Posts tagged TylerHansbrough at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

One of the buzzing stories around the internets are some photos of UNC players Tyler Hansbrough and Bobby Frasor jumping off a balcony and into a pool. The pictures were taken at a SAE frat house and show both Psycho T and Frasor (close friends) at a party, jumping off a building into a large, inflatable pool.

Right now, they are getting a lot of heat (and some love) over the stunt on message boards and blogs.

Yes, these kinds of things go on at colleges. Anyone who's been in college has seen or participated in some stupid stuff ... especially once the spring semester ends and everyone is looking forward to a summer off. These guys are student-athletes and they have the same academic pressures as the rest of the student body.

However, these two are in college because of their physical gifts. Seeing Frasor up there was puzzling. He missed most of the past season after tearing up his knee. If Ty Lawson stays in the NBA Draft, Frasor inherits this team and will be counted on heavily. Seems like jumping off a balcony and into a pool isn't the best way to rehab that injury.

As for Hansbrough, I'm sure it just adds to his "Psycho T" legend. However, it is dumb for the defending Player of the Year to spend the offseason leaping off stuff like that. Whether he will be successful in the NBA or not, some team will draft him and, in turn, pay him lots and lots of money. It's really scary that he would risk all of that for his "I am a golden god" moment.

Obama spent the night in Chapel Hill following a rally late Monday at the Smith Center, then scrimmaged with the team on Tuesday morning after touring the Coach Bill Guthridge Locker Room with coach Roy Williams and his wife, Wanda.

Obama played team members that included Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Ginyard, Marc Campbell, Surry Wood and Deon Thompson. He kept up with the run-and-gun pace for at least five minutes before benching himself.

When he got back in the game, Williams, who was watching from a chair on the sidelines, called out: "You've got the future president of the United States wide open."

"Danny and his father contacted me in the last 24 hours and indicated they wished to test the waters and enter Danny in the draft,'' UNC coach Roy Williams said in a prepared statement. "We have done the necessary paperwork to do that."

The announcement came as a surprise - Wednesday night, Williams told the News & Observer that Green had not been part of the coach's process of contacting teams to determine where the players might be drafted.

A surprise, indeed. There aren't really any draft sites that think he's a first round draft pick -- if they have him getting drafted at all. He, like Ty Lawon and Wayne Ellington (who are also entering the NBA draft), will not hire an agent in order to preserve his amatuer status and possibly return to school.

Meanwhile, the reigning player of the year Tyler Hansbrough has already said he's returning to school.

"I love playing at North Carolina and still have big dreams to realize here, including graduating," Hansbrough said in a prepared statement. "Of course I look forward to playing in the NBA some day but not next year. I love my collegiate experience and want to finish my four years here, then move on to my next dream of playing in the NBA. I am very relieved that this decision is behind us and I can concentrate on my academic work and improving my game for next season."

To be honest, I really thought he'd declare for the draft and not hire an agent (enabling him to return to school). He's a junior, so he could've used his one time testing-the-waters pass this spring just to gauge how NBA-ready he is.

The last Wooden Award winner to return to school the next season was Ralph Sampson in 1982. Sampson won the award again in 1983.

Now, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington will be testing the waters by declaring for the draft and not hiring an agent. DraftExpress.com has Lawson as the #30 pick (the final pick of the first round). Ellington is the 40th pick which means a lack of a guaranteed contract.

One of the best NBA draft sites, Draft Express, has a rundown of who is still on the fence about declaring for this June's draft. There is one week left for underclassmen to declare so speculation is running rampant.

The site believes that North Carolina's National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough is going to go pro:

Sources close to the situation tell us that Hansbrough will likely enter his name in the draft without an agent and try to help his stock with a strong showing at the Orlando pre-draft camp. He's currently projected to be drafted in the 20's, although it's not quite clear how much another year of college basketball will help him in the short or long-term.

To be honest, this is the smart move for Hansbrough ... and, really, any junior. You get to put your name into the draft and (if you don't have an agent) come back to school once so you may as well do it as a junior. I mean, he'll already be in the draft after his senior season!

This means he can go to the pre-draft camps and work with NBA coaches and other potential draft picks to see where he stands. If he isn't ready, he can get instruction on how to polish his game. Since he's not hiring an agent, he can then take his name out of the draft, head back to Chapel Hill and work on his flaws. If he is ready, he'll probably go somewhere in the late first round.

Also, the article says that UNC guard Ty Lawson will most likely return to school.

There will (most likely) be no coaching changes in the ACC this year. There really aren't many of those "one-and-done" guys that other conferences will see leave. So what are the major themes of the ACC's offseason?

-Olympic Games: I must admit that I was surprised that Mike Krzyzewski had his Duke team blazing out of the gate this season. I honestly felt that his Olympic responsibilities would have some sort of effect on the Blue Devils to start this season. Instead, they shot out of the gate and were the #2-ranked team as late as February.

But this July and August will see K's commitment to the Olympic squad hit the highest level. After finishing a pretty good season at Duke and looking towards bigger things in '09, he must go to Beijing and deal with a volatile and thankless job.

If Team USA comes back with the gold, everyone will just say it was because there were better players this time around and the program was more focused. If they don't win it all -- God, help them.

-UNC's Main Men: The Tar Heels were a horrible 12 minutes from getting to the National Championship game this year. If everyone comes back, they could be the favorite to bring home the title.

It seems as if a tough exit in the NCAA Tournament was the last time we will see Hansbrough in his familiar uniform. After the spring semester, the former Mr. Basketball in the state of Missouri will be leaving the University for a different challenge.

Oh, and it is Ben Hansbrough -- Tyler's little brother -- that's doing the moving.

Sophomore Ben Hansbrough will be leaving Mississippi State after the semester and transferring somewhere else. It isn't yet known where he's heading to, though there has been speculation that it could be Purdue or Missouri. Purdue was one of his finalists during recruiting ... while Missouri would allow him to be closer to home.

This is a big deal, as Hansbrough started 28 games this season and averaged 10.5 ppg for the SEC West Champion Bulldogs.

Hat tip to Awful Announcing on this one.

ESPN's Jay Bilas was a guest on Dan Le Batard's radio show and they got into it. The main topic of discussion was race in basketball (mainly at Tyler Hansbrough's pro prospects).

It didn't seem to be what Bilas wanted to discuss. I mean, it is only the national championship coming up and I'm sure that Jay was prepared to talk about that. Le Batard instead hit him up with weird questions about scenarios if Hansbrough was black or Michael Beasley was white.

After a heated exchange, Bilas got off this classic blast -- "Take offense ... it's stupid"

It is D-Day for the Final Four. All four of the #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament have survived ... but two will fall today. The second game this evening pits Kansas and North Carolina in what is now known as the "Ol' Roy Game".

It's always neat to go behind enemy lines and see what fans and bloggers of your opponents are thinking and feeling about the game. I decided to chat up with the Rock Chalk Talk blog about what Kansas fans wondered about the Tar Heels (go here for Rock Chalk's take on the game).

Rock Chalk: What is your take on the whole Roy scenario? Do you think Kansas fans, the one who call him a traitor and everything, are justified in their feelings, or do you think they are being too hard on a guy only following a dream?

It is D-Day for the Final Four. All four of the #1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament have survived ... but two will fall today. The second game this evening pits Kansas and North Carolina in what is now known as the "Ol' Roy Game".

I have been a Tar Heel fan my entire life and know what to expect from UNC. To get prepped up for the game, I decided to chat up with the Rock Chalk Talk blog about the view from the Kansas side of the fence (go here for my take on the game).

Sportz Assassin: You can't start this any other way but with Roy Williams. It's been five years since he's left KU for UNC. What level of hatred can he expect from Jayhawk fans in San Antonio this weekend?

Rock Chalk: It depends on which portion of the fan base actually makes the trip down to San Antonio. Most of the fan base, at least most of who I have talked to, don't have all that many ill-feelings toward Roy, me included. Sure, we wish he wouldn't have left, especially after he promised in 2000 that he was staying until he retired, but I would argue we are better off now for it, and we realize that he was just fulfilling his lifelong dream. So, while there were certainly be some boos cascading down from the Jayhawks section, I wouldn't expect everyone to show disapproval of Roy.

Tyler Hansbrough helped fend off a Louisville rally by scoring 28 points and grabbing 13 boards in North Carolina's win over Louisville, 83-73.

The East Regional Final matchup was like watching two games in one.

In the first half, Louisville pressed the Tar Heels which led to a ton of easy baskets. UNC simply threw over the press and beat the defense back for layups. When they did have to play a halfcourt game, Carolina could shoot anything they wanted because they dominated the offensive glass. Danny Green and Wayne Ellington were awesome, scoring a combined 20 points.

UNC went into the break up 44-32.

The second half was much different. The Cards made a great adjustment of having David Padgett (who Roy Williams successfully recruited to Kansas) at the high post and running screens off him. He found cutters open for layups and/or created a foul on the Heels. It also kept Carolina's big men away from the basket and Louisville found some offensive boards.

Here are just some little tidbits about the Elite 8, which begins tonight: