You've probably heard and read enough about Greg Oden and Kevin Durant to the point where the draft can't come soon enough. We agree. So we won't waste your time here with things like points, rebounds, steals and blocked shots, but we'd like to try to enlighten you on why those numbers are just a small part of what these young men, expected to go 1-2 in Thursday night's NBA draft, are about and why they are so special.

The Courant checked in with Texas coach Rick Barnes and Ohio State associate head Coach John Groce last week to tell us something we may not know about Oden and Durant and what the NBA can expect. Something that impressed them - or not - around the time their college careers began. The coaches obliged, and it was confirmed: Oden and Durant are special. There are no two ways about it.

The NBA will love them, commissioner David Stern in particular, because they are high-character guys. They lived up to the hype that has been following them since high school, and now the greatest basketball league in the world is set to welcome them and the excitement they'll bring.

But everything you've been hearing - and reading - about these guys being once-in-a-lifetime players? It could be true. If you ask their coaches, there's no doubt it's true.

KEVIN DURANT

When the Texas Longhorns lost LaMarcus Aldridge, PJ Tucker and Daniel Gibson to the NBA last June, coach Rick Barnes said he didn't know what to expect the following season. No coach does with losses like that.

But there was that Texas-sized following to consider, a scary Big 12 schedule and the usual expectations. Molding a team wasn't going to be easy, but Barnes had a special piece in Kevin Durant, a 6-foot-9 All-American out of Montrose Christian in Maryland , and he appealed to him in a way he probably wouldn't to any other freshman.

Barnes clearly remembers his first conversation with Durant in his office before the season. He recalls it mostly because he never had to repeat it.

"I said to him, `To be a team to contend, with the schedule we have, you need to have a national caliber-type year,'" Barnes said. "I said, `You're going to get a lot of minutes.' That was the first time he walked in. Now he's a freshman and I'm issuing him a challenge like this. I'm telling him these things, and the passion you began to see in him from that moment on was just tremendous. He just wanted to be the best he could be.

"Kevin has been one of those players where everyone has been telling him how good he is his whole life. And when he got here, he had his game broken down and was told to get better here, get better there, and he just did it. And he did it with great passion and great enthusiasm."

And it worked. After being the No.2 guy to Greg Oden in the rankings throughout high school, Durant became the first freshman to win The Associated Press national player of the year award. He and Oden became the first freshmen to make the AP All-America first team since 1990.

Sure, Durant had great natural ability coming out of high school. So did Michael Jordan. But it was the passion to be great that drove Jordan . Durant has some of that about him, too, and it awed Barnes again during the season.

"He was good defensively, but he's made great strides and will continue to do so," Barnes said. "But I will tell you this: From the time I got on him about his defense, there wasn't a day or a time that went by that he didn't ask how his defense was."

Most believe Durant's only weakness is defense, but all believe he is a special player, none more so than Barnes.

"I've only had one player come along like this," Barnes said. "Basketball-wise, there's nothing he can't do because he wants it, and I don't care what people say, he can play anywhere, any position and be comfortable because he has incredible desire.

"I know coaches talk [nice] about their players, but I'm not lying to you. He's a legit player and a legit person. Just getting to the NBA, which is something he's wanted to do, is not enough for him. He wants to make a difference at the next level."

GREG ODEN

The Ohio State coaches were enamored of Greg Oden the person during a recruiting visit to Columbus . There was a football game that weekend and because it was an unofficial visit, Oden had to pay much of the cost. He did pass through tailgaters outside Ohio Stadium, met folks, saw the game and, apparently, had a good time.

"It's not unusual for us to get letters from parents after visits just thanking you for everything during the visit," said John Groce, the Buckeyes' associate head coach. "But Greg himself sends us a note afterward and I believe it said something like, `Thank you, I really appreciated the time we spent together.' ... That's when we all kind of looked around and said this is some kind of person."

Oden is 7 feet, can throw your shot to the moon and dunk in your face, yet this 250-pound giant is seemingly as gentle and as humble as they come.

Groce never will forget that note.

"Anyone who deals in recruiting knows that's rare," he said. "It really speaks to the kind of person Greg is. The NBA is really going to be getting a guy who is a pro in every sense of the word, how he plays and how he carries himself off the court. He's a very intelligent young man who is just off the charts as a person. And he's only 19 years old. That's what the NBA is getting."

Don't mistake Oden's humbleness and kindness for weakness. He set those things aside when it came time to do his job. The fact he blocked 3.3 shots a game was just one of the reasons he was named national defensive player of the year. The average number of shots he altered was certainly higher. Oden also won the Pete Newell Big Man of the Year award and was the Most Outstanding Player of the Big Ten tournament, the first freshman to accomplish that. He led the Buckeyes to the national championship game, where they lost to Florida .

"Some guys can coach 50 years and not have a player and person like Greg Oden," Groce said. "We all here considered it a privilege to have him and to know him. He really is a fine young man who has a great respect for this game that he loves, but he is a very caring and very respectful individual. He's a guy whose ability to connect with his peers and adults is off the charts."

Oden is an old pro at being in the spotlight and under the media glare.

"It won't be long before the NBA realizes how special Greg Oden is," Groce said. "We've known here for a while, and I know coach [Thad] Matta and the rest of us really enjoyed knowing him here and having the opportunity to coach. It's not something you're going to forget anytime soon."

 

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