|
Inside Carolina audio is available to IC premium subscribers. To listen, you’ll
need an updated version of Windows Media Player - click here to download the
software.
|
Associated Press Ceremony:
Listen to Audio (3:19)
“I feel very honored to get this award, considering all of the good college players this year,” Hansbrough said. “I’ve always said that I’ve had great parents to help me…
“I feel very blessed at North Carolina with my teammates. I feel like I have some of the best teammates that a guy can have. And the coaching staff – Coach [Roy] Williams and all of the assistants have been really good to me, and they’ve really helped me a lot.”
The ACC Player of the Year led the league in scoring (22.8) and rebounding (10.3) in leading North Carolina to a school-record 36 wins and the Final Four, collecting the ACC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player and the NCAA Tournament East Region’s Most Outstanding Player awards along the way.
The 6-foot-9 first-team All-American received 56 votes from the 72-member national media panel that selects the AP’s weekly top 25. Kansas State freshman Michael Beasley had 15 votes and Memphis junior Chris Douglas-Roberts received one in the voting that took place prior to the NCAA tournament.
“Tyler said he’s had some coaches that have helped him out, and needless to say, he’s helped me out a heck of a lot more than I’ve helped him out,” Williams said. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it to the last day of my life that as great of a player that he is, he’s an even better young man. He’s an even better person, a better teammate and a better young man to coach each and every day.”
Hansbrough joins Michael Jordan (1984) and Antawn Jamison (1998) as the only Tar Heels to win the award, which has gone to a player from the ACC in eight of the last 14 seasons.