Tyler Hansbrough: North Carolina's Ugly Duckling

Don't let your eyes fool you. UNC junior power forward Tyler Hansbrough only appears to be the next Mark Madsen (no disrespect Mark, you know I love you).

Hey, I see the same limitations in Hansbrough that everybody else sees. Not very skilled, not very athletic. Probably closer to 6-7 than the 6-9 he's listed at, minus the Elton Brand-esque arm length that compensates for the lack of height. Not much upside potential.

To NBA scouts, these are serious red flags—and understandably so. Size, talent, and athleticism matter more in the National Basketball Association than any other professional sports league in the world. And Hansbrough is lacking in these areas. I see it and I understand it.

It's just that I watch the latter stages of a performance like the one that he put on tonight—the type of show that has become commonplace for him this season—and I almost feel compelled to overlook it.

Sunday night at the Dean Dome, in an ACC clash against Clemson, Psycho T scored 39 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as number three North Carolina held off the Cavaliers, 103-93, in double OT. He scored 13 of those points in the extra two periods.

As always, nothing about the way he accumulated his numbers was pretty. (Besides his near perfect stroke at the free throw line, where he made 17 of 19 on the night and shoots 81 percent for the year.) His post moves and drives are not smooth and he is rather uncoordinated. But it's the ugliness of Hansbrough's helter-skelter game that makes him so effective.

He plays at a hectic pace, invariably outworking his opponents, playing with more desire and determination and heart than any player you'll ever see. He throws his body around with reckless abandon (nobody takes more of a beating) and never gives up on a play.

Hansbrough simply wants it more, and it's that willfulness that has helped turn him into perhaps the nation's most dominant player (with a nod and a tip of the cap to Kansas State's superstar freshman, Michael Beasley) and leading Player of the Year candidate.

Hansbrough averages 22.8 points and 10.8 rebounds on a 22-2 team from the ACC; if he doesn't win the Naismith with a resume like that, it'll be an upset, no matter how good Beasley is.

Hansbrough's entire essence can be summed up by one sequence that took place at the end of the game against Clemson. With 1:30 remaining in the second overtime, he hounded Clemson's David Potter near the mid-court line, knocked the ball loose, and then beat him to the loose ball, diving on the floor to retrieve and getting fouled in the process. As he stood at the free-throw line hitting both free throws, the play-by-play announcer paid T the ultimate, and most fitting, compliment.

"There is a competitor," he said, "then there is Tyler Hansbrough."

Unfortunately for Hansbrough, when it comes to the draft, "warrior" is often trumped by "wingspan," and so it's unlikely that he will ever be a very high selection.

Tyler's former teammate, current Warrior's forward Brandan Wright, was picked number eight overall last year. Wright could be described as the anti-Hansbrough: long, athletic, unproven, and motivationally lacking. But that'll get you picked ahead of someone like Hansbrough—undersized, limited physically, highly productive and driven—ten times out of ten. I'm not saying that this is completely wrong, I'm not trying to take a shot at Wright, and I'm not saying T should go number one overall.

I'm simply pointing out that you can go to war with Tyler Hansbrough, a fact that should weigh heavily on the minds of NBA GM's when they look at his name on their big board in a year or two.