Texas Basketball: Kevin Durant claims he wanted to be a Tar Heel

The biggest signee in recent memory for the Texas basketball program, 5-Star SF Kevin Durant, almost apparently landed with UNC instead.

First it was former star big man out of the Texas basketball program, Myles Turner, that claimed he was thinking about going elsewhere instead of Austin for his college career (literally on the day of his commitment decision). Now, possibly the best player to ever come out of the Texas men’s hoops program Kevin Durant says he felt the same about landing with another team in the state of North Carolina leading up to his commitment decision.

During the 2006 recruiting cycle, the Texas Longhorns basketball program was pursuing Durant harder than just about any other prospect. Durant was the No. 2 2006 high school prospect in the nation and the top ranked small forward. As would hold true in the 2007 NBA Draft, Durant would only be ranked behind Ohio State’s Greg Oden among the top two prospects in the nation.

KD recently opened on the process of his recruitment with Tate Frazier on May 8. He mainly discussed how the Tar Heels were after him out of high school, and there was a tangible connection between the two parties.

Here’s what KD had to say on the matter of his recruitment with the Tar Heels.

"“We went to Oak Hill together. Roommates at Oak Hill. That was my boy,” Durant said.Durant was the No. 2 player in the 2006 class behind No. 1 Greg Oden. UNC and head coach Roy Williams were all in on Durant. They wanted him to join the 2006 class.“They were recruiting me heavy with (Lawson),” Durant said. “They were expecting us to come together. I am going on official visits. I went to a game where they beat Duke at the buzzer. And they won a National Championship that year, my junior year in high school. So I was like, ‘Man I want to go to Carolina.'”"

The North Carolina Tar Heels fit in a group that also includes the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, and Texas that sent a scholarship offer to Durant. He apparently took into account the direct path to playing time he had with head coach Rick Barnes and the Longhorns.

Here’s more on what he had to say on the matter.

"“They were stacked though. They had a nice senior class. They went to the Elite Eight that year,” Durant said about North Carolina. “Tyler Hansbrough was there. Danny Green. All those dudes. So I would have gotten kind of lost. Not lost. Not lost, but I would have been playing 25 minutes instead of 40 minutes like I should have been playing.”"

Despite his considerations of the Tar Heels, Durant stood out with the Longhorns. He was the Naismith and Wooden Award winners and a consensus All-American during the 2006-07 season. Durant would also go on to be the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, of the Seattle SuperSonics.

Durant has spent most of his NBA career with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors. He’s also spent at least one season each with the Brooklyn Nets (his current team) and the SuperSonics.