Sam Donnellon |    THE 1-2 HUNCH

TODAY BEING Friday, I want to tell you, with complete certainty, that Texas freshman Kevin Durant is the franchise player to take should the Sixers win the lottery and pick first.

I know this contradicts what I might have told some people after Ohio State wrested the Big Ten championship and top spot in the polls from Wisconsin in a thrilling, 49-48 win Sunday.

Back then, Ohio State's Greg Oden was clearly that guy.

But then Durant scored 30 points and had 16 rebounds in the Longhorns' nationally telecast, edge-of-your-seat, 98-96, double-overtime victory against Texas A&M Wednesday night and, well, I'm not blind.

Durant, definitely.

Or at least until tomorrow.

That's when Durant plays in his next nationally televised game, this time on CBS, this time against Kansas. At noon.

It's also the same day Oden plays in his next nationally televised game, against Michigan, also on CBS. At 4.

Back-to-back. No need to subscribe to some scouting service. No need to be swayed by sages like Dick Vitale or Billy Packer to formulate your opinion. Turn down the sound if you like. With the bulk of each player's games being televised during this winter of our professional franchise discontent, everyone can be a draft expert.

Durant is 6-9, 225 - and a 41 percent shooter from three-point range. He averages 24.9 points a game and 11.5 rebounds and seems to get better each time you flick on the remote.

Oden, 7-foot and 280 pounds, requires you to play scout a little more. He's averaging 15.3 points, 9.5 rebounds - and 3.5 blocks. Many see him as a future foil for Shaquille O'Neal. One NBA executive I spoke with recently sees more of a Patrick Ewing-like career, a defender first and foremost, blocking and altering shots, collecting rebounds on both ends.

Oden's right wrist, still not 100 percent after surgery last June, has made a comparison between both players' upsides even more difficult, and speculative. But the idea that he put 22 pounds of muscle on while rehabbing that wrist is telling. So is his refreshing team-first mentality (which Durant also has) and a mature perspective that belies his age.

Will Oden develop into a greater offensive presence once fully healed? Is the wrist potentially chronic?

Durant's numbers Wednesday night came amid double-teams, amid silly play by his equally young teammates, and despite what seemed to be an effort by teammates and even his coach to keep the ball away from him.

He is a more polished player than Oden, who finished with 11 points and five rebounds in the showdown with Wisconsin and, like Durant, sometimes seems as thwarted by his own team as he was badgered by the Badgers. After a close call last week against Penn State, a local columnist even wrote that the Buckeyes "looked as if they gave up Oden for Lent."

Durant is certainly more entertaining to watch - at least right now. And yet the consensus seems to favor Oden as the top pick. An analyst from ESPN.com recently polled 21 NBA general managers, and 20 said they would take Oden with the first pick of the draft.

The theory, in short: A guy with Oden's size, smarts and raw physical tools comes along once every decade or so. Durant-type players are more plentiful, and more difficult to project, at least in terms of the level of their NBA stardom.

Is he a future superstar, star, or starter? The line separating the three is incredibly thin in the NBA, and often indiscernible until a player gets there. But Durant's size, quickness and scoring ability certainly validate all the excitement.

And the TV appearances.

Similarly, the excitement over Oden may have as much to do with what you don't see as what you do. He's perceived as a leader, a guy who will bring intangibles along with that mass. It's telling, perhaps, that the poster on his bedroom wall in high school was of David Robinson, one of the smartest big men to ever play.

And a guy who just got better and better.

So make your call. Oden? Or Durant?

And stick to it.

At least until you watch the other guy play again. *

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