John Wall claims Tar Heels legend kept him from playing at UNC over Kentucky

John Wall revealed on a podcast that UNC Tar Heels legend Tyler Hansbrough is the only reason he ended up at Kentucky over North Carolina. 

By now, we all know the story of John Wall. He was a much-hyped high school recruit who ended up with John Calipari at the Kentucky Wildcats before being selected by the Washington Wizards with the first overall pick. Of course, his NBA career hasn’t quite turned out to plan due to injuries. But apparently the start of his journey could’ve been much different.

Wall attended Word of God Academy in Raleigh, NC in high school. As he said in an appearance on former North Carolina Tar Heels starter Theo Pinson’s Run Your Race podcast, his dream was to play for UNC. However, there was one thing that prevented that from happening.

That thing was apparently one of the greatest Tar Heels ever: Tyler Hansbrough.

John Wall claims Tyler Hansbrough is why he chose Kentucky over UNC

Wall claims that the only thing that could’ve kept him from Calipari and Kentucky was North Carolina wanting him. But when he showed up to Chapel Hill for a visit, Wall says that Hansbrough blew him off, thus souring the point guard on ending up at UNC.

"“So I go on the visit, Ty Lawson and them are there. Tyler Hansbrough’s got his own section,” Wall said, per Saturday Down South. “I’m the recruit, I walk up and say, ‘What’s up.’ He said, ‘I don’t talk to recruits.’ I was like, ‘F**k you, I ain’t never coming here.’ That f****d it up right there.“I really went up to him to shake his hand. He’s the national player of the year, just won a championship. I’m like, I want to talk to Tyler Hansbrough. … I’m like, ‘I need to meet Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough, this is a dream come true for me.’ School I loved growing up. He did that and I’m like, ‘I got something for him.’”"

For what it’s worth, however, Hansbrough caught wind of Wall’s claim and took to Twitter to refute it, and then took a shot at the guard and Kentucky for their “questionable” dealings.

There has been plenty of bad blood over the years between two blue bloods of college basketball but it’s clear that there is precisely no love being restored at this point.

For what it’s worth, Wall and Hansbrough never saw one another in college but Kentucky and their prized guard was did face the Tar Heels in the 2009-10 season, a game that the Wildcats narrowly won at Rupp Arena, 68-66.

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