Morning Coffee

is that you have to build your team around a combination of types of players.  you have your 4-year guys (like Royal Ivey, Buckman, Abrams) who are good and might have pro potential, but who are never going to be good enough to leave early.  Then you sprinkle in a few 2-3 year guys (like Daniel Gibson, TJ Ford, DJ Augustin), and then go after a one and done-type player every year.

You never want a team of 3 or 4 one and dones.  You'll never get any consistency like that.  But if you can get a special player like KD, you don't turn him down.  Especially when the rest of your team has experience playing together.

This year is a bad example because EVERYONE is new, but imagine next year even if KD goes pro.  You've got everyone else back plus this Gary Johnson kid.  Everyone's been together a year plus then you add in a huge superstar playmaker.  And by the time Augustin and maybe Mason leave early after 2 or 3 years, you've got other 2-3 year players there to take their places and the 4-year players to keep it all together.

I think there are a couple of reasons he chose Texas.

1. Durant has said a couple of times that he wanted to really establish the basketball program and become synonmous with that program. Frankly, UNC and UConn simply have had too much success. Their programs are too storied. Gay, Hamilton, Okafor, Gordon, etc. at UConn; Jordan, Worthy, Jamison, Carter, Wallace, etc at Carolina.
2. Texas was the first school to ever send him a recruiting letter. The Texas staff stayed with him throughout high school and were rewarded for their efforts.
3. He could be the man. Even if Tucker and Gibson had stayed, he would have been the best player and the featured player from game one. Given the early departures Carolina and Connecticut felt this probably would have been the case at both of those schools also, but it was more likely at Texas.
4. Coach Barnes. I have never heard one recruit say anything negative about Barnes. They know he is going to be a hard ass. He is going to break the players down before building them back up. But I've never heard even a rumor about a recruit not relating to Barnes or to any of the other coaches on his staff.

As far as whether KD coming to Texas is a good thing. I can't scream YES loud enough. He may very well be a one and done player but that is ok. Without him, Texas would probably struggle to make the NCAA tournament. With him, they have to be considered one of about thirty teams capable of winning it all.

With the switch in the rule by the NBA requiring players to play at least one year in college, you are going to see lots and lots of one and done guys. I am on the side of recruiting the most talented players possible, enjoying their skills for a year, hopefully making a title run, and then doing it all over again with another talented class the next year. The teams with upperclassmen are not going to be the Carolinas, Arizonas, Floridas, and Kansass. They are going to be the mid majors with seasoned players who exceed expectations by playing together as a team. That is what makes March so exciting. Who can ride their young talent to the title vs. who has a team of individuals who together are stronger than any of them are individually?

I see your point but respectfully disagree. Even if Durant leaves (which I expect as do most people), Texas will have six sophomores and at least three stud freshman coming in next season. We will again be title contenders.

I can't wait to see how far Durant takes us this year but I won't be disappointed when he leaves.

--AW--