Ken Davis

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Imagine for an instant that plans for the 2007 NCAA Tournament do not include the University of Texas. Imagine the NCAA men’s basketball committee handing over the brackets to CBS on Selection Sunday with no mention of the Longhorns.

Try to imagine the NCAA Tournament without Kevin Durant.

Don’t panic, Texas fans. It’s not going to happen. Texas will get its dance card punched, and Durant will get a national stage for his remarkable high-wire act that seems to get better with every game.

In fact, Texas (24-9) has played so well since mid-February that they’re seen as a possible title contender. Just a month ago, Texas appeared headed for a No. 8 or No. 9 seed, dangerously close to that category known as the “last four teams in.”

Star power isn’t part of the discussion when the basketball committee gathers in Indianapolis. Their job is to select the best teams and place them in the tournament. Durant, considered the best freshman in a historic class of newcomers, can’t earn his team a NCAA bid simply on reputation. Neither can anyone else.

So Durant, apparently destined to become the first freshman named national player of the year, could have been left out of college basketball’s showcase event in his one and only college basketball season.

And that would have been tragic.

“I wouldn’t classify his year as a freshman year,” Texas coach Rick Barnes said. “You put what he’s done up against any basketball player in the country — forget class. If college basketball ended today, no one’s impact has been more than Kevin Durant’s.”

Barnes made that statement two days before Durant’s dazzling 32-point, nine-rebound performance in a 90-86 loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in their Big 12 regular-season finale. Now, as we head into a postseason that offers to be special, the question is what will Durant do next?

Can he carry the Longhorns deep into the NCAA Tournament? Could he match the achievements of Carmelo Anthony, the freshman who led Syracuse to the 2003 national title and then scooted off to the NBA?

Anthony averaged 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds during the regular season. Durant has surpassed those numbers, averaging 25.1 points and 11.4 rebounds.

Syracuse started that season unranked but put everything together for March Madness. Anthony led the way, setting the standard for this age of freshmen when he was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. He scored 33 points — the most ever by a freshman at the Final Four — in a semifinal victory over Barnes’ Texas team. Then he added 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in the championship game against Kansas.

Durant was a freshman in high school the year Syracuse won it all. He watched those games on television with his mother, and she wondered out loud if her son might do the same thing one day.

Maybe he will.

Barnes points out that Anthony played on a bigger, more experienced team. He remembers Anthony’s game against Texas and the first half against Kansas as “three of the best 20 minutes I’d ever seen.”

“What they do,” Barnes said as he compared Anthony and Durant, “is they give you a chance every night because they have the ability to put together something special.”

Saturday, in a first half that saw Durant hit 10 of 14 shots for 25 points, there was an audible gasp from Kansas fans every time Durant touched the ball. In the second half, when Durant limped off the court with a twisted left ankle, Kansas fans gave him a standing ovation and encouraged him to return with shouts such as “great game.” When he did return to the floor minutes later, he was greeted by another standing O.

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That’s an amazing tribute, the type reserved for elite athletes and elite performers. Tiger Woods. Michael Jordan. Larry Bird. One columnist even included Pavarotti in his list when writing about Durant’s show Saturday. In college basketball terms, his extraordinary season has been compared to those of David Robinson, Danny Manning, Wayman Tisdale and Elton Brand, to name a few.

After the Jayhawks cut down the nets to celebrate their outright regular-season championship in the Big 12, most of their thoughts focused on the impossible task of defending the 6-foot-9 teenager with the baby face and the remarkable wingspan. During that amazing first half, when Durant was 5-for-5 from three-point range, the Kansas players thought they were witnessing a miracle.

“When’s he gonna miss? Is he ever gonna miss? Is he Michael Jordan?” Brandon Rush said.

An incredulous look popped onto Rush’s face when he asked where Durant ranked among the players Kansas had faced this season.

“Uh, one,” Rush said, seemingly surprised that the question had to be asked at all.

“No contest,” Julian Wright said. “As far as in the clutch, (Texas A&M's) Acie Law ... “

Rush quickly cut off his teammate.  “I don’t care about that. He’s No. 1.”

Numbers do not tell the entire story when it comes to Durant. Seeing him play in person is the greatest way to appreciate the athleticism, the purity of his shooting stroke, the impact of his size, his ability to rise above the crowd, where no one can block his shot.

“He's really good, and he's not even 19,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “He's a joke. ... He’s one of the best players to ever play on (the Allen Fieldhouse) court. He’s really good. I mean, he’s at a different level.”