What’s the biggest difference in Texas basketball from 2006 to 2007? Surprisingly, it may not be Kevin Durant, the freshman phenom whom Texas lost to the NBA draft. Though Durant left big sneakers to fill — 25.8 points a game to be exact — this year’s crop of Longhorns are confident that they’ll grow into them.

“K.D. was a big part of our offense,” junior guard A.J. Abrams said, “but we want to show people we’ve got players that can score just like he did, and we can play even better.”

OK, A.J., but even if Texas can’t account for Durant’s absence on offense, it’s getting back to the old-school Rick Barnes style of basketball. That means a scrappy defense and an emphasis on rebounding. Instead of shooting its opponents out of the building and playing poor zone defense in order to keep Durant out of foul trouble, Texas could slow games down and face up man-to-man much more often.

“We haven’t been a very good defensive team the last couple of years,” coach Barnes said.

Helping the Longhorns reach their goal is a physical freshman class, three of whom are at least 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds.

Gary Johnson, a 6-7, 246-pound forward from Houston, is a near-lock for the starting lineup, according to Athlon’s 2007 basketball preview edition, and Dogus Balbay, a point guard from Istanbul, Turkey, is expected to back up sophomore starting point guard D.J. Augustine.

“They’re going to help in the areas we’ve talked about,” Barnes said. “Those guys are going to help us be better defensively. They’re going to help us rebound better.”

If the freshmen turn out to be key contributors to a tournament run, Texas will have truly established a consistently competitive program. The coaches picked Texas to finish second in the conference, one spot behind Kansas.

“I would assume the same people that are picking us No. 2 are the same people that picked the football poll this year, and that’s not very smart,” Barnes said. “I guess it’s a compliment to our program.”

With only two seniors combining for 1.9 points per game in their junior campaign, Texas’ two biggest contributors in leadership should be Abrams and Augustine, who combined for 29.9 points per game last season.

That’s just a smidgen above Durant’s average, but still nothing to scold. Texas is an established program and Barnes is an established coach with a Final Four appearance under his belt. Even though the Longhorns are young in age and game experience, there’s no doubt they could be a roadblock to all the teams they play.

—Edited by Jeff Briscoe