40 Acres Sports

Kevin Durant easily swept all the national awards, many by unanimous vote, but he had to share team MVP honors with fellow freshman D.J. Augustin Monday night. Both players were definitely deserving, you could see Augustin’s importance to the team when he hit a wall late in the season and the whole team struggled to get going.

University of Texas freshmen D.J. Augustin and [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] shared the team’s Most Valuable Player honor in a vote of their peers, highlighting the 2006-07 men’s basketball team banquet held Monday evening at the Frank Erwin Center. Freshman center Dexter Pittman claimed the Lowe’s Home Improvement Most Improved Player Award.

With rumors swirling that Durant will declare for the NBA Draft this week, it could have been his last public appearance as a (current) Longhorn. Durant was the only Longhorn not available to the media at the banquet. Can’t really blame him though, he didn’t want to all the focus to be on him and I’m sure he’s exhausted. There will be a press conference whenever he announces his decision and reporters will have plenty of time to ask him questions then.

I love that the “Most Improved Player” award has a sponsor. They should sell sponsorship for all the awards. We could have the “Blockbuster Online Blocked Shots Award” and the “Acme Brick Worst Field Goal Percentage Award” and rake in the cash.

Award Recipients

• Slater Martin Award Ryan Clark
• Mike Wacker Comeback Award Matt Hill
• Coca-Cola Solid Citizen Award Damion James
• Jack Gray Award Connor Atchley
• Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award Craig Winder
• Jay Arnette Award Justin Mason
• Earlene Fulmer 3-Point Attack Award A.J. Abrams, D.J. Augustin
• Assists Award D.J. Augustin
• Blocked Shots Award Kevin Durant
• Field Goal Percentage Award Damion James
• Free Throw Percentage Award A.J. Abrams
• Rebounding Award Kevin Durant
• Hustlin’ Horns Award Ian Mooney
• Spirit Award J.D. Lewis and Harrison Smith
• Outstanding Defensive Player Justin Mason
• Lowe’s Home Improvement Most Improved Player Dexter Pittman
• Team Captains Craig Winder, A.J. Abrams
• Most Valuable Players D.J. Augustin, Kevin Durant
• Senior Award Craig Winder

Kevin Durant wins Wooden Award in a runaway to complete sweep of every single major individual award.

Kevin Durant was a unanimous selection to the AP All-American team. Joined by Law, Oden, Tucker, and Afflalo on the 1st team.

More national honors for Durant. CBS Sportsline’s Gary Parrish names him player of the year.

Rick Barnes is AP Big 12 coach of the year. Apparently Bill Simmons doesn’t get a vote.

ESPN has announced their 2007 ESPN.com All-America Team and Longhorn freshman [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] is their player of the year.

Expectations were high when Durant arrived in Austin, but if anything, he has surpassed them. Durant has averaged 25.1 points and 11.4 rebounds a game and shattered the Big 12 season scoring record — all while leading the young Longhorns to within a couple baskets of a share of the league title.

Probably just the first of many such honors for Durant. The other four All-Americans are Texas A&M point guard Acie Law, UCLA guard Arron Afflalo, Nevada forward Nick Fazekas, and Wisconsin forward Alando Tucker.

Kevin Durant has been named Big 12 Player and Freshman of the Year. First freshman to win POY in Big 12 history.

Arguing that Kevin Durant should be national player of the year and Acie Law should win Big 12 POY is just dumb. (via)

DeLoss Dodds and Roosevelt Leaks were inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

The Touchdown Club of Columbus honored [tag]Colt McCoy[/tag] last night as their National Freshman of the Year. Past winners of the award include Adrian Peterson and Chris Leak.

The Touchdown Club of Columbus has been honoring the nation’s top athletes for the last 52 years. Last year Vince Young was awarded the Archie Griffin Award after all bowl games as the nation’s most valuable player.

(via)