Last night in a win over Evansville, North Carolina senior Travel Hansblow Tyler Hansbrough, as expected, became the all-time leading scorer in Tar Heel basketball history, ending Phil Ford’s 30-year reign.
Hansbrough is also on pace to pass Duke’s J.J. Redick as the all-time leading scorer in the ACC, provided he remains healthy and finishes the season.
Since his freshman year, ESPN and college basketball talking heads have unceasingly praised Hansbrough’s work ethic and his ability to “play hard” on every play. Redick received similar praise during his last couple of seasons as well.
Despite playing for Carolina – which is only a slight step up from playing for Satan – all I’ve ever read about Hansbrough is that he’s a great kid. He’s been one of the most celebrated college athletes this decade, and the acclaim that’s been bestowed upon him is well-deserved. He’s one of the best (perhaps the best) examples of a student-athlete in all of college sports over the last four years. And clearly he has been an outstanding player and would be worthy of holding the all-time ACC scoring mark.
But I was shocked to see this article a couple of weeks ago, in which Redick was asked about and discussed the possibility of Hansbrough breaking his record.
“As weird as this may sound to ACC fans, I hope Tyler has a fantastic senior year,” Redick said. “I can’t think of a better guy to hold the ACC scoring record. He’s always played the game the right way. He invests himself in what he does. He competes. I have a lot of respect for what he’s been able to accomplish.”
What the ….?!?
Are you kidding me?
“Obviously I’m not hoping Carolina wins a national title,” Redick said. “I will never hope that. But I hope Tyler has a great year.”
Well, at least he hasn’t completely lost his mind.
Nevertheless, any reasonable and clear-thinking Duke fan (and, you would have thought, former Duke player) would hope that Hansbrough does not break the record. Instead, the desired outcome would be that Redick retains the mark after this season (and with it, Hansbrough’s college career) comes to an end. I certainly would never wish injury on Hansbrough, but something else to cause him to fall short of the record – perhaps some sort of god-awful scoring funk that would render him offensively impotent from now until March – would be great. That’s all I’m asking for here.
A better man – such as Redick, apparently – would wish Tyler well and graciously congratulate him at which point he reaches that historic mark.
I am not a better man.
Go Duke!