The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
06.24.2008 | Men's Basketball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Former University of Texas basketball standout D.J. Augustin will look to have his name called early during Thursday night's NBA Draft at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Augustin, who earned the Bob Cousy Award presented by The Hartford as the nation's top collegiate point guard this past season, is tabbed by most mock drafts as a lottery pick (among the Top 14 selections in the first round).
With Augustin likely to be drafted among the Top 14 picks, it will complete quite a three-year run for Texas at the NBA Draft. LaMarcus Aldridge became the highest draft pick in UT history in 2006, when he was selected as the No. 2 pick by the Chicago Bulls. Aldridge's rights were later traded to Portland. Texas also produced a pair of second-round picks in 2006 in P.J. Tucker (35th overall pick by Toronto) and Daniel Gibson (42nd overall pick by Cleveland). Last year, Kevin Durant equaled Aldridge's accomplishment when Durant was tabbed as the No. 2 pick by the Seattle Sonics.
Should Augustin be selected as a lottery pick, Texas would be the only school in the nation to have a lottery pick in each of the last three NBA Drafts. Texas and Washington enter the 2008 NBA Draft as the only two schools to have produced lottery picks in both the 2006 and 2007 Drafts.
In fact, UT would become just the fourth school since 1985 (when the current draft lottery system was implemented) to produce a lottery pick in three consecutive years. Georgia Tech (1989-91), Duke (1992-95) and Connecticut (2004-06) have previously accomplished the feat.
Nine UT players have been selected in the last nine years dating back to the 1999 Draft, including Kris Clack (1999, 55th overall pick by Boston), Chris Mihm (2000, seventh overall pick by Chicago then traded to Cleveland), Chris Owens (2002, 48th overall pick by Milwaukee then traded to Memphis), T.J. Ford (2003, eighth overall pick by Milwaukee), Royal Ivey (2004, 37th overall pick by Atlanta), LaMarcus Aldridge (2006), P.J. Tucker (2006), Daniel Gibson (2006) and Kevin Durant (2007).
Texas has had a total of 34 former players selected in the NBA Draft since it began in 1947. Eight of those players were first-round selections. Raymond Downs, a sixth-round pick by St. Louis in 1957, was the first Longhorn to be drafted.
ESPN will provide start-to-finish coverage of the draft beginning at 6 p.m. Central (7 p.m. Eastern).
Schools with a NBA Draft Lottery Pick in Three Consecutive Seasons
Georgia Tech: 1989-91 (Tom Hammonds, No. 9, 1989; Dennis Scott, No. 4, 1990; Kenny Anderson, No. 2, 1991)
Duke: 1992-95 (Christian Laettner, No. 3, 1992; Bobby Hurley, No. 7, 1993; Grant Hill, No. 3, 1994; Cherokee Parks, No. 12, 1995)
Connecticut: 2004-06 (Emeka Okafor, No. 2, 2004; Charlie Villanueva, No. 7, 2005; Rudy Gay, No. 8, 2006)
