While we’re less than 30 minutes away from a press conference regarding Kevin Durant’s future — and all signs, including common sense, are pointing to his departure — last night served as a great opportunity to bring together the team and fans once more to honor the accomplishments of the best freshman to ever play the game, but also one of the most exciting Longhorn teams I’ve ever had the privilege of watching.

As the comments on the last post have mentioned, the staff surprised me with the Slater Martin Award early in the banquet. I was contacted by the basketball office last week about attending the event, but had already secured tickets through a fellow road-tripper’s Longhorn Foundation ties. I didn’t even think I’d be mentioned until I saw my picture flash up on the screen. After that, I don’t really remember what was said or what happened, but I am very honored to receive the award and to have been able to share even a sliver of the spotlight last night with such a great group of players and young men.

At the bottom of the post, I’ll have a complete rundown of who won what, but here were some highlights from the presentation:

Craig Way turned the mic over to Coach Barnes, who was interviewing Durant on-stage. Kevin mentioned that he never had a 30-point game in high school, which prompted Barnes to point out that good coaching must’ve changed something. Then KD made quite an astute comment — “Looking back, I think I did all right.”

While that seemed to be the quote of the night, just minutes later Barnes would top it. He spoke about the whirlwind week that Kevin and his family had experienced, traveling to awards ceremony after awards ceremony. “I kind of felt bad for Acie Law, Greg Oden, and Tyler Hansbrough,” Barnes said. “It was like they were just following around the Kevin Durant Award Tour.” As the crowd laughed, Barnes wound up and threw this zinger right down the heart of the plate — “I almost wanted to turn to Acie and say ‘Poor Aggie.'”

The coaching staff spoke, including the man who first recruited KD to the 40 Acres, Russell Springmann. While following up a man who brought a demigod to campus is certainly a tough task, Barnes made it even tougher on Coach Rodney Terry when he introduced him as the coach “responsible for recruiting Greg Oden.”

Terry later gave the staff a ton of credit, particularly Barnes. Minutes later, Coach Ken McDonald ripped on Terry for sucking up for a raise. Then, he turned on his most serious voice and began singing the praises of Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds. He couldn’t keep the bit up for too long before laughing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Dodds did give them all a bump in pay. This staff sure as hell deserves it.

After the banquet was over, a table was set up for fans to meet with Durant. There was a limit of two autographs per person in an effort to keep the line moving, but nearly an hour after the ceremony had ended, there were still folks waiting to talk with the superstar. From Phoenix to the end-of-year banquet, KD has truly been a rock star. A completely humble, gracious rock star, who doesn’t do coke on a tour bus while hooking up with a random groupie named Mitzi from Trenton. But otherwise, the term “rock star” is accurate.

Don’t forget to listen to 1300 AM, “The Zone,” to hear Kevin’s presser at the top of the hour. I wish him the best of luck in the League, and hope that the lottery works out to put him in Celtic green. It’s been a real pleasure watching KD take the country by storm, and this is certainly going to be a season I’ll remember forever.

Here are the other award recipients from last night’s banquet:

Mike Wacker Comeback Award: Matt Hill

Solid Citizen Award: Damion James

Jack Gray Award: Connor Atchley

Athletic Director’s Scholar-Athlete Award: Craig Winder

Jay Arnette Award: Justin Mason

Earlene Fulmer 3-Point Attack Award: A.J. Abrams, D.J. Augustin

Assists Award: D.J. Augustin

Blocked Shots Award: Kevin Durant

Field Goal Percentage Award: Damion James

Free Throw Percentage Award: AJ. Abrams

Rebounding Award: Kevin Durant

Hustlin’ Horns Award: Ian Mooney

Spirit Award: Harrison Smith and J.D. Lewis

Outstanding Defensive Player: Justin Mason

Most Improved Player: Dexter Pittman

Team Captains: Craig Winder and A.J. Abrams

Co-MVPs: D.J. Augustin and Kevin Durant

Senior Award: Craig Winder