Player, College Period Class Scoring (rank) Rebounding (rank) KEVIN DURANT, Texas2006–07 Fr. 25.one (five) eleven.4 (four) ADONAL FOYLE, Colgate1996–ninety seven Jr. 24.4 (three) thirteen.one (two) KURT THOMAS, TCU 1994–95 Sr. 28.9 (1) 14.six (1) JERVAUGHN SCALES, Southern 1993–ninety four Sr. 27.one (3) fourteen.2 (two) HANK GATHERS, Loyola Marymount1988–89 Jr. 32.seven (1) thirteen.seven (1) LIONEL SIMMONS, La Salle 1988–89 Jr. 28.4 (3) 11.four (five) DAVID ROBINSON, Navy 1986–87 Sr. 28.two (3) eleven.eight (4) RON HARPER, Miami ( Ohio) 1985–86 Sr. 24.four (five) 11.7 (4) XAVIER MCDANIEL, Wichita State1984–85 Sr. 27.two (one) fourteen.eight (one) He is just a baby,all arms and legs as thin as capellini. Kevin Durant only turned eighteen inSeptember, but with his gentle, open up encounter he could pass for 15. After a recentloss the Texas freshman walked to meet the press clutching the correct hand ofhis mother, Wanda Pratt, who states she can tell when her son is distraughtbecause "he’ll call me Mommy rather of Mother" in text messages. On mostnights, just prior to bedtime, Durant will kneel down to pray and digest a fewmore pages from a customized Bible. Asked which guide he is reading, Durantflashes a appear of palpable satisfaction. ?"Numbers," he says. ?Humorous, thosearen’t the figures that most of us mortals associate with Durant, the 6’9"forward whose coltish coming-of-age has place the man in freshman during ahistoric school season. Consider your pick of diabolical digits. Maybe it’sK-Smoove’s 25.1 factors and eleven.4 rebounds a game, which make him the only playerin the nation’s top five in each classes. Maybe it is the mid-eight-figureshoe deal and the multimillion greenback NBA agreement that await whenever hedecides to turn professional, most likely this spring. Maybe it is his pterodactyl-like7’6" wingspan. Or maybe it is just a simple zero, which occurs to be thenumber of freshmen in the annals of college hoops who’ve been named nationalplayer of the yr.Until,north korea news, maybe,2006–07, the Year of the Freshman, when the prodigies went back again to college."I’ve had so numerous individuals inform me he’s the greatest participant in collegebasketball," Longhorns coach Rick Barnes says of Durant, who’d had anastonishing 6 thirty-additionally-stage barrages in ten Large twelve games via Sunday."People have a hard time declaring that simply because he is a freshman, but course hasnothing to do with it." At this stage, though, it’s still a restricted race. Durant’s closest rival for participant of the yr, Wisconsin senior forward AlandoTucker, has inferior stats (20. factors and five.3 boards), but his group owns abetter file (24–2) than the Longhorns do (17–seven).What is inarguableis this: The new NBA age-minimal rule, which all but forces even the extremely besthigh school players to go to a yr of college, has coincided with the arrivalof a remarkable class and produced a team of rookies for the ages. Freshmenare the new BMOCs in major conferences (like the Pac-10, which has the mostquality frosh of any league) and also at mid-majors (like 21–four Davidson, whichis led by first-year stage guard Stephen Curry). Yet 3 freshmen stand out: Durant, whose 37-point, 23-rebound tour de power in a Jan. 31 win at Texas Techwas the solitary most dominating efficiency of the season 7-foot Ohio Statecenter Greg Oden, who’s matching newfound offense (fifteen.3 points and nine.4rebounds) with sport-altering protection (two.7 blocks for each sport) and 6’9" NorthCarolina forward Brandan Wright (fifteen. and six.five), the most explosive of the threestandout freshmen who start for the No. five Tar Heels.All 3 (andassuredly Durant or Oden) would most likely have been chosen prior to No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani in last year’s anemic NBA draft. But thanks to the new rule,all 3 finished up on campus. "I’ve been in college basketball since 1978,and I have never seen a course that was this great at the leading and this deep,"says Tennessee’s Bruce Pearl, the only coach whose group has played against Durant, Oden and Wright. In the exact same breath Pearl compares Durant with TracyMcGrady, Oden with Invoice Russell and Wright with Kevin Garnett. "I believe allthree have a opportunity to be top fifty, legendary NBA gamers," Pearl states, andeven although Coach Rocky Top has a hell of a sense of humor–this is the sameguy who wore orange physique paint on his chest to a recent Tennessee women’sgame–this time he’s not laughing.Whilst it is toosoon to make a ruling, the query is at minimum really worth asking: Is this thegreatest freshman course of all time? Granted, freshmen only grew to become eligible in1972–73,barefoot bandit, which prevented a number of stars of the ’50s and ’60s from reachingtranscendence at an even earlier age (web page 32). What is much more, today’s freshmencan have a bigger impact simply because the older courses (depleted by defections tothe NBA) aren’t as stocked with talent as they were in prior a long time. Nonetheless,don’t promote these men short. As longtime scouting expert Bob Gibbons says,"In terms of instant influence this course could be ranked correct close to the topin the past thirty years."That’s uncommon airindeed. The preeminent freshman course in history is generally regarded as thegroup that arrived in 1979–eighty (led by Indiana’s Isiah Thomas, Virginia’s RalphSampson, UNC’s James Worthy and Georgia’s Dominique Wilkins), adopted by’81–82 ( UNC’s Michael Jordan, Georgetown’s Patrick Ewing, Auburn’s CharlesBarkley and Chris Mullin of St. John’s), ’88–89 ( Duke’s Christian Laettner, Georgetown’s Alonzo Mourning, LSU’s Chris Jackson and Syracuse’s Billy Owens)and 2002–03 ( Syracuse’s Carmelo Anthony,san francisco 49ers, Duke’s J.J. Redick, UNC’s Sean Mayand Georgia Tech’s Chris Bosh).Ought to Oden and Durant declare for the NBA draft following this period, the debate over whichplayer would be taken No. one general will generate the type of buzz that is anorder of magnitude higher than the dull roar of current weeks. In phrases ofcollege efficiency, however, there is no query that Durant has enjoyed asuperior period, not least because he counts on far much less help from histeammates than Oden does. The trade-off is substantial: Oden is a classiclow-publish large guy whose No. three–ranked Buckeyes (22–three) are genuinenational-title contenders, while Durant is given the kind of freedom to roamthe court that’s rare at any level of the activity."Here’s what Ithink," says Barnes. "If I went into this season understanding we didn’t havea stage guard and experienced said, ‘Kevin, you have to be our stage guard,’ he couldhave done that. If I said to him, ‘You’ve got to be a low-publish player and staythere,’ Kevin would do that. So what we have carried out this yr is let him do all ofit. I told him when we recruited him: ‘You should want it all. I’m talkingabout the impact you can have on your sport and on other people. Appear at TigerWoods, Michael Jordan, the fantastic ones. There’s more to it than what you see onthe court. You are 1 of those men.’ I’m just not certain he can understand thatyet."Then once more, maybehe does. "I want to be 1 of the best gamers to ever perform the game," Durant states. How does declaring that make him feel: assured or anxious? "Alittle bit of both," he admits. "I just want to achieve my objectives andkeep operating if I make it to the league one day." If I make it to theleague one day? Is this kid for actual?Sometimes it’shard to know. Only minutes following Durant experienced torched Baylor for 34 points andnine boards in an 84–seventy nine win on Jan. 27, he was almost apologizing for yetanother ill box-rating line. "I could have played much much better, guy," hesaid, shaking his head. "Could have rebounded much more, could have playedbetter protection. I just have to enhance on my weaknesses."