North Carolina basketball: All-time starting 5 – From Michael Jordan to Psycho T

PF – Tyler Hansbrough

Tyler Hansbrough’s four years with the North Carolina Tar Heels will be hard for any player to ever top. Hailing from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, which isn’t exactly a recruiting hotbed, he knew what his job was and went out on the court to do it every game to the best of his abilities. Fans received a good omen about Hansbrough when he was named as co-MVP at the Jordan Brand Classic — an event headline by Chapel Hill’s most famous alum —  following his senior year of high school was only the beginning of things.

In his first season, he became the first-ever freshman to lead a North Carolina team in scoring and rebounding. By the time he left, Hansbrough would be the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,872 total points) and rebounder (1,219 total rebounds). He was as self-driven a player as the game had ever seen. His singular focus on getting and scoring the ball earned him the nickname, “Psycho T”.

The picture of him smiling with a bloodied face — courtesy of Gerald Henderson in a Duke vs UNC game — will forever be burned into the memory of anyone who has seen it. Yet, that’s who he was. For him, the game was as simple as see the ball, get the ball. His commitment to that mantra is why he holds two all-time accolades at one of the most famous college basketball schools in the country.

He also left Carolina as an NCAA Champion, helping the Tar Heels cut down the nets in 2009. Surrounded by six other future NBA players (Ed Davis, Larry Drew Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Ty Lawson and Tyler Zeller) that group was like a buzzsaw on their way to claiming the title. Hansbrough was a four-time All-ACC selection (the first freshman to earn a unanimous selection in conference history) and four-time consensus All-American.