Why honor Kevin Durant?

We here at Longhorns Gameday are still puzzled why Texas  honored Kevin Durant last night by retiring his jersey.

Durant was at UT for a total of two semesters and played only 35 games for the Longhorns.

Was he outstanding as a basketball player? No question.

But that alone should not be a the basis for having your jersey retired.

That honor should be left to players who represented the university and its ideals.

Quite simply, Durant gets an “Incomplete” in that area.

Does that mean a player has to graduate from UT in order to be honored? We aren’t sure, but we do feel it’s way too early to make Kevin Durant the third Longhorn ever to have his hoops jersey retired.

At the very least, five to ten years should have to pass before retiring a jersey.

Kirk Bohl gives the dissenting opinion:

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Some might say it’s much too premature to take out of circulation the number of a player who barely played 35 games for a 25-10 team that won just a single NCAA tournament game before he exited. Nonsense.

Durant is the Earl Campbell of Texas basketball. Just as Roosevelt Leaks inspired Earl to come to Texas when it wasn’t cool for a black athlete to do so, T.J. Ford’s presence lured Durant. More Durants may follow.

Such coronations measure a player’s overall greatness, not the number of months flipped on a calendar. Durant accomplished more in 12 months than most did in five years. His is an impact that manifests itself in this year’s top-five recruiting class.

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