Congrats to the Daily Texan’s Cody Hale, a previously unheralded collegiate satirist who almost tricked me into thinking he seriously believes there’s any chance whatsoever the Longhorns’ Kevin Durant isn’t leaving school in June.

If Durant had to make up his mind right now about whether or not he wanted to leave college for the NBA, the answer might not be as simple as most expect.

Even Texas’ coach Rick Barnes feels that way. Barnes believes that if the season were to end today, Durant would have a hard time hanging up his Texas jersey. He might want to stay around for another season.

Now, I already know what you’re thinking. We hear stuff like this all the time at this point in the season, because most players haven’t seriously considered their options just yet.

One of the special things about Durant is that he only cares about getting better on both ends of the court. He knows the money is there waiting for him, whenever he decides to leave college. He also knows that Barnes and his staff can help him become an even better basketball player as he spends more time at Texas.

So, while it’s really too early to tell whether or not Durant will stay in college, don’t be too surprised if at the end of this season he comes back for his sophomore year.

In other news, 2008’s next great One & Done hope / Tim Floyd’s meal ticket, O.J. Mayo had a rough weekend. Since I’m having trouble getting the home video of the incident to play, we’ll have to settle for Paul Alcock taking a dive against Paolo DiCanio, instead.

The Knicks will dodge the bullet that is Kobe Bryant this evening, as the Lakers’ no. 8 no. 24 was suspended for one game for striking Manu Ginobili in the face this past Sunday evening. I don’t know if Stu Jackson cited Kobe because he only hit Ginobili once, but you can safely assume Lamar Odom will do most of the heavy lifting at MSG tonight.

The New York Post’s Peter Vescey — along with summarizing the competition to acquire Memphis’ Pau Gasol — drops the following gems in his Tuesday column.

Emma Faust Tillman, the world’s oldest known living person, died Sunday in Connecticut at 114. To give you an idea how long she lived, Ms. Tillman was alive when Benjamin Harrison was in the White House and the Knicks were under the salary cap.

That reminds me – Dikembe Mutombo, the NBA’s oldest (reputedly June 25, ’66) active player, is fed up with our obsession about his age. I’ll never reference it again – after today. How old is Mutombo, you ask? Older than the hospital he was born in.