Today’s N&R runs a Rick Morrissey column on Tyler Hansbrough’s overexposure:
But if you want to talk about overexposure, you start with Hansbrough, who is on TV so much that, by comparison, Paris Hilton has an air of mystery to her.
It’s not his fault. He fascinates the networks in a way no 22-year-old college basketball player should. He makes the most of his considerable ability, which is why Sports Illustrated made him its national player of the year. He will be an average player in the NBA, but that’s really beside the point.
You would think he’s Michael Jordan by the way the analysts yammer on about his “intensity,” a word that apparently is surgically attached to Hansbrough and no one else. The lowlight came last year when ESPN announcer Bill Raftery uttered these words while the camera was trained on Hansbrough during a timeout: “Watching Tyler Hansbrough listen is special!”
I guess Morrissey would include Mike Gminski’s comparisons to Dave Cowens as part of analysts’ yammering about Hansbrough’s intensity. The first time Gminski made such a comparison was during the hard-fought game against Clemson, when Hansbrough made a play in backcourt, fighting off a guard for a loose ball and starting a fast break for a key basket. Gminski said he once saw Cowens make a play like that on a guard named Oscar Robertson, who made a name for himself 50 years ago in Madison Square Garden.
Pretty typical stuff from columnists like Morrissey who are constantly striving to prove that they’re not part of the bandwagon. Bottom line is Hansbrough can play. I realize this might be a strange comparison, but they only other guy I’ve seen with the ability to get the ball in the hoop underneath is Shaquille O’Neal.
And this is coming from a State fan. I defected from Carolina a few years, tired of Tar Heel fans’ sense of entitlement.
