home signing autographs with the other Jayhawks. So much so that a photographer arrived late and now can’t tell which guy signing is the non-Jayhawks senior.

Even so Releford admitted to Sasha Kaun, the KU senior seated immediately to his left, that he felt a little uneasy affixing his signature to KU championship memorabilia.

Kaun, who had become acquainted with Releford when the two sat together on an airline flight last summer, immediately put the new Jayhawks performer at ease.

“He said, ‘You’re part of the family now,’” Releford later reported. “So you can sign it.”

Tight.

THE DEFENSE RESTS

For the six people out there who care, here it is: Final score, KU Barnstormers 104, high school all-stars from Miege, St. Thomas Aquinas and Bishop Ward 97.

Several times in the game’s final moments the high school all-stars pulled to within five, only to be instinctively rebuffed by the Barnstormers.

Top scorers? Hey, you try scoring this game at home, what with kids coming out of the stands, putting on Robinson’s or Case’s jersey, and with the thing dangling to their feet, putting up shots for the Jayhawks team.

Or “sidelined” player/coach Stewart, still nursing a broken kneecap, taking feeds, popping shots and dishing assists. While sitting on the KU bench. You get the idea.

Halftime score: Barnstormers 60, high school all-stars 44.

Nice defense, gang.

“Hey,” notes Miege coach Rick Zych, his eyes perusing the packed house. “They didn’t pay their 12 bucks to see defense.”

Point well-taken, if not the shooters.

ALWAYS TIME FOR A FRIEND

Someone clues the KU Barnstormers in at halftime to the fact a former KU footballer is in the house, and before you can say “champs” Kaun and Case set sail across the packed gym to touch base.

Paul Bower, a KU football wide receiver from 1972 to 1976 and an Overland Park resident, sits in a wheelchair along the far baseline.

“I was on Spring Break,” Bower explained. “I was body surfing and a wave took me headfirst into the sand. There was spinal cord damage. I’ve been working to get healthy ever since. That happened in March of 2007.”

“How you doin’, man?” greets Case upon arrival. “You doin’ all right?” The three chat until Kaun gets pulled away by a schoolgirl for photo opp No. 2,026 of the day. Somewhere, Ringo understands.

“It’s incredible how big they are and how much athletic ability they have,” marveled Bower. “It’s pretty amazing what these kids can do. And it’s fun to watch them. No pressure on them. Just out there enjoying life and enjoying the day.”

TAKE THAT, KID

Despite pregame assurances to the contrary from Kaun and Robinson, the KU guys came to play a bit. You can’t just turn that spigot off. The high-school all-stars loved it.

“It was an awesome experience,” St. Thomas Aquinas High senior Keith McCullough, who will attend Drury University on a full scholarship next season, said afterward. “Full house. One of the best games I’ve played in, to be honest. I’ll definitely tell my grandkids.”

“There was some trash-talking between me and Jeremy Case,” reported Miege senior Jay Payton, who has yet to affirm his college choice. “He told me to get out there (to guard him). And of course he made the shot.”

JAYHAWKS DREAMS

It has been a couple hours now since the grandfather held up a No. 1 gesture for a camera while kneeling alongside KU’s Robinson, seconds after a young boy had done the very same.

Now a burgundy Lincoln Towncar putts along Johnson Drive back toward civilization.

Even in traffic the balding, middle-aged guy slows a bit to look down and smooth out some ruffles in the KU jersey he had worn to Miege to get signed.

Whether you are 8, 18 or 88, there are no wrinkles allowed on a day this good.