By Al Featherston for theACC.com
Tyler Hansbrough was a scary sight last spring - the mask he wore to protect his broken nose made him look like the fiend from a teen slasher movie.
Tyler Hansbrough
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He even has a nickname just made for the multiplex: Psycho-T.
But Michael Myers and Freddie Krueger never evoked as much terror in ACC basketball circles as North Carolina's relentless big man - with or without the mask.
"Other coaches, the last thing they say before leaving the locker room is 'Let's stop Tyler,'" UNC coach Roy Williams said. "It's been that way for two years."
The 6-9, 240-pound Hansbrough is a big reason that North Carolina will start the 2007-08 as the pre-season favorite in the ACC and one of the prime contenders expected to battle for national supremacy.
"Our goal is to win a national championship," Hansbrough said. "But we're going to take it one day at a time."
Hansbrough's quest for the 2008 title began very soon after UNC lost in overtime to Georgetown in the NCAA Regional title game - one game short of the Final Four. He began a rigorous off-season workout program designed to improve what was already one of the most polished games in college basketball.
He was so committed to getting better that he passed up a chance to play for the U.S. Pan American team last summer. He felt he needed more workout time than he would get playing for Team USA.
"I haven't seen anything like how hard he works, on and off the court," teammate Ty Lawson said. "He does three times what anybody else does."
Hansbrough's hard work has paid off in his first two seasons at North Carolina with averages of 18.9 and 18.4 points per game. The Missouri native averaged just under eight rebounds a game in both seasons. Last year he shot 52.5 percent from the floor and went to the foul line 315 times - 82 more than anybody else in the ACC.
His stats are the product of Hansbrough's polished pivot moves and his relentless nature.
"Tyler is always my first option," Lawson, UNC's point guard, said. "He'll score or get fouled every time down the court. The things he does are crazy. The way he grabs rebounds and moves people out of the way. It's like he's a possessed man down there."
Michigan State's Tom Izzo found that out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Hansbrough, obviously bothered by the mask he was wearing, finally got mad enough to rip off the mask and play without it.
The result? Hansbrough scored 33 points and pulled down nine rebounds. He was 10-of-17 from the field and 13-of-17 from the foul line.
"I've never seen a guy with such good hands," Izzo told reporters afterwards. "If he gets his fingernails on the ball, he keeps it. Hands and balance are probably the two things that he has that are superior to most players. He's always on balance. He draws a lot of fouls. He's a heck of a player."
So how much better can Hansbrough be after a summer of non-stop work on his game?
"I think he will shoot the ball better facing the basket," Williams suggested. "He's not going to shoot as many threes as Wayne [Ellington] - if he does, there's going to be somebody else coaching. But I think you will see his development there. I think you will see that his assist-to-error ratio - his passing out of the double team - is even better."
Williams also expects to see more natural maturity from Hansbrough in his third season of ACC play.
"I think he'll be able to handle the frustrations of being double and tripled team because he's more used to it," Williams said.
Of course, one of Williams' biggest goals is to find a way to punish opponents for concentrating so much on his stud in the post. A year ago, talented freshman Brandan Wright and veteran senior Reyshawn Terry cashed in on the frontcourt opportunities that Hansbrough created.
But both are gone - Wright becoming the second UNC freshman in three years to jump to the NBA. The Tar Heels must find other options. Williams will replace Wright with two sophomores from California - 6-8, 240-pound Dion Thompson and 6-9, 235-pound Alex Stepheson. At the moment, Thompson, who lost 30 pounds and firmed up his body over the summer, is the more polished offensively, while Stepheson is a better shot-blocker and rebounder.
It's worth noting that last season, when Wright sat out of UNC's game at Arizona, Thompson and Stepheson stepped in and the Tar Heels didn't miss a beat in a 92-64 rout of the Wildcats in Tucson.
Wayne Ellington
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It will also help open up the middle for Hansbrough if UNC's young backcourt combo - Lawson at the point and Wayne Ellington on the wing - make the expected jump that most players make between their freshman and sophomore seasons. Both displayed flashes of brilliance last season, but also struggled at times. Ellington, projected as the best shooter in his class, shot a decent 37.1 percent from 3-point range as a freshman, but Williams thinks he can shoot better and - more importantly - defend better.
"I think we've got to do a better job defending the basketball," the UNC coach said. "I think that's the thing that hurt us most last year."
The Tar Heel coach also expects that junior guard Bobby Frasor, who was hobbled all last year with a foot injury, can contribute a lot more than 2.4 ppg and 1.6 apg. UNC's starting point guard as a freshman in 2006, Frasor is healthy again and should be able to build on his promising first-year campaign.
The fact is that Williams has a lot of weapons - juniors Marcus Ginyard and Danny Green are proven ACC performers.
Senior point guard Quentin Thomas is the last remaining player from UNC's 2005 national championship team.
Thomas has a chance to leave UNC with two NCAA championship rings - he'd be the only ACC player to do that other than the members of Duke's 1991-92 back-to-back champs.
And Hansbrough is halfway to a singular honor of his own - no player in the ACC history has ever been first-team All-ACC in four straight seasons. The UNC big man, who passed up the chance to turn pro after his freshman and sophomore seasons, is making no promises for the future, but he certainly sounds like a four-year player when he talks about leaving a legacy at UNC.
"I've thought about some of the things I've done here and why would I want to leave when I can accomplish so much, individually and with the team," he said.
STRENGTHS - Start with Hansbrough, who will contend for ACC and national player of the year honors. But Williams will surround him with a wealth of talent - there's no question that UNC is the deepest and most balanced team in the ACC.
CONCERNS - Will the sophomores step up? To win a championship, UNC needs more consistency and better defense from last year's freshmen phenoms.
NEWCOMER TO WATCH - The only new face on the roster is red-shirt freshman William Graves, a 6-6, 245-pound wing player from Greensboro who is not expected to play a major role this season, but could be a big-time contributor in the future.
EARLY TESTS: UNC could face Louisville in the finals of the Las Vegas Invitational on Nov. 24. Four days later, the Tar Heels visit Ohio State as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, then three days later visit Kentucky for a Saturday afternoon game. Road games at Penn and Rutgers also come up before Christmas.
