Austin, Texas ? Texas coach Rick Barnes criticized his players publicly, only to back off later. He chastised himself for “coaching mad” during a midseason lull.

He benched scholarship players, giving away valuable court time to a walk-on to prove a point.

Barnes hit all the right buttons this season, pushing and pulling the No. 6 Longhorns to a school-record 26 regular-season victories and a share of their second Big 12 title in three years.

For doing all that – even without Kevin Durant – Barnes was named Wednesday as the Associated Press Big 12 coach of the year for the second year in a row and third time overall.

In balloting of media members who cover the Big 12 on a regular basis, Barnes garnered 14 votes, and Baylor’s Scott Drew received five.

“The credit goes to our players,” Barnes said. “They’ve put in the time and do what it takes to be successful.”

The question going into the season was just how good could Texas be after Durant, the consensus national player of the year, left school for the NBA after one season?

Very good, it turns out.

Texas had four returning starters and a fabulous point guard in D.J. Augustin. With Durant gone, forward Damion James moved out to his natural position on the wing and posted 14 double-doubles this season.

An impressive 11-0 start included victories over No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Tennessee, even as top recruit Gary Johnson was held out for six weeks while doctors monitored his heart.

Still, Barnes wasn’t satisfied. He was frustrated by young post players who weren’t playing hard enough. To send a message, he gave valuable court minutes to walk-on Ian Mooney in victories over TCU and Saint Mary’s.

“The message was sent to those guys that there’s no entitlement here. You can be on scholarship, you can be whatever. If you don’t do the job, you’re not going to play,” Barnes said. “They realized they’re going to have to work. From that point on, you could sense more urgency on the part of those post guys.”