watching this 2007 Texas team all these years after-the-fact, and several things stick out-
1)As ztejas mentioned, KD is such an unselfish player. I am so impressed watching him now through the eyes of an adult/coach as opposed to watching him through the eyes of a young-ish fan. Real sequence from the TTU game: He runs his ass off without the ball on offense, gets it, scores at will, then goes down on D and goes beastmode for a rebound, then hands the ball off to DJ and runs over to set a screen for AJ. Then we get a foul, and he's the guy getting everyone together in the huddle and leading the talk, giving out the instructions. I'm falling in love with KD all over again. Truly, truly one-of-a-kind.
2)We are so small. We start three guards (one who's 6'2" and two more who are sub-6 ft) and two forwards. We have zero big men. Even our tall guys (James, KD, Atchley) are forwards who spend plenty of time on the perimeter. KD is the *only* reason this team didn't just get bullied and dominated by bigger teams. Shouts out to Damion James for the amazing, bulldog-like work he put in, but you could replace KD with fucking Greg Oden and teams would have had a better time stopping us. KD opened up the floor for everyone else with all of the attention he demanded.
3)I'm actually quite impressed with the job that Rick Barnes did with this team, particularly with how he set Texas up for success the following year. In 2007 he had to replace all five starters from the Elite 8 team from the year before, and he had to start four freshmen and a midget sophomore. But here's where I really think he did a great job: he treated KD like everyone else (to a certain degree- more so than any other coach would have), and that's what was ultimately best for Texas. This team did *not* just give KD the ball and get out of the way, this was a *TEAM*, and while KD was/played the role of its best player, AJ, and DJ, and Damion, and even Connor and Mason were heavily involved, and looking back at it now there is no way Texas goes right back to the Elite 8 the next year without that being the case. This team was not a one-man show, it was a real-deal team, and looking back at that all of these years later I can really appreciate that now. No chance we're back in the Elite 8 under a coach who didn't run things that way. None.
All in all 2007 was never one of our best teams, but they were damn sure full of heart and fun to watch, and man, KD; what can you say? Watching him play over again all of these years later he's somehow even more impressive to me than he was the first time around. Really good memories. 🤘🏼