A significant amount of talent that the Texas basketball program rostered alongside Kevin Durant in 2006-07 did have some players largely forgotten.
Back in the day when the Texas basketball program actually had a say on how the national landscape was constructed in the better years under former head coach Rick Barnes, the following of the fan base was a lot stronger. Texas was a true contender in the Big 12 back when former star forward supremely talented freshman Kevin Durant was ruling the hardwood in Austin.
KD suited up for Texas during the 2006-07 season. But even KD couldn’t prevent Texas from getting upset fairly early on in the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Texas was ousted in the Round of 32, as the four-seed, in a pretty convincing 87-68 defeat at the hands of the five-seed Cal Golden Bears. That came after Texas got through the 13-seed New Mexico State Aggies by the final score of 79-67.
During that one season with Texas, KD averaged 25.8 points per game, 11.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.9 blocks, while shooting 47.3 percent from the field, 40.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 81.6 percent from the charity stripe. That amounted to 58.7 true shooting percentage, 8.8 win shares, and .280 win shares per 40 minutes.
Those stellar numbers helped KD to be the 2006-07 AP Player of the Year, Consensus All-American, grab the Wooden Award, and the Naismith Award. He would then be the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics (now the Oklahoma City Thunder), where his path to professional stardom began.
Here’s a deeper look into the three players that most would’ve forgotten played alongside former superstar forward Kevin Durant during his one season with the Texas Longhorns basketball program in 2006-07.