WICHITA, Kan. _ Facts only: Devonte Graham is older than Perry Ellis was his senior year.
Graham came to Kansas with a face that looked like a baby's doll, and that was a long time ago, but not so long that the jokes have stopped about his face. Maybe the Kansas guard doesn't look like he's 12 anymore.
Maybe 16?
"They call me old head," Graham said. "Old man."
They call him more than that. Malik Newman says Graham is the only grown man he knows without facial hair.
"He's got that I'm-going-through-puberty facial hair," Newman said, laughing.
College basketball is a young man's game. That's part of the appeal, part of what defines a sport that's equal parts mistakes and explosive athleticism. By any reasonable measure, Graham is still young. He just happens to be old by the standards of his current spot in life.
The juxtaposition is something, the age and the face, and it's easy to forget Graham is now 23. He's had 33 teammates at Kansas, from Cliff Alexander to Kelly Oubre to Clay Young.
He's five years older than sophomore Udoka Azubuike. He's three years older than Svi Mykhailiuk, who is a senior. He's one day older than Andrew Wiggins, who left Kansas the year before Graham arrived and is now on his second contract with the NBA's Timberwolves.
Graham is older than Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs' new starting quarterback, older than Royals prospect Adalberto Mondesi, and older than Kareem Hunt, the Chiefs running back who led the NFL in rushing last year.
I mentioned that last part to Newman in Kansas' locker room on Friday, ahead of the Jayhawks' Round of 32 game against Seton Hall on Saturday. Newman's face lit up.
"Pardon me?" he said.
Yeah. Graham is older than the guy who led the NFL in rushing last year.
"Oh, you shouldn't have told me that," Newman said. "I knew he was old, but he's like on another level old now."
Newman rocked back and forth, his hand over his mouth. I told him to use the information responsibly.
"Yo!" Newman said toward Graham. "Pssst!"
Graham was doing an interview with The Star's Jesse Newell. He looked up.
"You're older than the NFL's leading rusher!" Newman said. "You old!"
Graham didn't say much. He's heard these jokes before, though perhaps not this one specifically.
"Look," Newman said. "That's why he's rubbing his knees!"
Graham's age is good for more than just the jokes. He's an extension of a line of seniors leading Kansas in scoring, which is supposed to be a fading existence at major programs _ Frank Mason last year, and Ellis the year before.
This will be just the second year in the last eight in which no Kansas player will be among the first 15 picks of the NBA Draft. Mykhaliuk is the only one with a realistic chance at the first round, though he's just outside that in most projections.
Graham, more than anyone else on the roster, is the reason KU extended its streak of Big 12 championships to 14 and secured a top seed in the NCAA Tournament while many called it a down year for the program (whatever that means).
He signed with Appalachian State out of high school, went to prep school for a year, made zero starts and averaged 5.7 points as a freshman, and is now a first-team All-America and the Big 12's player of the year.
That's more progress than most college players, done with more time than most top college players put in.
"That's really the best way that college basketball should be," said Larry Brown, the former Kansas coach who's spent a lot of time around the program. "The longer a kid stays in a quality program, they're going to be prepared, they're going to get better. That's what you see."
Kansas will need that more than ever on Saturday. Seton Hall is a bad matchup, under-seeded with size and strength and, yes, experience _ four seniors start, including center Angel Delgado, who is three months older than Graham.
This is a dangerous game, the potential upset that many people predicted against Penn on Thursday. That's doubly true with Azubuike limited with a knee injury, meaning Kansas will face one of the strongest rebounding teams in the country more shorthanded than normal.
Kansas has been in these games over the years, many times. Too often, like against Oregon and Stanford and Michigan, they've tightened up collectively and lived with the regret.
During Thursday's game, there was a moment when it looked like things might be headed that way again. Penn led by 10 with eight minutes left, and from that moment on Graham scored or assisted on all but five points during a 22-5 run. Kansas controlled the game the rest of the way.
The old man had it.
Kansas will need it again on Saturday. Then Newman can make more jokes.
"I gotta tweet that, yo," he said. "Thanks."
