Durant graces EA Sports cover

By Ryan Killian

Good news, Texas fans. You haven't seen the last of Kevin Durant playing basketball in a Longhorns jersey. In fact, he could be here for another four seasons, if you so choose.

You think I'm lying?

Run out and buy the "NCAA March Madness '08" video game when it's released, and there he'll be, right on the cover. Play the game - and your dreams can come true except this time, maybe Durant can get the Longhorns into the Sweet 16 and beyond.

While it seems the Portland Trailblazers will pass over Durant and select Ohio State's Greg Oden with the first pick of Thursday's NBA draft, Electronic Arts Inc. made no such mistake.

The company announced yesterday that Durant has been selected for the cover, meaning that Texas will be the first university to grace two EA Sports game covers at the same time: Vince Young is the "Madden NFL 08" cover athlete.

"A lot of great players have been chosen to be on the cover of EA Sports video games, and it is an honor to be in that company," Durant said. "When I see it on store shelves, it is really going to hit home that it's me on the cover of 'March Madness 08.' I'm going to be first in line to buy all the copies to hand out to all my friends."

At 18 years old, Durant is the second-youngest athlete selected by EA Sports to represent a game, behind then-16-year-old soccer phenom Freddy Adu. So it's safe to say that plenty of his friends will be eager to get a copy of the company's latest title.

The 6-foot-10-inch forward joins a group of UT alumni with mixed subsequent success.

Durant is the fourth Texas alum on an EA Sports cover. Young was the third, while Texas third baseman David Maroul was selected for "MVP 06 NCAA Baseball" after being named the 2005 College World Series Most Outstanding Player, and Ricky Williams earned the nod for the "NCAA Football 2000" game after winning the Heisman Trophy in 1998.

While great things are expected of Durant and Young, Williams has remained in the news only because of his struggles with the NFL and a marijuana habit he refuses to kick. Meanwhile, Maroul is hitting at a .205 clip and striking out too much for the San Francisco Giants' A club in San Jose.

I don't think Durant will get caught up with weed or struggle in the NBA's D-League. Instead, I expect him to follow in the footsteps Young is making right in front of him.

His "NBA Live" cover appearance could be right around the corner.

Commendations and Condemnations

Looking back: commendations, condemnations

By: Ryan Killian

Posted: 5/3/07

As the semester draws to a close, it seems a good idea to hand out what I like to call Killian's Commendations and Condemnations. Ok, I just made that up on the spot, but it will work splendidly.

First, a commendation to Kevin Durant. Bet you didn't see that coming.

Texas has grown to be respectable as a basketball school, but with Durant around you couldn't talk college basketball without bringing up the Longhorns. The 6-foot-9-inch kid wonder averaged a double-double during his too-short stay, and now he's headed toward stardom and riches in the NBA.

Staying in-house, my first condemnation goes to the University of Texas Board of Regents. "Sawing 'em off" may be low, but taking Aggieland Outfitters to court over it was even lower. Rivalries should be bitter and a little dirty.

They shouldn't be fought in a courtroom though.

Texas outfielder Kyle Russell is to be commended for his impressive play this season. He just made the list of finalists for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.

And with good reason.

The kid's leading the nation in home runs with 24, and his slugging percentage of .884 is tops too. He's already broken Jeff Ontiveros' team record of 20 home runs. Considering that home runs are baseball's sexiest stat, and that the sport's most glamorous element, power, is reflected in slugging percentage, it's safe to compare them with, say, touchdowns in football or average points in basketball. Neither Vince Young or Durant ever led their respective leads in those stats.

Just sayin', it's something to think about.

Billy and Bob get to share a dose of condemnation. Billy Gillespie, formerly of Texas A&M, took his "aw, shucks" approach to Kentucky. Bob Huggins took off for West Virginia, leaving Kansas State, resuscitators of his coaching career, in the lurch. Both coaches had it made in the Big 12. Gillespie commanded a huge contract with the Aggies, while Huggins had the run of Aggieville after almost getting the Wildcats into the NCAA tourney.

Both gave their thanks by saying goodbye, Gillespie via text message.

Conference winners always deserve their fair share of commendations, and Texas has three programs currently in possession of a Big 12 title. The soccer team won theirs last semester, but overlooking them wouldn't be right. After beating Colorado in penalty kicks to take the title, Texas earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, and it took a meeting with that perennial powerhouse Portland to end their season in the third round. When all was said and done, the No. 8 ranking the team was left with marked its highest final ranking in team history.

Men's swimming and diving won their conference championship in February - for the 11th straight time. These guys are good. Their domination was rewarded in early April when, between veteran Garrett Weber-Gale and freshman Ricky Berens, they swept Swimmer of the Year and Newcomer of the Year respectively. They finished in fifth place at the NCAA championships - and were disappointed.

The men's indoor track and field program also got a taste of the title, splitting it with Nebraska. After dominating in the heptathlon, Texas also won the high jump, distance medley, mile run and 800-meter run on their way to 93 points and the tie atop the leader board.

Now the quick hits, the harsh, judgmental stuff first.

Jevan Snead. Sometimes competitors sit the bench. Snead transferred to Ole Miss after he couldn't wrestle away the starting job from Colt McCoy. Women's golf team, you started the season with a 16th-place finish in New Mexico. You ended it with a 10th-place finish in the Big 12 championship. A little improvement, or competitiveness, would have been nice.

To end on a positive note, here's a few more things that caught my eye.

NCAA, good call on separating text messaging and recruiting. WTG. You seven NFL draftees, and you two that signed free-agent deals, you know who you are, congratulations. Lastly, check 2B of next Wednesday's Daily Texan. I'm counting 32 female athletes who pulled off 4.0 GPAs in the last calendar year. That's impressive. I've never done it for a single semester.

Oklahoma City Miracle?

Oklahoma City, Okla. -- Ok, so it's never a miracle when a team with the best player in the country beats a team that lost to Oral Roberts at home, but no one here is giving Texas much of a chance against Kansas. They're playing for the Big 12 tournament title at the Ford Center in about an hour, and I'm among the many expecting KU to win.

Texas hasn't looked especially good in either of their first two games, and Kevin Durant has yet to put together two good halves. D.J. Augustine seems to be taking about 30 minutes of floor time before warming up and finding his groove, and Connor Atchley is, well, he's Connor Atchley. A.J. Abrams is Texas' most consistent performer here in OKC, and his specialty is the fickle-by-nature three-pointer.

Meanwhile, Kansas is looking fine, and that's enough to beat the Longhorns if they keep underperforming. To be fair, Durant's had two incredible halves to go with his to ho-hum halves, and Augustine made a huge shot against Baylor, then several shots down the stretch versus Oklahoma State. If they can get hot together and stay that way, Texas' chances increase exponentially.

***

After much soul searching and serious debate, Cody Hale and I have decided we'd rather live in Oklahoma City than Texas' panhandle. This has more to do with how awful the panhandle is than how great OKC is, but this town's not that bad if you stay in a select few areas.

When I say a 'select few', I'm giving OKC the benefit of the doubt. The only nice place we've found is Bricktown, but we haven't explored much. There are plenty of restaurants on and around downtown's knockoff Riverwalk, and the bars look nice from the outside. Circumstances beyond our control prevented us from checking out Skyy Bar or any of the others, but given the chance, we would have. We ate at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill, and a 1-hour 10-minute break not withstanding, it was pretty good. The cover band was too loud for conversation, but at least they sounded alright. The ribs were delicious, and the fried okra, "freedom fries," and caesar salad were all good. The corn bread was nothing special, but the cheap beer to wash it down with made up for it.

***

Alright, 30 minutes till tipoff, time to get my game face on.
Quick, meaningless predictions:
Texas loses, 65-75
Durant scores 28
Craig Winder has three steals, three fouls and two points
Texas gets into the NCAA tourney as a 4 seed

Birthplace of Basketball

Lawrence, KAN. -- Not too often you find yourself at the birthplace of basketball to see Texas fight for a share of the conference title. But here I am an hour and 20 minutes before tipoff at Allen Fieldhouse. The students are already filling up their allotted seats and the place is full of media. I'm here as a photographer. Pretty nice gig, in the second half I'll be next to an ESPN.com photographer with Getty Images and Reuters photogs next to him.

As usual, we had to drive up here, and we made it in about 11.5 hours. After being greeted with snow we headed out for a nice dinner at IHop before calling it a night. Now I'm in the media room, about to get lunch. This place definitely has a different feel than the Erwin Center, even an hour before the game starts. And it's nothing Texas could ever hope to change. This place is just special.

As far as the game goes, I'll predict 29 points from Kevin Durant and a 9-point, 70-61 loss for the Longhorns. Dallas Morning News columnist Chip Brown is predicting a double-digit defeat. Looks like giving Texas much of a chance in this environment isn't a popular move. Maybe we're all wrong.

NASCAR chat

So, I was watching the Auto Club 500 on Sunday, and I also had ESPN.com's race cast up where UT-grad Tim Cowlishaw -- formerly of the Dallas Morning News -- was leading a chat.

I couldn't think of any good questions, but I wanted to say hi from the Daily Texan, and earlier in the day I'd asked one of my co-workers, Eric Ransom, a question concerning Cowlishaw. So I took advantage of the unexpected opportunity, and asked my question.

Ryan Killian (Austin, TX): So, I'm sittin' here in the Daily Texan
office and wondering, when'd you get so into NASCAR?

TIM COWLISHAW: Good to hear from the Daily Texan, the school newspaper
of my alma mater. Late getting into it. Went to Daytona in 2000, been
into it ever since. Look forward to seeing Kevin Durant in person
Wednesday night. And, of course, Fourth Street after.

So there you have it, Cowlishaw's been doing NASCAR for a little while now. He'll be here today.

Too bad I'll be in College Station for Jody Conradt's first attempt a win 900. The Aggies are 15-0 in Reed Arena this season, but Texas beat them 64-45 earlier in the year and is coming off a win.
Could be a good and historic game.

SI Cover Curse?

Kevin Durant has earned himself a Sports Illustrated cover, and it comes out today.

Jinx?

Dating back to 1954 when the Milwaukee Braves' Eddie Matthews graced the magazine's first issue - and injured his hand a week later - the superstition has percolated that a stint of bad luck came with a spot on the cover. In the '50s alone, one athlete was killed and another paralyzed from the neck down while their cover issues were still on the news racks.

But take heart. Though Texas athletes have felt the curse, it's been only in the form of a loss. In 1970 and 1977 undefeated Texas teams lost their next games, and in 1998, after Ricky Williams made a cover appearance, the Longhorns lost to Texas Tech. If history holds, a loss to Baylor on Saturday is the worst we can expect. OK, maybe he'll fail to notch a double-double and be outscored by an injured Aaron Bruce too.

Point is, jinx schminx.

Look at Vince Young. All he did while on the cover of Sports Illustrated was win Texas a national title and lift his draft status somewhere just above the stratosphere.

T.J. Ford and Cat Osterman weren't slowed by their joint appearance on a cover in 2002, but then they were there in the off-season.

Chris Simms was also on that cover.

Five days later, the Longhorns fell 35-24 to the Sooners. Simms was sacked four times, and he threw three interceptions.

All of a sudden, that game against Baylor doesn't look so easy. They are on the road; Bruce is an All-Big 12 honorable mention.

But he's also from Horsham, Victoria, Australia.

Nevermind.

Besides, that was Chris Simm's second cover appearance. In his first, he was being leveled by Oklahoma's Jimmy Wilkerson. It wasn't the covers getting to him. It was the Sooners.

Texas' history of overcoming any perceived jinx is long. Running back Jimmy Saxton made a cover appearance in 1961 and finished a close third in the year's Heisman race. Running back/punter Ernie Koy was featured after Texas upset No. 1 Alabama in 1965, and he began a successful NFL career that same year. James Street parlayed his appearance into a national championship in 1969.

Durant will join their company soon and surpass them all eventually. There's nothing to worry about.

Then again, after T.J. Ford found himself on the cover before 2003's Final Four, he turned in one of the least remarkable performances of his career. Among Texas players, he finished fourth in points - tied with Brian Boddicker.

Did I mention the 6-foot-3-inch, 190-pound Bruce led NCAA freshmen in scoring his rookie season and was labeled a "Diaper Dandy" by Dick Vitale?

Texas hasn't got a prayer.