Q&A with Tyler Hansbrough: "I'm going to prove a lot of people wrong"

Is there a criticism of your game that bothers you and you feel is unfair?

I think a lot of times people perceive me as a hard worker and sometimes my skills get overlooked. I’m a capable mid-range shooter, and I think I’ll prove that in a lot of these workouts. Some people say I’m not athletic. I think I move very well and I move my feet well, too.

Does it motivate you when you hear the criticism?

A little bit. Everybody’s already heard this, but I’m not really worried about it. It’s just a bunch of people saying whatever they want. I think I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong.

I heard your dad say one time that they doubted you in high school and they doubted if you’d be a success at North Carolina, but this has always been a dream for you to be in this position.

Yeah, it is a dream for me, but I bet if someone saw me in high school, I bet they kind of doubted me in high school and said I wouldn’t be a good college player. I bet not a lot of people thought I would be the ACC all-time leading scorer. They can doubt me, but I got the job done, and I’m a national champion too, so that’s great. Doubt me all you want, but I think I have a lot to prove.

How beneficial have these couple of days in Chicago been for you?

It’s good just to come out here and get a chance to show all these teams different aspects of your game that you might not get to show them during the regular season. It’s good to come out here and get some competition, too.

Talk about your game from college to pro and your evolution as a player.

I think I’m expanding my game a lot to prepare myself for the NBA. I’ve worked on my outside jump shot a lot and I think that’s coming along. Just getting a lot more skills moves down like ball handling and working on my left hand.

Full video of the interview available here.

NBA Pre-draft Combine Results:

Height without shoes: 6'8.25"
Height with shoes: 6'9.5"
Weight: 234
Wingspan: 6'11.5"
Standing Reach: 8'10"
Body Fat: 8.5 percent
No Step Vert.: 27.5
Max Vert.: 34.0
Bench Press: 18
Lane Agility: 11.12 
Three-Quarters Court Sprint: 3.27 sec.