They read about his USA Junior National Select Team record-tying 31 points at the Nike Hoop Summit.
But despite Hansbrough’s gaudy numbers, his most impressive quality is his tenacity.
“There isn’t as intense or passionate a player in the country,” Telep said. “He’s a horse.”
Hansbrough flirted with the idea of skipping college altogether to pursue an NBA career, but he was not projected as a high pick and said he would rather take a chance at college glory first.
“I’m not going to Carolina just to go to the NBA,” said Hansbrough, who watched the national championship game in the Smith Center with 9,500 UNC fans. “I’m going to Carolina to do what they did last year.”
The hype is there, for sure. But he’s only a freshman. Even Marvin Williams, who could be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA Draft, was not forced to start every game, to be the focal point of the offense.
But John David Patillo, Hansbrough’s coach at Poplar Bluff (Mo.) High School, said he is ready to take that step.
“He gets to expand his role,” Patillo said. “It is a great opportunity for Tyler to step in and play with some of those guys coming off the national championship.”
But Hansbrough doesn’t just have to play with them — he has to be the star, no matter how much he thinks otherwise.
“I don’t feel like I’m gonna have to carry the load next year,” Hansbrough said. “I think that it will be a team thing, really.”
And because the team needs him to step in immediately as a consistent post threat, UNC head coach Roy Williams can’t afford growing pains.
“I don’t foresee Tyler having a big struggle,” Patillo said. “I think he’ll take it on as a challenge.”
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Although Hansbrough appears to be polished and ready, the other three North Carolina signees — Bobby Frasor, Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green — likely will face more of a struggle.
The Tar Heels will be deep at point guard, but quantity does not add up to quality.
Rising sophomore Quentin Thomas showed flashes of competence but is far from being a consistent point guard.
Telep said Frasor, who hails from Brother Rice High School in Chicago, will compete for the starting job, even though his future is at shooting guard.
“Bobby Frasor, at the core of his game, when it’s all said and done at the end of the day, is a shooter,” Telep said. “He has been a serviceable point guard, but not for the long term.”
Ginyard, from Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington, Va., also could play the point but is a more defensive-minded player and is the only one of the quartet who was not in the McDonald’s game.
Telep called the 6-foot-5 Green, from St. Mary’s High School in Manhasset, N.Y., the second-best player in the bunch, comparing him to Rick Fox, an All-American swingman for UNC in the early ’90s.
But the last thing the Tar Heels need is another perimeter player. The frontcourt was the most devastated by the departures, leaving Byron Sanders as the only returning big man.
And that’s why Roy Williams is back on the recruiting trail, pursuing 6-foot-9 Uche Echefu from Montrose Christian High School in Rockville, Md., who, though unpolished, is one of the only big bodies still unsigned.
Echefu’s other suitors include Florida State, Kentucky, and hometown Maryland. But none of those schools are in such dire need of his services.
“North Carolina needs Uche Echefu as a more glaring need than anyone else who is recruiting him,” Telep said. “North Carolina provides the greatest chance to play a lot in the ACC right away.”
Because of that opportunity, UNC might have the inside track to signing Echefu, who is making an official visit to Chapel Hill this weekend.
With or without a fifth freshman, the Tar Heels will have a talented but young core next season, and the newcomers will be forced into action early and often.
“It’s gonna be a dogfight,” Telep said. “Those freshmen are going to have to play like sophomores from day one.”
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
