Untrained observers might have wondered how Texas could have defeated two top-10 teams in November and be ranked as high as No. 4 without Kevin Durant, unequivocally the best player in college basketball last season.
TV analyst and former college basketball coach Fran Fraschilla is not an untrained observer. He doesn’t wonder.
“Let’s start with the obvious,” Fraschilla posed. “In that lineup with Durant last year, there were also two high-school All-Americans.
“D.J. Augustin had a brilliant freshman year and now may be considered the best point guard in the country. And Damion James has now burst on the scene as a sophomore and has moved from a second-banana role into an emerging star.”
Fraschilla’s point is that it’s not all about The Player, it’s also about The Other Players.
“The Texas program now is bigger than any one player,” said Jim Haller, another former college coach-turned-analyst. “When you’re the only program in the nation that has had the national college player of the year two of the last five years (T.J. Ford and Kevin Durant), that gives you the credibility to go after the other great players that come out every year – and (Texas) is getting them.”
Weighing the knowledge that he probably won’t have a Durant for more than a cup of coffee, Barnes has often said he’d rather briefly have those type of players than not at all.
And though their early departures might have cost Barnes a national championship, the line perpetuates itself.
“While some fans can lament the fact that Rick has lost players to the NBA early, if not for T.J. Ford and LaMarcus Aldridge having very brief but successful college careers, Rick may not have had the opportunity to sign a player like Kevin Durant,” Fraschilla noted.
In turn, Durant’s stay at Texas has opened doors among the top players in the country, including those at the top of the stellar 2009 senior class.
“What Rick has masterfully done is to recruit high-level national and in-state players and complement them with great role players through the years,” Fraschilla said. “You can think of a bunch of them like Brad Buckman, Royal Ivey, Kenton Paulino … and now guys like James and A.J. Abrams.
“Why (Texas) may be as good as it is this year without Kevin is because of their role players, who consistently get better over the course of their careers.”
