But for just one (shining?) moment, put down the Haterade and consider this.
In the history of the ACC, Hansbrough is the only player to be on the all-conference team in all four years where he would go on to become the all-time ACC career points leader with 2,789 points. 953 of those points came on free throws ... which happens to be the most freebies made by anyone in college hoops history. On a bigger scale, he was a four-time all-American, with the last three years being on the first team.
And of course, his team made the NCAA Tournament in all four years as North Carolina went from a second-round out in 2006 to an Elite 8 in 2007, the Final Four flop in '08 to this year's culminating point: A National Championship.
But the media's love fest (specifically Jay Bilas' "Tyler Hansbrough would out-compete everyone ... including Michael Jordan) really turned the tide against the gritty/grindy/gutsy kid from Poplar Bluff, Mo.
The Haterade will flow (especially from Durham, N.C.) but there's no denying the following: Hansbrough put up big numbers and in turn, his team won ... a lot!
In the end, you have to embrace and respect a player that could have been a top-20 pick after his freshman year returning for the full college experience to win a national title.
0 comments:
Post a Comment