Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY
Mar 4, 2009
This week the staff's of WRAL-TV and 99.9 FM The Fan put in selections for the All-ACC first team, second team, coach of the year, and player of the year. Those are available to peruse here at wralsportsfan.com.
In all, 13 sportscasters, writers, and broadcasters put in their picks. Among those 13 we have WRAL legend Tom Suiter, the ever smooth sports anchor Jeff Gravely, the head man of The Fan's drive-time show Scott Jackson, mid-day host Mike Maniscalco, and several others. I would rank dead last as far as stature and career accomplishments among them.
But the 12 that voted other than me all shared one thing in common. Not one chose Tyler Hansbrough for player of the year honors. I simply could not believe my eyes. I certainly am open to other players receiving that position because their are arguments to made for a handful of players. But since I am the only one to pick Hansbrough, I figure I have to give my argument.
The Case:
Tyler Hansbrough's numbers for the season are at the top of the barrel. I know when it comes to dishing out these awards it isn't all about scoring. But it's definitely the first thing. I don't see anyone arguing for defensive specialist David McClure for the honor. Hansbrough is the top scorer in the conference at over 21 points per game. Plus it's not like he is the leading scorer in the conference on some crappy team. His Heels are No. 2 in the nation, and a lot of it has to do with him.
His rebounds are down, only averaging a measly 7.8 rebounds this year. But that's almost a double-double on average! He has eight on the season, and three games where he had nine rebounds. Just because Hansbrough is a point down and two rebounds down on average doesn't mean he still isn't the best. I feel he gets hurt a little because people remember last season and expected him to grow by leaps and bounds. It's pretty tough to grow on a double-double average and I feel he has maintained quite nicely.
The other argument I have for Hansbrough is that he has been steady all season long. Remember it's player of the year, not player of the last 15 games. Gerald Henderson has been terrific in this late stretch, playing like the player of the year right now. But he wasn't in the first 15 games. And even if you did want to look at just ACC games, Hansbrough is only a half a point behind Henderson.
Hansbrough has delivered 16 20-point performances this season. Henderson has just nine. For the argument of G-man's ACC push, he only has seven 20-point games in conference. Hansbrough had a stretch of nine straight games including the whole month of December where he didn't score below 20. He's kept that consistency through the ACC season as well, with 8 of those 20-point games coming against conference foes. I understand Henderson has done more for his team than scoring, he is an emotional, electrifying athlete that makes statements with his dunks. Hansbrough doesn't lift his team with his post play?
I can throw all the numbers out there to argue why he should get it, and especially why he should get it before Henderson at Duke. But in the end it's opinion. Who would Carolina miss more: Ty Lawson or Tyler Hansbrough? That's tough. We only saw this team without Hansbrough against scrubs and teams the Heels should have bludgeoned anyway. Lawson isn't asked to score a lot, and he has been fantastic. But if you take Lawson completely off the team, I think they finish better than if you took Hansbrough completely off the team.
Can you really think this team would be where it is without Hansbrough? He is the reigning national POY! What would they do for inside play, give it to Deon Thompson and say "have at it!"?
Tyler's numbers are barely down this year, but he's still the man. I wonder if anyone will vote for him.
