Kevin Durant 'excited' for future of Texas under Rodney Terry

As Texas was in the midst of its run under interim head coach Rodney Terry, everyone involved with the program got behind the team. The Longhorns eventually made a run all the way to the Elite Eight and soon thereafter, Chris Del Conte dropped the interim tag. Terry will now take full charge of the program and look to continue in a positive direction.

Kevin Durant has been vocal in support of Terry, once again expressing his excitement with the tire. Terry was an assistant coach under Rick Barnes while Durant was on campus, working together for a season. Durant says the culture will be coming back to Austin in a big way since Terry is familiar with how things operate.

“I’m very excited for RT,” Durant said on The ETCs with KD podcast. “Because when you somebody that coached there, had a stint there for a long period of time, get to come back — a lot of the guys that he recruited really left the mark there at Texas and built a culture there at Texas.

“So, for him to come back and kind of bring everybody back and have that support again, it was key… Looking forward to seeing what we do in the future.”

Another place Durant is impressed with Terry is the recruiting world. Durant noticed the quality of high school players Texas has been able to attract since Terry rejoined the program. Some legit prospects are on track to play a major role in the 2023-2024 squad.

“We got a good recruiting class coming in,” Durant said. “A couple of McDonald’s All-Americans the next few years. So, it’s looking good for us.”

Texas has the No. 3 recruiting class in the country coming in, with two five-star prospects making their way to Austin. Ron Holland was a McDonald’s All-American, as Durant mentioned, while AJ Johnson is a “jet-fast point guard” according to his On3 scouting report.

Terry has the opportunity to make an even bigger splash in the 2024 cycle. He recently went to visit On3 Industry Rankings No. 1 overall Tre Johnson, a native of Dallas (TX) Lake Highlands. Landing him would be quite the statement for the Longhorns, especially from a first-year head coach.

If Texas can have the support of Texas, the recruiting efforts will only be made easier for Terry. With how deep the basketball alumni run on the 40 Acres, having them supporting Terry is a massive win.