Kevin Durant
Durant is Manning revisited
BY RICK PLUMLEE
The Wichita EagleLAWRENCE - Every so often in practice, 40-year-old Danny Manning works against Kansas' big men to sharpen up their game and bring a dose of reality.
Age and multiple surgeries have slowed down the former Jayhawk star, who is in his fourth year as an unofficial KU assistant.
But more often than not, Julian Wright, KU's quick-twitch sophomore, gets schooled by the 1988 National Player of the Year and former top pick of the NBA Draft.
So Wright had to take a deep breath the other day after learning that Manning ranked his college game below what Texas freshman Kevin Durant has been doing. Wright will draw the primary assignment of defending Durant in today's game with the No. 15 Longhorns.
"Oh, boy," Wright said. "Well, I'm not going to get into a one-on-one contest with Durant. He's too talented. It'll take a team effort."
Nice exit line. Now to see if the No. 3 Jayhawks can pull it off in a game that not only settles the Big 12 title but could heavily impact NCAA Tournament seedings.
A victory today will give KU (26-4, 13-2) the league title outright. If Texas (22-7, 12-3) wins, the Jayhawks and Longhorns will be sharing the championship -- and most likely three ways if No. 7 Texas A&M also wins at home this afternoon over Missouri.
But first there is Durant, the willowy Longhorn who is over the top in talent.
"He's so much better than me as a player, there's not even a comparison," Manning said. "He is filling up a stat sheet."
Durant leads the conference in scoring (24.9), rebounds (11.5) and blocks (53) while ranking fifth in steals (50) and sixth in field-goal percentage (48.0). And for good measure, he has stepped outside regularly to make 41.4 percent of his three-pointers (165 for 206).
"I didn't produce those kind of numbers as a senior that he's producing now," said Manning, who averaged 24.8 points and nine rebounds in his final season at KU. "He's a great player."
We'll probably never know what the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Durant will do as a senior -- or as a sophomore -- since the NBA has a paycheck waiting for him. But in his short visit to college basketball, he has stirred up talk whether he's the best the college game has seen.
There seems to be little debate that Durant is the best freshman since freshmen became eligible to play during the 1972-73 season (which leaves out the likes of Wilt Chamberlain) . Not even Wayman Tisdale's remarkable freshman All-America season at Oklahoma in 1982-83 ranks up there.
"Wayman averaged 25 points and was a great rebounder," KU coach Bill Self said, "but he didn't do the multiple things Kevin does."
Texas coach Rick Barnes won't even consider discussing Durant's performance from a freshman basis.
"You put up what he's done against what any player has done in the country. Forget the class," Barnes said. "If college basketball ended today, no one has impacted it more than Kevin Durant."
Now, let's not completely forget Chamberlain in that discussion.
Even Manning wouldn't say that Durant is the best he's ever seen in college. He put Oscar Robertson, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird at the top.
"Those are the guys I grew up watching," Manning said, "so those are the guys I like. But Kevin Durant is definitely in that echelon."
Durant has made an effortless transition to the college court, at times playing as if he were a man among boys. Very much the way Manning dominated -- but as a senior -- during KU's run to the national title in 1988.
"They're both scoring and rebounding at the same clip," Self said. "But Danny took that team and won a national title. Kevin is good enough to put his team on his back.
"They're both going to be national players of the year, but we don't know what Kevin and his team's performance is going to be in the NCAA Tournament. He's capable of doing just about anything."
There have a whirlwind of adjustments off the court this season for Durant, a Washington, D.C., native who only turned 18 in late September.
"My parents have told me I left home as a boy," he said Durant, "but now I'm becoming a man.
"Coming to college is one of the best things that has happened in my life. I'm just loving life right now."
But enough to stay in college even another year? Would he be at Texas even now if it weren't for the NBA rule instituted last spring that required players wait a year after high school before jumping to the NBA?
Durant won't even consider discussing the NBA.
In January, he told Barnes, "Coach, I don't want it to be about me. I don't want to do any more interviews if I have to keep talking about the NBA. It's not about the NBA right now. I'm a college basketball player."
An amazing one at that.
A high school All-American at Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md., Durant is one of those rare talents who has exceeded even unrealistic expectations.
"I thought he would be the best player in our league the first day he stepped on campus," Self said. "He's a fabulous shooter, the league's best rebounder. And he's not even 19, so he's a joke, He's a joke."
Durant's numbers are almost numbing: 18 double-doubles, 30 points or more eight times (all in Big 12 games), 15 or more rebounds seven times, high of 23 rebounds, high of 37 points three times.
"I told him when he first got here, 'Look, I don't want you to think our success or failure' -- and I was probably saying this to make him relax because I didn't believe it for one second --'depends on entirely on you,"' Barnes said.
But, of course, it has. On a team where he is one of four freshman starters alongside a sophomore, Durant had to be more than good for the Longhorns to be able to keep running after practically turning their team over to the NBA after last season.
And now Durant will try to force Texas into spoiling KU's title party.
"These are the games that you think about playing in as a kid," he said. "We're looking forward to the challenge."
And the Jayhawks will have their own challenge. Wright is right: guarding Durant isn't a one-man deal.
"Every single night, people come at him with one guy, two guys, three guys," Barnes said. "Some nights there are 10 eyes on him trying to figure out how best to defend him. For him to do what he's done with so much youth around him has been amazing."
Or just plain amazing regardless.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rick Plumlee covers University of Kansas sports. He can be reached at 268-6278.