UNC Basketball: Kansas coach Bill Self lauds former Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough
Kansas head coach Bill Self thinks one of his players could benefit from watching former Tar Heel Tyler Hansbrough
Tyler Hansbrough is one of the most decorated college basketball players in history, and you’ll find few that disagree with that assessment.
His individual accomplishments are deserving enough for that distinction, but then there’s the achievements of his team during the four years he spent at the University of North Carolina.
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Hansbrough was a three-time consensus first team All-American. He was a four-time first team All-ACC selection and the 2008 ACC Player of the Year. He was the unanimous 2008 National Player of the Year and his 2,872 career points are still tops in ACC history.
From 2005 to 2009, his North Carolina teams won 124 games and lost just 22. The Tar Heels finished first in the ACC standings each of his last three seasons and he never lost a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. His teams made consecutive Final Four appearances in 2008 and 2009, and won the 2009 National Championship game.
His impact on college basketball is a lasting one, and that’s evidenced by the recent comments of Kansas head coach Bill Self.
Self feels like Kansas’ freshman power forward Billy Preston could learn a thing or two from watching the former North Carolina standout.
"“When Hansbrough played, it wasn’t that Hansbrough played harder than everybody every possession,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World. “That was not what made him. What made him is, you put your best guy playing as hard as he can and he takes two possessions off out of 10, Hansbrough wears him out on those two possessions because he was 10 for 10 every single time.”“Billy’s maybe one out of three, one out of four right now,” Self said. “So if we get it up to one out of two the next couple weeks, maybe two out of three a couple weeks after that, I think we would’ve made some improvements.”"
There’s no doubt that the five-star big man has skill, but whether or not he’ll reach the level of Hansbrough, either in results or effort, is yet to be seen.
Next: Utah Jazz send Tony Bradley to G-League
Self, Preston and the Jayhawks begin the regular season on November 10th at Allen Fieldhouse, when they square off against Tennessee State.