Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY

By Tim Hall
Mar 4, 2009

comments

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.

Most Recent Comments

RE: Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY

No, I'm not Mrs. John Swofford, I wouldn't put up with him! I wouldn't exactly use the term getting around, either, but when you grow up in a community such as I
did, you know people, thru parents and your (my) own experience. If you think I'm in my early 40's you are right. My husband is older. The 2 children (not so much anymore) are my husbands from another marriage. Do you have a problem with that? As for getting pregnant at 19 or 20, I am smarter than that, but there are thousands of girls who are plenty smart, who find themselves in that predicament all too often. I'm not going to judge them.
As to your 2nd question, I'm all for differing opinions and welcome them. When they are opinions based on something legitimate. The poster to whom I was responding offered up secondhand gossip re: TH, he's so mean and snooty (how old are we?), not to mention the endless, mindless drivel you refer to ie; He's a flopper, he gets all the calls, etc...78fjwhatever admits to being jealous and bitter and the other guy, well he deserved it for contradiciting himself. If he wasn't bitter and all for celebrating great players, he would do well to take advantage of that hospital he cleans bedpans in and have someone look at his cranial-rectal inversion. My 'waaaaaaaaaaa' response was a direct and quick reply to the whining of State fans..."They ALWAYS get their way." Boo Hoo. When people say something stupid or of NO relevance to the conversation, I'll call them on it, just like I got called earlier by you in reference to Debbie K.

I respect your opinion re: Tyler v. Ty as POY, you actually have constructive comments. (

RE: Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY

TT,

You and I have been round and round a couple of times on some certain issues concerning the Duke/UNC rivalry and while I respect your opinion I must ask you a couple of questions. First off, are you Mrs. John Swofford or something? Between the people you know at UNC as well as knowing the K children(which we went round and round about) you certainly do get around. If your oldest is a State grad(congrats by the way) then either my math is way off or there is no way you could have been in school as you stated when you saw the K daughters acting foolish. I say this because I am the same age as the oldest and if so that would have made you in the 18 to 19 range when you had your son. You seem much smarter than that. 2ns question, (or more of a statement) it seems to this observer that when you find something disagreeable with your opinion in a post the first thing you do is resort to name calling or belittling the other poster. Now I do not know if you do it in jest or what but I went back and reread your first response to some other posters(not me) whose opinions differed from yours and your responses were either you are an idiot(i am paraphrasing here) or waaaaaaa. We all have differeneces of opinion but I know I try and refrain from attacking someone personally because it quickly causes the conversation to degenerate into mindless drivel. Not trying to bust your chops but just a suggestion. And i stand by my comment that Ty is more important than Tyler to this years team and thus should have a better chance at POY.

RE: Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY

Wow very mature. Keep going please :-)

I'll also let you have the last word

That should help to make up for the lack of, shall we say, manliness. Maybe you could sneak in a consultation with the urologist re: the ED problem, as well.
Ciao!

RE: Stating my case on Hansbrough for POY

Lots of bedpans to clean, I guess...
Yes, I enjoy talking down to people, no it doesn't make me feel bigger. No generalizations here, just based on your elementary responses. My reputation speaks for itself. I needn't try to make myself credible, when I already in fact, am. NO fabrications here, all direct responses to you and your inferiority complex. Must be a State thing. Maybe you should sneak in a Psych exam in between bedpans. I knew I wasn't far off with my diaper comment. (By the way, they are laughing AT you, honey, not with you. Didn't Mommy teach you the difference?)

WRAL Sports Fan

Tim Hall