40 Acres Sports

I keep telling myself not to get my hopes up, but check this nugget buried in a Sam Smith article (BugMeNot) from the Chicago Tribune:

The pros are beginning to believe Texas’ [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] may stay another year in college but not Ohio State’s Greg Oden after his foul trouble in the NCAA tournament and horrible coaching. The consensus is few big men have been more poorly used than Oden in Ohio State’s deliberate system, basically putting Oden in foul trouble and not allowing him to use his dominance to start the fast break by rebounding and dishing outlet passes.

Who knows how it’ll end up playing out, probably not even Durant himself, but I’m definitely happy to hear there’s a chance he’ll come back to Texas for one more season. I’m also glad he’s reported keeping his options open by continuing to attend class. Hopefully, he and his family can take out a huge insurance policy and make it about what they think is best for Kevin and not have to worry too much about the money.

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

Great article from Washington Post on Kevin Durant’s big decision. Odds he comes back getting worse every day.

Texas’ NCAA Tourney run may have ended Sunday with a loss to USC, but the Horns are running away with their first round game in SI.com’s What If Tourney. It’s the third year they’re running the tournament that tries to decide who would win the national championship if high school players had never been allowed to enter the NBA early and everyone had to spend four years in college.

The Longhorns add [tag]LaMarcus Aldridge[/tag], P.J. Tucker, [tag]Daniel Gibson[/tag], and C.J. Miles back to the team. Those four guys along with [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] and D.J. Augustin would make for an incredibly good and incredibly athletic team:

Kevin Durant is nearly impossible to stop. Add Aldridge, Tucker, and Gibson and you can subtract the word nearly from that last statement. Aldridge, who averaged 15 points and nine rebounds last season has shown great strides in his rookie year, including a 30-point performance against the Bobcats this month. Who knows how good he’d be as a junior in college?

Keep D.J. Augustin at point guard, and move Gibson, who goes from playing with LeBron to Durant, to his natural two-guard spot. Along with A.J. Abrams and Jazz guard C.J. Miles off the bench, Texas’ athleticism and depth are mind-blowing. If anything, the additions add some experience to a team whose top eight scorers are freshmen or sophomores.

Having Aldridge back in the middle of the Texas defense would have made a huge difference for this team. He’s easily the guy I’d most want back. He can run the floor well with all these young guys, play tough defense, and give the Horns a scoring threat down low. Of course having Gibson playing the two would be pretty nice as well. He’d have gotten a ton of open looks with Aldridge and Durant, and size at the guards was a real problem for Texas at both ends of the court this season.

A starting five of Augustin, Gibson, Durant, Tucker, and Aldridge sure would’ve been fun to watch. The three guys who left early probably aren’t regretting it one bit (especially when they look at their bank accounts), but it’s hard to believe at least one of them didn’t decide to stick around for a chance to play with Durant. Any one of those guys could have made a real impact on this year’s young group of stars.

Loss may not end Durant’s days at UT. Despite all the articles, I say it’s 80% shot he’s gone.

Game just under way in Spokane, Washington and I think there’s more people in my living room watching the game than there in the stadium. Tough trip for fans from New Mexico or Texas but I’m surprised more locals wouldn’t come out to see Kevin Durant and some great basketball in person. [tag]New Mexico State[/tag] could be a tough opponent for the Horns despite being only a #13 seed, Texas will have to play well to win tonight.

I’ll post some random thoughts on the game throughout, hopefully Texas plays up to their ability and can advance to the second round.

First Half

• HDTV has a sponsor but no actual HD here in Dallas. Is anyone else getting the game in high def?
• Three minutes or so before [tag]Kevin Durant[/tag] gets his first real touch on offense. New Mexico State is pressing to get us out of our base offense and make it harder to get KD involved. We’ll see if Texas adjusts.
• Good to see D.J. Augustin off to a good start. Because of the NMSU press he’s been able to find seams in the defense and go hard to the hoop.
• Reggie Theus kind of looks like a guy from Hustle & Flow.
• About seven chance at a bucket there and no points for Texas. Good job on the offensive glass but somebody’s got to put the ball in the basket.

New Mexico St. 17, Texas 15

• DJ better be well rested. NMSU’s defense is really working him out there and he’s having to expend a lot of energy.
• CBS really has a knack for making sure you don’t get to watch the game you want to. We’re watching other random games instead of going back to our game that’s back under way.

New Mexico St. 24, Texas 19

• Bullcrap foul called on Augustin.
• A lot of low scoring games in the first round, including this one.
• Another terrible call on the charge on Kevin Durant. The NMSU guy was clearly moving. NCAA officials have fallen in love with calling the charge this season and have missed a ton of calls because of it.
• Augustin and Durant only Horns who have shown up so far tonight. Damion James has been active but needs to finish.

New Mexico St. 27, Texas 24

• Apparently the refs looked up and noticed they hadn’t called any fouls on Texas because they’ve called four completely awful fouls in the last few minutes now. Cheap.
• And now a cheap BS call against the Aggies.
• And after back to back crap calls against James the refs have called back to back bad fouls on NMSU big man.
• Durant starting to feel it a little.
• Texas on 12 to 3 run since I put on the lucky game day shirt. I take the blame for the slow start.

New Mexico St. 30, Texas 33

• Aggies get a couple of looks at the basket but good defense by the Horns to end the half. After trailing for most of the half Texas goes into halftime with the lead.

(more …)

Kevin Durant is better than Carmelo and Magic and is the top freshman of all time.

Great article on Kevin Durant from the Denver Post. I think every paper has had an article on KD this week.

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

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.