2009 champs graduate from UNC

Chapel Hill --- Tyler Hansbrough, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor were among seven University of North Carolina senior men's basketball players who capped their national championship season by taking part in Commencement ceremonies Sunday at Kenan Stadium.

Joining Hansbrough (Poplar Bluff, Mo.), Green (North Babylon, N.Y.) and Frasor (Blue Island, Ill.) were Mike Copeland (Winston-Salem), Patrick Moody (Asheville), J.B. Tanner (Hendersonville) and Jack Wooten (Burlington).

Marcus Ginyard (Alexandria, Va.), who was injured this year and will return for a fifth season in 2009-10, also attended the ceremonies with his classmates.

"We said they would have a chance to be successful on the court and have a chance to earn a degree from a great school," says head coach Roy Williams.

"We told them both of those come with hard work and dedication. I am so proud of what this class has accomplished in basketball and in the classroom. They have set a high standard for future Tar Heels and have been outstanding role models for student-athletes at all levels."

Hansbrough, Frasor, Green, Ginyard and Copeland came to Chapel Hill on scholarship in the fall of 2005, just months after the Tar Heels won the 2005 national championship.

It was the core class that head coach Roy Williams built upon toward another national championship, a journey they capped with a 89-72 win over Michigan State on April 6 to win the 2009 national title.

Moody, Tanner and Wooten played two years on the junior varsity program and in each of the last two seasons on the varsity.

Over the last four years, the Tar Heels won a school-record 124 games against just 21 losses. Hansbrough and his classmates led Carolina to three Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles, two ACC Tournament crowns, four appearances in the NCAA Tournament, three NCAA Regional No. 1 seeds, three trips to the Elite Eight, two trips to the Final Four and the 2009 national championship.

Carolina also won the 2009 Academic Progress Rate bracket that was compiled at the start of the NCAA Tournament.

PHOTO CAPTION: University of North Carolina men's basketball seniors at 2009 Commencement at Kenan Stadium. (l-r) J.B. Tanner, Patrick Moody, Jack Wooten, Mike Copeland, Chancellor Holden Thorp, Tyler Hansbrough, head coach Roy Williams, Bobby Frasor, Danny Green and Marcus Ginyard (photo by Jeffrey Camarati)