Freshman Patrick Patterson goes up against reigning all-American and soon to be player of the year Tyler Hansbrough…

Psycho T: 32 mins, 14pts, 11 rebounds, 25% FG, 10/12 FT

PPat: 33 mins, 19 pts, 9 rebounds, 50% FG, 7/9 FT

Tyler only made 2 shots from the field in this game against a presumably weak UK front line.

My beef with Hansbrough has nothing to do with him choosing UNC over UK, since I didn’t follow UK recruiting much at the time. My beef has to do with the inordinate hype he gets from the media, his incessant traveling, jumping up to fight his attacker after he’s been ejected, scoring over half of his career points from the free throw line, and his overall goofy looks.

It is a little absurd to compare the players since PPat was only a freshman last season, but it is apparent our guy is the much more athletic of the two. I would not be at all suprised to see Pat go higher than Hansbrough in the NBA draft even after this season.

In the words of Pavement, “It’s not their (basketball), it’s personal.”

is a catchphrase for “gritty” white guys.

Anyway. Here’s why I dont like Hanbrough let me count the ways.

His bangs and haircut annoy the crap out of me.
He receives an inordinate amount of hype as a player.
The love Dickie V shows him (anyone called a diaper dandy deserves derision)
He has been outplayed in every game versus UK. (its the guards we need to shut down)
He has gotten better each season but his game hasnt really grown if you know what I mean.

Hansbrough’s a good player and I dont begrudge him his success but he will at most be a mid to late first round pick this season. It’s too early to look at mock drafts but even though he may be the highest rated senior in an envrionmhere where half of the top ten picks are liable to be freshman thats not saying much. I think Hansbrough is going to have more success at the next level than Reddick but dont look for him to be more than a high energy quality bench player. I think PPAT goes in the lottery this year and may have a better NBA career but that is really too hard to predict at this point. I think Pat has more upside the Tyler but whether that is realized or not you cant tell until it happens.

… Tyler has been special.

But are you really comparing apples to apples here? Shouldn’t we be comparing freshman year to freshman year?

You are comparing a junior player to a freshman. Should Pat honor is word that he is staying four years then the comparison’s can be made. Otherwise it is moot comparing each other from last season alone.

I have read that Hansborough isn’t going to go that high in the draft. He will surely get picked up because of his college exploits, but he will be more of a glue guy like Chuck Hayes than a star player. He is undersized to stay in the post and I haven’t seen much of a slashing/ outside game from him. He tends to run the floor well and finish in the post against guys he size or smaller. Put him against a Garnett and he won’t even see the basket, not even from the free throw line.

I like the fact that he hustles during a game but I don’t see him making an impact in the NBA’s. Pat will make an impact when he is drafted. I believe his impact will be more significant with another two years at UK. At the completion of his junior year I can see him being drafted in the lottery. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll stick around for a repeat championship season his senior year.

Finally, if Tyler were so good he would not be returning to UNC for his final year. Say what you will about his family’s finances, etc. but I believe that he would have bolted for the pros already if he were such a high pick. He’s already got an NCAA Championship ring, so it’s not like he’s sticking around to win one. He knows that he’s going to ride the pine a lot once he gets to the pros. Sure they’ll chuck him in for some garbage minutes and maybe for a few fouls in late game situations but Pat will be playing significantly more minutes once he enters the league than Tyler, even if Tyler is still in the NBA when Pat goes in after his junior season.

No grudges against ol boy, he just doesn’t strike me as an impact NBA prospect. Whereas Pat will be should he stick around for some more development by Gilispie.

The points made about his inordinate media hype are funny. I too feel that he gets too much attention based on ESPN bias, but they gotta have someone to talk about and since he is on a high profile team who just happen to be having some pretty good seasons lately, it’s easy work for them. Not much research and work has to be done as it would be if they were trying to hype some white boy from Vandy….now who could that be? Or say even another white boy that is playing just as good at Notre Dame…..now who could that be? Not as many ND or Vandy fans as UNC, so therefore not as much interest nationally so therefore not as much excitement for advertisers. Them pesky advertisers!!! All they want is someone to selll their stuff and it better be a name and face that can be recognized by the majority of viewers.

If you don’t believe that these college players are selling spots then you haven’t been watching much college ball. Sure their names and faces may not be in the advertising but all the glorifying self-promotion by ESPN, CBS, etc is directly affected by the faces that they use to hype the games. Budweiser could give two rat’s ass’s about the tradition and history of X program. All they want to hear is who are the matchups and what share points they can expect for their investment (commercial spots). These college kids are being whored by the NCAA and the networks and all the while they get the benefits of a free ride to college.

Pat is the “better” player but Tyler has had a few more years to work on his game and give him better stats so to speak. Plus Tyler has had the benefit of a better group of players around him than Pat has. That is gonna change beginning this year. UK beats UNC by 8 this year. Tyler gets ejected and Pat fouls out with 2 minutes left. Perry kills the boards while white boy hits 5 treys for a career high and is responsible for the dagger in the heart!!!

Enjoy.

GO BIG BLUE!!!!!!!!!!

You are correct. He came in the year after they won the national championship. For some reason I thought he was a freshman on the NC team.

Let me explain something about Tyler hansbrough. The kid is a joke…a flat out joke.
He goes out on the court and can miss every shot and you know what is said?
nothing. the annoucners will start talking about how good he is at setting screens or something rediculous. He gets so many calls his way cause the kid is an actor. So many of his points come from the free thrwo line it makes me sick. Does he ever even finish an and1? Of course not. He isn;t strong enough. He’ll go to the pros next year where there is allowed to be a little pushing and shoving and he’ll get the stuuffing knocked out of him and suck like reddick or joakim noah.

Every day of the week. Id pick him college, pros. Id pick him to hang out with, go out to eat with, go to movies with,play x-box with..why?…because from what i see/read/hear…he’s just the cooler dude!

Theoretically what you say makes perfect sense except that Patterson already possesses the skills he needs to play at the next level he just needs to improve them. He could be a servicable power forward in the NBA if he has a jump shot out to about 19 feet. He has a descent shot and I can see him improving his high post game for this reason. Tyler has been in school for three more years than Patterson and while he has improved his numbers every season I havent seen him add anything to his game that he didnt really have when he got here. I know he may want to improve but Im not buying it that he has the skills to be a big time NBA power forward if he doesnt have the range. I dont think anyone has insinuated Tyler is going to be trash and Patterson a star. At this point you just cant tell but I think Pat has the better pro career.

I did intend that way. There’s no way to know whether either of these kids is going to be a big time power forward and I dont think anyone is making that argument in this thread.

The argument is who would you rather have and which will have the better pro carreer not which is going to be an all star and which an NBA bench player. I think pat has the greater chance to have a good nba carreer but its still too early to tell for either one. The jump to the NBA is larger than most think and I dont think that college career is that great of an indicator how a player is going to fare as a preofessional.

We all know I can spell.

possession and points discussion. I am not a big stats guy, too lazy, but I like the direction of your thinking. It would be quite interesting to add another dimension to the tracking of a game and/or season for a player. I’m sure really detailed coaches (BG) might find it usefull.

Someone better give BG a call and let him know ya’ll got some hot sh$t going on here. He might want in. :)

that Tyler would have gotten player of the year if he had been playing for UAB or Western Kentucky?

Would we even be having this discussion?

would Tyler get the recognition if he were putting up the same numbers and putting forth the same intensity on another team, let’s use ohhhhh, say, Notre Dame? That’s a pretty high profile team.

Would we even be having this discussion?

I reference this article http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10978940.

Not about who you would rather have but about recognition. In my mind the PERCEPTION that someone is better and the hype that follows counts a lot toward player recognition. Therefore Tyler is a solid athlete with a huge hype machine that overshadows the accomplishments of others.

Why didn’t Ken use Harmody isntead of Hansborough for the comparison? He is just as worthy as a candidate. No, we didn’t recruit Harmody so maybe it’s a litmus test by Ken to see what personal reaction we gave instead of really wanting anything objective. Had it been Carmody most of us would be running around going “WHO?” right? Plus, Notre Dame doesn’t get the blood a boilin like the Tar Baby’s do. BUT, Carmody and Hansborough are both about equal in numbers and should represent the same case. I believe that Carmody even tries hard too. :)~

for Carmody, Harmody and everywhere else in my last post where I butchered his name. See what hype will do for a player. You even learn to get their name right. :) ha haha ahahahaha The bit about “running around going WHO” made me laugh just looking at it again.

at best. Maybe if he lands with the Clippers or Bobcats he could be a starter, otherwise he’ll be warming the bench at tipoff.