Oct. 23, 2007

By Bill Hass
theACC.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Tyler Hansbrough can't get away from himself.

Whenever the junior forward at North Carolina walks past a news stand, book store or drug store, he sees his image on the cover of countless pre-season basketball magazines.

Not that he objects.

"I think it's interesting," he said. "I'll pick them up and send them to my mom. She enjoys them and my dad enjoys hanging them up around the house.

"I don't go in there and buy them every time I see them, but I'll go in and pick one up once in a while. It was little shocking the first time I saw it."

Hansbrough said he liked the cover on last season's Sporting News magazine the best of any he's seen so far.

Every magazine has him as an All-America choice, and during last Sunday's ACC Operation Basketball Hansbrough drew 60 of 64 votes as the ACC Player of the Year. But he's not content to rest on his laurels.

"I tried to work mainly on my face-up game," he said about his off-season work. "I'm trying to expand on that, my ability to drive and things like that. Catching the ball, facing up, driving right, driving left, using a hook or a spin, trying to go all the way to the basket."

In other words, a player who is already a load might be even better.

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Georgia Tech forward Jeremis Smith had this take on what's in store in the ACC this season (the Jackets are one of five teams to open on Nov. 9):

"Someone asked me the other day, `How are you guys going to deal with Tyler Hansbrough this year?' And I said well, we have to fight fire with fire. This league is filled with fire this year. I mean, it's hot.

"It's going to be like back when Tim Duncan was at Wake. You're going to see a lot of high-flying acts this year, great post moves. Everyone's front court is looking good right now."

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NC State forward Ben McCauley was one of five players who averaged between 33.2 and 36.5 minutes per game last year as the Wolfpack surprised people with a 20-16 record.

"When we finally stopped and took a deep breath, we were like `wow, finally we can rest a little bit,'" McCauley said. "But then again, we're here to play basketball, so why not play 40 minutes a game? It was fun, it was really fun. We gained a lot of experience and I think coming into this year with the success we had in the post-season last year, it helps us out a lot."

With considerably greater depth this season, the Pack won't need as many minutes from its starters.

"A lot of the games last year that we maybe fell off in the last couple minutes because we were tired, " McCauley said, "we won't do that this year because we'll have rest, we'll have more guys. You'll see us winning a lot of those games this year."

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No team had as wide a discrepancy in the voting as Boston College, which was ranked from second through 12th, winding up being picked for eighth place.

"Every year we always lose somebody big (Jared Dudley, Craig Smith) and everybody gets down on us at the beginning of the year," said senior center John Oates. "And then we always seem to pull it out and have a good year. I think that's a testament to coach (Al) Skinner and his coaching style and us as a team and our adaptability in the face of uncertainty.

"We don't expect to have a down year or a transition year or anything like that. But at the same time, our style of play will change. It will be more of a get out and run in transition, more of an open floor, at least until the new guys have gotten used to our flex offense."

Skinner agreed the Eagles will go from a post-up team to one more perimeter-oriented.

"This team is going to have to develop its own identity and as the season continues we will evolve and eventually we'll do that," Skinner said. "I'm not exactly sure (what that is) yet. We're still trying to figure that out."

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There will be an emphasis from officiating crews on "coaches' decorum" this season, including straying outside the coaches' box and use of abusive language. Most coaches thought that, since there are no other rules changes, too much is being made of the issue.

"It's like (being) the only movie out this week," said Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. "You can't compare it (but) it's going to get reviewed."

UNC's Roy Williams likened it to "killing an ant with a bazooka."

Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg is one of the coaches known to wander outside the box, which he likens to "an out-of-body experience."

"The assistant coaches are probably going to have to start grabbing him and calming him down because he really gets into the game, he's real intense," said Hokie forward Deron Washington. "I don't think he really knows how intense he gets. I think it will affect him at the beginning of the season and he'll learn and get a little calmer."

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It wasn't so much that Duke had "only" a 22-11 record last season, but that the Blue Devils did some uncharacteristic things.

They lost four ACC home games. They lost in the first round of the ACC Tournament. They lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Still, senior guard DeMarcus Nelson believes a turnaround is imminent.

"We have all the ingredients necessary for us to be a championship team," Nelson said. "It's about us putting it all together and playing the right way and doing all the little things that make the biggest difference in the ball game. We're not really concentrating on trying to challenge Carolina or challenge other teams. What we're focusing on is challenging ourselves to be the best that we can be and to play our style of basketball every time we step on the court. If we get that habit, we're going to be a good team.

"We weren't able to play the way we wanted to last year. We got to be more of a half-court team. We didn't make the plays necessary to win in the close games. Those are all things that we know; those are all things that we're working on."

* * *

Fast breaks:

• Maryland coach Gary Williams was among many who said there's little difference between the second and ninth teams in the ACC. Injuries will be one factor in sorting things out, he said, but there's another: "Teams with veteran players have an edge We were 3-6 (in the ACC) last year playing with a lot of seniors and we wound up 10-6. If you have younger players, you might not have that confidence as a team. Some teams really jell and you don't know which one that will be, which one will have one year they play really well together."
• Virginia guard Sean Singletary sounded unconcerned about the pre-season poll, in which the Cavaliers were picked fifth. "My freshman and sophomore years, we were picked last and we finished in the middle. Last year we were picked toward the end and we finished (tied for) the top. We have enough experience to understand what it takes to win. We've got to take care of business at home, we've got to grind it out on the road, don't let the highs get too high and the lows get too low, stay on that even keel and at the end of the season, we'll be somewhere at the top."
• Wake Forest guard Harvey Hale said coach Dino Gaudio's practices are "two hours of power," with the emphasis on defense. "We go at each other hard. We're hitting each other, hitting the floor, bleeding, everything. It's going to pay off well. We have guys who can score and once you get that defensive side, it can change the whole aspect of the game."
• North Carolina coach Roy Williams pointed to a four-game stretch from Nov. 28 through Dec. 16 when the Tar Heels play road games at Ohio State, Kentucky, Penn and Rutgers. "I don't know that I've ever had a deal where we played four straight true non-conference road games. Hopefully it will give us some confidence and show us our weaknesses as well, and not just show us our weaknesses."
• Miami guard Jack McClinton welcomes the return of 6-9 Anthony King, who played in the first eight games and missed the rest of last season with an injury. "Anthony King is a great leader, a great defender, a great rebounder, and he's developed a great offensive game also. That really helps us out going inside-out now. You've got to feed your horses; those are the guys getting your rebounds, blocking your shots."
• Florida State will adjust its game without high-scoring forward Al Thornton. But Toney Douglas, Jason Rich and Isaiah Swann form a formidable guard corps. "We have some post presence," Douglas said, "but you know, you can't really win without those guards no matter how many big men you have. If you have good guards, that's always the key."
• Clemson coach Oliver Purnell on senior guard Cliff Hammonds: "Cliff is a guy we can play anywhere, one through four. He has started at least 20 games in his career at the point. He's our security blanket."

Bill Hass is a long-time observer of ACC sports. His career at the Greensboro News & Record spanned 36 years, from 1969 until his retirement in March, 2006. He is now writing "Bill Hass on the ACC" for theACC.com. His weekly columns will keep fans plugged in to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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