Hansbrough, Lawson named AP All-American
Chapel Hill --- North Carolina senior forward Tyler Hansbrough was named first-team All-America by The Associated Press for the second consecutive season and solidified consensus first-team All-America honors for the third year in a row, making him the first player to accomplish that feat since Oklahoma's Wayman Tisdale and Georgetown's Patrick Ewing in 1985.
Junior point guard Ty Lawson, the 2009 ACC Player of the Year and NCAA South Regional MVP, was named to the AP's second team.
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It was the highest All-America finish by a Carolina point guard since Kenny Smith was a first-teamer in 1987.
Hansbrough has earned first-team All-America honors this season from three of the four organizations the NCAA uses to determine consensus honors The Associated Press, The Sporting News and the United States Basketball Writers Association of America.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches will announce its 10-man first team on Saturday in Detroit.
Hansbrough is only the 14th player since World War II to earn consensus first-team All-America honors three times.
Jack Cobb, who played at Carolina from 1924-26, is the only other Tar Heel to be a three-time honoree.
The 13 others since 1945 to accomplish it are Oklahoma State's Bob Kurland, DePaul's George Mikan, Kentucky's Ralph Beard, LaSalle's Tom Gola, Cincinnati's Oscar Robertson, Ohio State's Jerry Lucas, UCLA's Lew Alcindor, LSU's Pete Maravich, UCLA's Bill Walton, NC State's David Thompson, Virginia's Ralph Sampson, Ewing and Tisdale.
Hansbrough is only the third Tar Heel to repeat as an Associated Press All-America with Phil Ford (1977-78) and Michael Jordan (1983-84).
Joining Hansbrough on the first team were Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, Davidson's Stephen Curry, Arizona State's James Harden and Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair.
Lawson was joined on the second team by Connecticut's Hasheem Thabeet, Kentucky's Jodie Meeks, Notre Dame's Luke Harangody and Marquette's Jerel McNeal.