Hansbrough will commit to UNC on Monday
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Carolina Blue Exclusive and Free Article: Tyler Hansbrough will commit to UNC on Monday, ending months of speculation by many. Hansbrough, a 6-foot-9 power forward from Poplar Bluff (Mo.) High School, is ranked by Rivals.com as the No. 8 player in the class of 2005.
Hansbrough has agonized over this decision for months, and he finally came to the final decision early last week after returning from vacation. Hansbrough let his father and mother know that he was going to UNC, and they began the process of setting up the press conference to be held Monday afternoon.
"I made my final decision last Monday after returning from vacation and I had just thought things through. I told my parents that I wanted to go to North Carolina and they were very happy for me."
In the end, the final decision came down to four major college programs including UNC, Missouri, Kentucky, and Kansas. Hansbrough spent his time going back and forth on where he should go to college. One minute he envisioned himself staying home and playing in front of family and friends at Missouri. Then Kansas would pop in his head, and he would think about catching passes from Kansas point guard commit Mario Chalmers.
Kentucky was also very tempting as Hansbrough really had a great relationship built with head coach Tubby Smith. In the end the one main factor that kept coming back to Hansbrough was Roy Williams and playing at North Carolina. Hansbrough admits that UNC was not at the top of his list a few months ago, but Williams was very persistent and it worked.
"My relationship with Coach Williams was the deciding factor in my decision, Hansbrough added."He just did a great job of recruiting me, and he made my family very comfortable. I just can not wait to play for him next year."
Hansbrough says that although he will probably hate leaving home and being away from family and friends... he knows he made the right decision in the end. He plans to enroll in summer school at UNC and get a head start on his career in Chapel Hill.
"I know that leaving Poplar Bluff will be tough for me when the time comes, but I will be ready." Hansbrough said. "I can not wait to get to Chapel Hill and put on that Carolina Blue for the first time."
One interesting side note that Hansbrough wanted to share with us here at Carolina Blue is that he is currently reading a very interesting book.
"I started reading "The Carolina Way" just last week and now I get to be a part of that very soon."