Texas’ Barnes Big 12 coach of year

By The Associated Press     Mar 7, 2007

? The way Kevin Durant tore through the Big 12 and nearly carried the Texas Longhorns to a share of the league title, it was easy to forget the task coach Rick Barnes faced when the season began.

Durant was just one of four freshmen starters on a team whose top returning scorer, sophomore A.J. Abrams, is a slightly built shooting guard who averaged 6.4 points last season.

The Longhorns lost all five starters from a 2005-06 squad that won a school-record 30 games and nearly made it to the Final Four. Three of them – last season’s Big 12 player of the year P.J. Tucker, LaMarcus Aldridge and Daniel Gibson – left school early for the NBA, leaving Barnes with little to no experience to put on the court.

On Tuesday, Barnes was named The Associated Press Big 12 coach of the year for turning this young and sometimes wild lineup into a squad that came within one game of sharing the league title with Kansas.

It is the first time Barnes has won the honor since 1999, when he guided the Longhorns to the league crown in his first season at Texas.

In balloting of media members who cover the league, Barnes garnered eight votes. First-year Kansas State coach Bob Huggins and Texas A&M’s Billy Gillispie, whose Aggies finished second, each received six votes. Kansas’ Bill Self, whose team beat the Longhorns last Saturday to win the league title, received two.

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23836Texas’ Barnes Big 12 coach of year