Kevin Durant Knows Kung Fu

Kevin Durant had the greatest freshman season in the history of NCAA basketball at the University of Texas during the 2006-2007 season. He was unquestionably the best player in the country and teamed with future first round picks Damion James and D.J. Augustin, as well as A.J. Abrams, to form a powerful Texas team. Durant followed a strong regular season by winning the MVP award for the Big 12 tournament but Texas blew a 22 point lead in an overtime loss to Kansas in the Big 12 championship game. Durant posted okay numbers in Texas’ subsequent NCAA tournament appearance but was noticeably out of sync and described as “jumpy” in a narrow first-round win over #13 seed New Mexico State. Texas then fell to USC by nineteen points in the second round. Texas had the best player in the nation and a reasonably strong supporting cast but there was a reason they were easily dispatched in the second round (and it was not just because Rick Barnes is a mediocre basketball coach). Kevin Durant was only an eighteen year old kid. He was not ready…yet.