Kevin Durant has had unparalleled success in the NBA and is one of the greatest players of all time. Currently spearheading the Brooklyn Nets’ charge for a championship, winning comes naturally to him. During his time at the Golden State Warriors, he won 2 consecutive NBA Championships. And on a personal level, he won the Finals MVP award twice.
Durant is one of three players to ever average more than 20 points in the NBA as a teenager. And his Finals MVPs showed how he can put a team on his back. But his ability was clear to many even before his foray into the NBA. The evidence lies in his college career.
Kevin Durant’s college career
At the age of 18, Kevin Durant attended the University of Texas where he represented the Texas Longhorns. Competing in the Big 12 Conference, the Texas Longhorns were looking to replicate their success from the earlier season when they won the Big 12 Conference. And they did just about that but fell short by only 2 games to the Kansas Jayhawks.
However, their newest freshman recruit, Durant balled out. A young KD led them to an overall record of 25 wins and 10 losses. And the Longhorns’ conference record stood at 12 wins and only 4 losses. They only lost twice at home while winning 18 times, a joint-second record in the conference.
Durant himself played 35.9 minutes per game across all 35 games. He recorded an average of 25.8 points per game, which was the earliest sign of his golden scoring touch. Simultaneously, the future MVP also collected 11.1 rebounds per game.
Kevin Durant in the NCAA tournament
The Texas Longhorns were seeded fourth in the NCAA tournament and started off the tournament with a bang. After a first-round win against the New Mexico State Aggies, the Longhorns were upset in the second round. The USC Trojans pulled off an incredible victory despite Kevin Durant’s heroics. Durant scored 30 points and collected 9 rebounds in the losing effort, thus concluding his college career.
In his sole season of college basketball, Durant toppled various Texas records. Becoming the lead scorer in the Big 12 conference with 462 points, and having the highest scoring average of all time at 25.8 points per game. He also had a record rebounding game with 23 rebounds in a single night.
Furthermore, the 12-time All-Star became the first freshman to ever win a major National Player of the Year award in NCAA history. He was the unanimous National Player of the Year and the National Freshman of the Year. He also became the Big 12 Scoring Champ and a consensus First Team All-American and won 4 other major awards.
Following his historic season of college basketball, Kevin Durant declared for the NBA Draft where he was expected to be a lottery pick. Soon after, in 2007 he was the second overall pick in the first round going to the Seattle SuperSonics. And the rest, as they say, is history.