Best Texas basketball players: All-time starting lineup

Best Texas basketball players: All-time starting lineup – From T.J. Ford to Kevin Durant

AUSTIN, TX - SEPTEMBER 14: Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder enjoys the game from the sidelines as the Texas Longhorns host the Mississippi Rebels on September 14, 2013 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) /

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Kevin Durant #35 of the Texas Longhorns (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images) /

The best Texas basketball players to round out an all-time starting lineup definitely includes T.J. Ford and Kevin Durant, but who else makes the cut?

Texas basketball has been a staple of the Big-12 conference since it’s inception in 1994. They trail only the Kansas Jayhawks in all-time wins and all-time win percentage. Nationally, they rank 18th in all-time wins and 25th in win percentage among NCAA Division I schools. Their 34 appearances in the NCAA Tournament are 11th most all-time. They’ve made the Final Four three times (1943, 1947 and 2003).

The school saw most of its best years come during the tenure of head coach Rick Barnes who was with the school for 17 seasons. During that time the Longhorns made 16 NCAA Tournaments including 14 consecutive trips. Barnes helped bring in a lot of the most talented players to ever wear the school’s patented burnt orange.

The current head coach, Shaka Smart, has brought in his fair share of blue-chip recruits to Austin in his time but none of those players are on this list. What this list consists of is a mock lineup featuring some of the all-time greats to ever make their way through Austin at one point.

When making a starting lineup there are only five available slots to fill. Given that Texas has had a basketball team since 1906 that leaves an awful lot of people who will be on the outside looking in. There is a fair share of talented players who won’t make this team but out of respect to them, we have placed an honorable mention section before we get started to honor other former Longhorn greats.

Honorable Mention: D.J. Augustin, Ron Baxter, Lance Blanks, Reggie Freeman, Chris Mihm, Johnny Moore, Terrence Rencher, LaSalle Thompson, P.J. Tucker, B.J. Tyler.