Doug is joined by UNC Legend and National Champion Tyler Hansbrough to discuss his hoops background growing up in rural Missouri, his childhood Mizzou fandom, his AAU battles against then mythical #1 recruit Greg Oden, how Roy Williams convinced him to pick UNC, his breakout freshman year, what it was like to ruin J.J. Reddick’s Senior Night at Cameron Indoor, and how close he came to skipping his sophomore year and entering the NBA Draft.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey, welcome, and I'm doing this is All Ball where
we have great basketball, usually basketball based conversations. Sometimes if
you look through our library there are there are non
basketball conversation with football. We've done a lot of football,
We've done some baseball as well. Today's episode is part
one of Tyler Hansbro. You may know him as Psycho T,
(00:31):
but that's not actually the nickname that everyone who truly
knows him calls him. So maybe this is a great
way of saying, you listen to the Doug Gottlib Show,
or you listened to the All Ball podcast right now,
you know the real nickname for Tyler Hansbro. Oh that's good, right, Yeah,
it's in here. There's a lot of good stuff in here. Um,
(00:52):
his dad went to Missouri. Why do you go to Carolina?
You have to jog your memory a little bit of
the time. What was high school days? Like? Where did
he visit? What was his best visit? All that stuff
is in part one. Tyler Hansborough from a National Player
of the Year, national champion, a guy who beat duke
(01:12):
at duke all four years in North Carolina. My exclusive
podcast with him is right now in Elbow tyle Let's
let's start at the start, the very beginning. Okay, what
I know of is Popular Bluff High School. But is
that where you grew up? I grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
(01:35):
Small town, small community. Um, it's a hard working, blue
collar community if you ask me, Uh, in the middle
of nowhere. Uh. And I know a lot of there's
a lot of pride in Popular Bluff. To anybody's been
from a small town realizes, uh, how prideful small towns
can be. But I'll just give you a um something
(01:56):
that I tell a lot of It's about two and
a half hours from the closest report and everyone kind
of is like wow when I say that. But yeah,
I I grew up in Paper Bluff, Missouri. Was actually
born in Columbia, Missouri. Uh, where my dad went to school. Um.
But yeah, you know, I love being from Papla Bluff. Um,
(02:18):
what's the what's the gym? Like? The high school gym?
Like the high school gym. I will tell you if
you were to walk in there when I played, it
would probably be the best high school, Jim You've ever been.
It was unbelievable we had. Um, I would say probably
it holds probably around two thousand and maybe three thousand
(02:39):
and Uh. The cool thing is when uh I grew
up watching basketball, Um in my community all the time.
I can tell you around Christmas time, every high school,
every small town they have this basketball tournament and so
uh in Poplar Bluff they have the the Showdown and
(03:01):
it's where they you know, have you know some teams,
high school teams from the towns around uh close to
poper Bluff, and then they always bring in you know,
they always pay a team to come in that's really good.
Uh and that team usually beats up on everybody actually
Popera Bluff Before UH my team started, uh, you know,
my when I was in high school, we never really
(03:22):
won the Showdown, which is kind of odd, but um,
it's ah it is a great gym. And I remember
when when I first started watching the high school games,
there wasn't a big crowd but me and my brother
and our team. Uh, I would say my sophomore year,
we sold out every single game and the community really
(03:43):
rallied behind us. And it's uh there's something about small
town high school gyms that uh, there's nothing like it.
And the work we put in every single day. We
had an old school, high school coach, uh John David
Botello and Glenn you Banks. Now nobody, there's no coach
(04:07):
in all of America that outworked, Uh coach you Banks.
Coach you Banks would have us in the gym at
five thirty in the morning every single off season, doesn't matter.
You're in the gym at five thirty until school starts
around seven thirty and you're doing something, work on your
free throws or whatever. And Uh that was just you know,
(04:29):
part of my high school and the way we worked. Okay,
So growing up you mentioned your dad going to misdoo
was your was your house like Missoo? Everywhere house was?
It was? It like what was what was the sports
atmosphere like in your house? I get my example. My
dad was a old college coach. Uh. He was in
(04:49):
Ohio State alum. But we weren't really I don't remember
ever watched I remember watching Ohies Day basketball as a
point guard named Jay Burton. It was awesome. Uh, But
we watched East Basketball even out in California because it
was on at four o'clock on Mondays and there was
lots of California kids that played at Syracuse that had
played for him. We played at Yukon Um. So there
(05:11):
wasn't like one school we watched We love basketball my house,
but we watched He was a New York Giants football fan, etcetera, etcetera.
What was your sports household? Like we were Missoo and
it wasn't even close like we. I grew up a
Missouri Tigers fan and it was cream Rush was there? Uh?
I think is uh Clarence Gilbert? I think that was
(05:32):
somebody who's there? I used to love watching Clarence Gilbert.
He used to light it up. Um and then they
had Norm Stewart Storm and Norman Um. I grew up
a huge Missoo fan and uh so we when I
was in high school, one game that my dad always
took me to, me and my brothers was a Missoo
(05:52):
Illinois game in St. Louis. It was a great rivalry
and it was always packed and going to those aimes
really made me love to get I just the atmosphere
and the robbery. Uh the border war um to say.
But I grew up a huge Missoo fan. And then
eventually when I was, you know, getting recruited by Missouri,
(06:15):
our tickets got a lot better when we started, Uh,
me and my brother started getting recruited. But yeah, I
grew up a Missoo fan. And I will say, uh,
in high school when they started recruiting me, Um, they
were they got and they got themselves into a lot
of trouble. Their program had some issues when Quinn Snyder
(06:35):
was there. They started firing assistant coaches. Some players are
in trouble. And that's where I started looking elsewhere when
I was in high school at my recruitment, and I
think that's what really opened the door for North Carolina
to be honest, um, when they were going through all
those issues. When you're playing Popular Bluff, what was your
(06:58):
exposure like to the rest the country's basketball at your
au seen? When did you start to travel and compete
against other areas so the au Seen? Uh, I would
say probably my sophomore year. And I remember I was,
you know, there's this perspective that when you're from a
(07:20):
small town that how am I going to get exposure?
And that is just the mindset that you know, and
a lot of people come through Popula Bluff, how you know,
I want to play college basketball? How are people going
to see me? And I wish I had the mindset
now looking back. Listen, if you're good enough, people are
gonna find you. I don't care where you're at. If
(07:40):
you if you're good enough, people will find you. And
so my sophomore year, UM in high school, I started
playing for an AU program in St. Louis, which about
two and a half hour drive. And so me and
my brother we started going up there and playing occasional
um AU games and tournaments. And I think the AU
(08:01):
now has really taken off. It wasn't quite what it
is today back then, um, and it was still a lot.
So um that's where you know, I started playing with
the St. Luce Segos, which they have a ton of
good players came from that program, Bradley Bill, David Lee,
Larry Hughes, a lot of guys. And so who's who's
(08:21):
on your Who's on your? First of all, were you
were you always big? Like? What when you enter high school?
How big were you? I was? Like my freshman year,
I was probably about six six. I was super skinny,
I was now And actually I grew probably four to
five inches between my eighth grade and ninth grade year.
(08:45):
So going into my freshman year, I remember coming in
people all legs and arms and I had I wasn't weak,
but I was super skinny, and I did get bullied
a little bit. And it's funny because the older like
so I wanted to play on the varsity team and
I felt like I was good enough and I did.
(09:05):
But I had the high school coach, who you're gonna
earn your position, and I knew that, you know, juniors
and seniors, they weren't gonna give me anything. Especially there
was a lot of pride. You get your spot taken
by a freshman in high school. Uh, that's a big deal.
And it's also an ego blow. And so I used
to come out there and uh my older brother was
(09:26):
out there too. Nobody fouls harder than my older brother Greg, uh,
and he used to. He used to foul the ship
out of me in practice that all the seniors used
to just drill me. Uh. But eventually that's what pushed
me to put the work in the weight room. Uh.
Started eating protein shakes everything and put it on, put
on a lot of weight to get ready for my
(09:48):
sophomore year. But my freshman year, we had some pretty
good uh players, athletic players. We could run a lot
and I would say we you know, we were pretty good. Um,
we started making some noise, winning some games. I broke
my leg UH at the end of my high school
(10:10):
UH season, last game of the year, I snapped my
leg and a half and had to have four screws
but in there and so that cup I was playing
in the last the last game at the year in
the UH state playoffs. I got a fast break and
I was going up for a dunk and my I
had just grown so much that my bones weren't strong
(10:31):
enough to really, you know, withstand a lot of pressure.
And I just went down and when I, you know,
I tried to jump, my leg just snapped. And so uh.
I spent pretty much that freshman to sophomore summer rehabbing
my knee. And luckily my dad is an orthopedic surgeon,
(10:52):
so my dad did a ton of my rehab. I
remember we used to go run stairs, uh, strengthening, and
I was pretty lucky to have my dad with a
medical background to really help me through that one. So
you start traveling you're growing. You mentioned that that going
to those Illinois Miszoo games really kind of made you
want to play college basketball. When did when did you
(11:16):
take off? When did your game start to explode? Was
the when was the moment? I know exactly. It's the
um there's this There was this Nike Hoop Jamboree in St.
Louis and I think it was my sophomore year. My
AU coach, Um, he comes up to me. He's like, hey,
(11:41):
we think you're pretty good and there's this hoop Jamboree.
We're gonna pull some strings and we're gonna let you
play in there. And so he was just like this
is a big deal, Like if you want to get
on a map, you gotta play well here. And I
remember put a lot of pressure on myself. So I
worked my ass off in the gym. I mean I
was in the gym shooting everything, trying to you know,
(12:02):
hone in my game. And I remember going to that
hoop jambur and that's probably some of the best basketball
I played. But I remember there was one other player
there who I thought was like, man, this guy is incredible.
Uh is greg Oden? And Greg Oden came out of
hoop Jamboree too, And if anybody remembers greg Oden in
high school or saw him in high school, that guy
was a highlight and it was just like, you're like,
(12:25):
there's no way this kids and just a high schooler.
I mean, he was dominating. And I remember that's the
first experience I had with somebody who was just really
really good, and uh, I was in high school and
I was just like, man, but me and him both
came out of that hoop jamboree and then I think
(12:46):
we got invited to the Nike All American Camp in Indianapolis,
and that's where things kind of took off. And that's where, uh,
that's where I started getting a bunch of colleges contacting,
uh my high school coaches, and then they started showing
up at my high school. That's where the recruitment really
took off, or where I kind of came up on
(13:06):
the scene. First time you met Roy Williams or saw
Roy Williams, that was at the Nike All American Camp
and he was there recruiting another player and I happened
to be playing against him and I can't remember which.
I can't remember who it was. I want to say
it was Derek Character, but UH coach said it was
(13:27):
somebody else. I'm not sure, but I remember I had
a good game and then all of a sudden, Coach
Williams followed me to every single game after that at
that tournament the next day, is at everything the next day,
and then all of a sudden, they know North Carolina
was contacting my my high school. And so that's when
the recruitment for North Carolina. North Carolina really took off. Um, okay,
(13:51):
so what what was that recruitment period like? So here's
what coach Williams is famous for, and I think you
probably know this one again, is he was always known
as the head coach that would do it himself. He
wanted you. He was sitting mid court for your games.
He'd be there your practice and he'd personally arranged practices
so that they'd be early, right, and then he can
(14:14):
go recruit, Like the day before you guys have a
day off, he'd have an early practice so he can
go fly and go wherever. I know this because he
recruited Paul Pierce, who I played with some my the
Summer Reform my senior year. And then he recruited Eric Chenowith,
both the Kansas who I grew up with. And so
you always back then, you wanted if Roy Williams was there,
(14:36):
who he was there to see was like, Damn, coach
Williams is here? Um? Is that is that how it
happened with you? He was he at in Popular Bluff,
like sitting there courtside. Yeah, he was. Uh, he would
show up in Poper Bluff quite often just to come
watch me play, you know, even open Jim and U.
(14:56):
He would fly right there. But the one thing that
was different with Coach Williams when he was recruiting me
is I kind of felt an honesty from Coach Williams
that I didn't get a lot from other coaches. And
I'm not saying other coaches lie or anything, but with
coach Williams, Uh, there was no like, yeah, you come here,
you'll start, I'll give you minutes, blah blah blah, even
(15:19):
though he was like I'd be shocked if he didn't
play here a lot, um, but he he made sure
that I was gonna earn my position at North Carolina. Also,
they didn't know that, you know, when he's recruiting me,
Seawan May was gonna leave early. You could probably guess
that Marvin Williams was gonna leave early. But uh, none
(15:39):
of that was like kind of given to me. But
also the other aspect from North Carolina that I really liked.
There was Joe Holiday, who was an assistant coach for
coach Williams. Uh. He was somebody who I built a
really good relationship with and he always called to check
up on me. And I just felt a connection in
a chemistry with Coach Holiday that I didn't get from
(16:02):
a lot of other schools. And he was a great ring.
He was He's probably the best college recruiter that no
one really talks about who's with Coach Williams all the time. Uh.
And he I really felt comfortable with him and knowing
Coach Williams. Coach Williams recruited me as hard as anybody,
probably harder, and also sent me a ton of handwritten notes. Uh.
(16:24):
And I was I was laughing because I was thinking.
I was like, there's no way Coach Williams is writing
all these notes to me. There's no way he's sending
me all these letters. He's got to have a secretary
doing it or something like that. But then, you know,
as I was at Carolina, I realized it was him
because his handwriting. If you know his handwriting, nobody can
duplicate that is. I mean, it's it's cursive, it's perfect,
(16:46):
and uh, I knew it was him, and I just
kind of laughed, like thinking about all that time he
spent writing me those letters. Um, but that's that's really
how the North Carolina recruitment, uh, you know picked up
for me, and that's you know why I liked them
so much. Where else did you visit? Uh? Well, actually, um,
I visited Kansas with Bill self. I really liked Bill
(17:08):
self a lot. Um Florida, Billy Donovan was there. Actually.
I originally thought I was going to go to Florida,
and Florida actually had me. But my dad wasn't sold
on Florida as much as I was was. He kept
saying that time, that's a football school. And you know,
(17:31):
it's kind of odd because my dad didn't think they
win a national championship and ended up winning. They won
back to back national championships, which is hilarious given him
over that like a we we really haven't visited it
much because things really worked out well in North Carolina
(17:52):
and they went back to back national championship and I
don't think anybody's done it. Since Fox Sports Radio has
best sports talk lineup in the nation catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app search f s R to
listen live. Okay, Kansas, Florida, Carolina? Who else? Kentucky, Tubby
(18:17):
Smith It Kentucky was really good to he was he
was up there. It was a tough decision. Tubby made
it hard. I really really liked Tubby. I felt like
he's a genuine guy, worked hard, and there was there
was there to take off five? Who was the fifth Miszoo? Okay,
and that was that was? That was ship show time? Right?
Was Quinn still there? They had? They fired him? No,
(18:37):
Quinn was there and uh, actually I like Quinn a lot,
but their their program and it's just so many rumors
and they had so much going on. Uh that really
made it tough. Okay, So um, what was the best visit?
Forget about forget about what was the best visit? Florida.
It's not even close. Florida was the best visit. I
(18:58):
mean David Lee was my host, which you know David Lee,
He's from St. Louis. I was a young high schooler.
I was a freshman when he was a senior. So
he was like a top player in the country. And
so I had. I had watched David Lee play all
the time for uh. I think he played for Shamanad.
I think, uh yeah, something like that, uh in St. Louis.
(19:21):
And so he was. He was one of the first
really good high school players that I watched. And I
mean David Lee and high school. He was doing everything.
He was bringing up the court, dunking and shooting it whatever.
And uh. So I remember when I went to Florida,
David Lee was gonna be my host, which at the time,
I mean I I looked up to David Leegue a
lot of Missouri guy doing big things and you know,
(19:41):
big time high school player. And so I mean we
go out and uh obviously, uh I was a high
school kid and I had been exposed to many you know,
college parties or whatever. We go to this club and uh,
I mean, I mean I've never seen and I was
in awe of how I mean, the beautiful women and everything.
(20:03):
I seemed like every girl was coming up and talking
to me. I remember looking over, is this what it's
like to play here at Florida? And uh, of course
it's like, oh yeah, every every night. And so I
was just like I'm coming and so I told him
that it was the best visit, and uh, yeah, it was.
I can't imagine what my eyes looked like as a
(20:26):
young high schooler on that Florida visit. It was amazing.
The worst visit would be North Carolina. And it's funny
I say that because when I was in North Carolina
on my visit, they had a historic ice storm and
the ice storm closed all the airports everything. I had
(20:49):
gone out with the guys and it was it was
a good time. But you know, I was quiet high
school kid, and I don't know, I just didn't something
didn't sit right with me that visit, and so um,
I went back, and you know, I really liked the coaches,
but I was just like, man, I don't know if
this is a good fit. Um, I didn't have the
(21:10):
best visit. And so my dad talked me into another
visit coach, and so I went back out there and
actually West Miller hosted me this time is unofficial. Wanted
to go back and West is one of my best
friends now. But we went out and had a good
time and I was like, man, this is possible. At
U n C. I was like, yeah, this is a
(21:31):
much better visit. And so that that would be up
there with that was right behind Florida's visit. But we
had a good time and so that's uh, that's basically
how he ended up in North Carolina. Yeah he uh,
I actually did did a part with him. I mean
there's that's like Mr. North Carolina right to go from
from starting as a freshman at at j m U
(21:51):
two then walk on and then be a star there.
That's a pretty solid, pretty solid story from West Um. Okay,
so did you did you signed before your senior year? Um?
I committed my junior as I signed my senior year. Okay,
So what's that senior year in high school like? When
(22:11):
you're going to North Carolina? So every small town you
go to and play against you're going to Carolina. What
was the energy like in all those high school gyms?
Actually it started probably my junior year. I mean my
high school team we were we were very good. And
so my other brother Ben, who was on my team,
(22:32):
was a very good college player. Then we had people
in really we had a Division one running back to
Tensley played UH s I U and then we had
another guy played JUCO. Then we had another D one
UH football player who got Hurt could have played. Uh,
and he was actually bigger than me. He's about six
nine to eighty. Uh, just a big dude. And so
(22:54):
we were a legit high school team. And so junior
year we started getting a lot of a lot of
hype around us, and so we started smashing every team
in in in the local area. And uh, which popular bluff.
We usually have a competitive basketball team, but from that
(23:14):
junior year, we really dominated Missouri and you know, all
the all the rivalries close by, and all the teams
that that were ranked, they would i mean the games
would start selling out two hours before the games. You know,
you couldn't get into the building. And the atmosphere I
mean was unbelievable. I mean it was it was fun
(23:37):
to play in and be part of. And uh, we
we won state my junior year, but uh, there was
a really good high school team who also won state,
which was a class below us. We were the we
were five A, and in the class below us was
this high school team named Bashon, which was one of
(23:59):
the time franked teams in the country and they had
won you know, thirty forty games or whatever in a row.
And so the next year they reclassified to five A
and so they were they were kind of there was
all these rumors and rumblings about VASHN was a better team,
blah blah blah, and the we were a small town,
(24:22):
middle of nowhere school. They were inner city St. Louis
and so you had that dynamic at play and there
was a lot of voices and they were hyping the
game up. So that next year, going into my senior year, uh,
there were there were a lot of cool games. But
to start off the year we had we we we
actually played a game on ESPN against Greg Odin Mike
(24:43):
Conley in hinkel Field House, which was a really cool
experience for Yeah, it was big time for our for
our hometown, our program. I mean we're on ESPN. Everything
was great, and uh when we went on that trip,
the funny thing I remember about it is is I
knew who Greg Oden. I mean I know Greg Oden,
(25:04):
I've seen him play a lot, but a lot of
my teammates have it. And so when we're game planning,
we had, uh, my best friend Ross well and who
was like six six nine, the big dude, and he
was our banger. I mean he was an absolute banger
and so he was physical, he really embodied defense, and
I was like, man, you didn't have your hands full
(25:25):
of this game. And so I knew he was gonna
help me out a lot because he could wear greg
Oding down and he did a great job on him
in the first half. The second half, greg Oing dunked
on him probably four or five times, just monster tomahawk
hammer jam right on his face. And I remember after
the game, he was my roommate. We're both sitting laying
(25:45):
down and then you know the MSPN, the top plays
doneah nu, donea nu and they just had they just
had Ross just getting dunked on three times in a
row as the highlights, and you could hear the whole
hallway our high school team to start dying laughing, and
uh you know, and I remember that that was really
uh funny. Uh but uh you know. We we went
(26:10):
on and we you know, that year, we pretty much
dominated most teams that we play. We're really good, good team.
And then two eventually we got to the state playoffs
and we met Vashan in the state finals and they
had one, I think at the time fifty two games
or fifty three games in a row. They're actually the
number one team in the country, and so, uh we
(26:32):
went in there, and I remember we won the state
championship the next year against Vashon, which was a huge
deal for our school and the fan bases. You could
tell who's pulling for Vashon, and you could tell who's
pulling for Papa Bluff before you pulled up. And I
wasn't a big, you know, ship talker back in the day,
but I will tell you my younger brother Ben, who
(26:53):
was one eight personality for me, he was a big
ship talker. Roth Swallen was a big ship talker. And
those two dudes would talk smack before. And remember when
we started passing, we passed Vashean as we're going into
the It was a new arena for Maszoo at the time.
That's when we played the state championship and Vashon sat
(27:15):
and all of a sudden, I knew Ben and Ross
just jumped on it. They started talking a little smack too,
But I was just sitting back there, and uh, you know,
winning that game was a huge deal for our community obviously,
but also to uh you know, it seemed like Vashon
kind of dominated uh Missouri basketball and also intimidated a
(27:35):
lot of teams from St. Louis and being from Poper
Bluff and that small town pride as growing up, this
is a wrong way to look at it. But being
from a small town, we always viewed the city. You know,
city people is kind of like not really hard workers,
and you know they kind of have the kind of
have everything a little easy. And so I think that
(27:57):
perspective and I carried that view in high school. I thought,
you know, most teams from St. Louis were kind of
soft and so, um, I mean there's there's the there's
the there's the age old like all they do is
try and go one on one. You know, we play
as a team, right, We're harder working. It's the classic
city versus the country. Right, Yeah, that's that's exactly what
(28:20):
it was. And uh, I remember we went out there
and beat up on him and we won the game.
It was a huge deal. And uh actually they had
something uh set up on TV for after the game.
They thought it was on Fox Sports, and uh they
thought vas Sean would just win the game, and so
(28:41):
they had something program talking about the road to Perfection
and winning the state championship where they had followed that
team around the whole year and they were gonna put
everything together for after when they won the state championship
and then and then we want it and uh so,
uh they it kind of ruined their uh their episode
(29:01):
after the state championship, which everyone from my hometown really liked.
But no, that that was that was big time for
us McDonald's American game. What was that like? That was
that was a great experience. Um, you know, and and
looking back on it, uh, you know, there's a little
(29:25):
there's some politics in there, but you know, being a
top player, I mean and getting teamed up you realize,
how you know, the game itself isn't all that important,
but just being there and then being selected was a
big deal. I'm not sure anybody from Papa Bluff has
been and McDonald's American uh since or before, but yeah,
(29:47):
it was a big deal for for me in my community.
Well it's it's because it's like here's how I pictured
because this is I didn't playing the uh McDonald's. I
played in the Magics which is now the Jordan Brand, right,
And I just remember like I was playing to win,
you know. I actually the whole week in practice, like
I was studying Stefan Marbury because I didn't want to
(30:08):
get lit up by Stephan Marbury. So I figured out
that he wanted to drive out of his right hand
and shoot pull ups out of his left hand, you know,
and so so I was like pushing up on it,
making a go left. And if you look back, like
he had a terrible game shooting the basketball. He was
I want to say, like two for twelve. I don't
think he hit any on me, and I didn't want to.
(30:29):
I didn't want to get crossed up whatever. And I
only hit I only took like two shots or maybe
three shots at a bunch of assists. But I I
I look back and up with pride, like, hey, my
team won by thirty. But again, that's not what that
game is about. I kind of picture you the same way.
It's like you're you're playing like I want to get
a rebounds or a run, and meanwhile every everybody else
is like they're just kind of having fun. Is that
(30:50):
was that your experience and you're playing it? Yeah? I
prepped for I mean when I had the when the
game was going on, I was like, no, I'm gonna
come out of here and dominate um and trying to
win the game. But uh, looking back, you know, I realized,
you know, actually the game was like that was still
you know, you you played in you know, high schoolers
could go to the NBA, and that was kind of
like a big deal. And so I realized a lot
(31:13):
of people were trying to position themselves for you know,
draft stock or whatever, and uh, so there was so
much pressure on a lot of kids put on themselves,
you know. So eventually everyone played selfish and you know,
you see the parents come down start talking to their
kids or whatever. Actually I can't say who it was,
(31:34):
but well I remember one parent pulled their kid out
and said, don't go back in, and I was just like, man,
what the hell? And uh but yeah, looking back on
the game, it was also cool because you know, yeah,
the the parent came down was like, no, you're done,
don't play more because they thought they were positioning their
kids for a draft stock. And uh. But the other
(31:57):
side of that is, uh, I got to meet uh
Bobby Fraser, uh, Danny green All at the McDonald's game,
which we eventually went to Carolina together. So it's a
chance to meet some of my teammates, uh, which I
looking back, that was a pretty good just experience as well.
You show up at Carolina when did you get there?
Summer or fall? Summer before my freshman year, and uh,
(32:22):
when I first walked on the campus, I remember, I
remember calling my mom and I was just like, man,
I'm lost. This place is so big. And I was like,
can you just like tell me where I'm at? I
have no clue where I'm going, Like I'm lost on
campus looking back, Man, this place is not that big.
(32:43):
Just being from Popular Bluff, I was just I was
just so I mean, the campus were just so big
to me at the time, but realizing it now, knowing
what I know now, it's just you know, you and
c is not a big campus. But I was blown
away by the place. Um, you know, it's it's much
different than Popular Bluff where I'm from. Okay, so you
(33:04):
you get ready for what was your preseason condition like
Carolina preseason conditioning? What was that like? I was so
I had so much anxiety that I wasn't going to
pass the conditioning test, that I was in the best
shape of my life. What was it going to mean?
You ever heard of thirty threes? So it's six down
and backs in thirty three seconds? So one, two, three, four, five, six,
(33:30):
So it's six touches yep, yep. So you get yourself
worked up that you couldn't pass the three and thirty three. No,
we did twelve of them and you had a minute maybe,
so you had a minute rest in between each thirty
three and you had to make twelve of them and
uh yeah, so it's back to So it's back to
(33:52):
back with the minute rest in between each thirty three
and so um, I was so paranoid about that. Everyone
had talked about how hard the conditioning test is. That
actually my freshman year I had no problems with it.
I passed it, and I was you know, I was
super excited about it, and I was in the best
(34:13):
shape of my life. Uh, not to mention that test
is a beast and they don't even do that test anymore.
I remember. I always like to kind of like that
is my gauge how tough guys are when they come
in their freshman year, shif they can do that conditioning
tests And uh, but it's funny because my sophomore year
(34:33):
I did so well on the conditioning test that my
sophomore year I had to dive through up and had
to drop out because I didn't have the anxiety that
I did the previous year about it, So I wasn't
nervous or a paranoid that I wasn't gonna make it,
so I didn't take it as serious. And uh, I
end up throwing up one thirty three, which you can
(34:55):
miss one, but you have to make it up after
the twelve one. So there's so you have to make twelve. Uh,
but if you miss one, you get one chance to
make that up one time. But if you missed two,
you have to redo the whole test. And so I'll
let you can't miss until you can't play until you
(35:16):
pass the tests at the that that was the rule
in the early days when I was there, and so
um I I missed one my sophomore year, but I
got the chance to make it up just because it
was one, and I made it. Uh. But I did
pew halfway through. Um, I remember that. But the conditioning
(35:37):
tests was so great because you're in better shape for
the conditioning testing. You are at any point in the season.
If you ask me, I mean you're healthy. You're not.
You don't have your body is not as banged up,
and all you're doing is preparing for the conditioning tests
because you're you know, you're so paranoid a boy not
passing it. Interesting your first year, you're defending national champions
(35:59):
and won the actually change in St. Louis right against Illinois,
by the way, like all kinds of kind of bout
to Illinois. But you know, most of those guys had left.
Most of those guys were We're gone. Um what the
first time you put on your Carolina uniform? Are guy
on the side? What's that like the the universe means
(36:21):
the best uniform? It's not not. The Carolina blue is
the best and uh and so I you know, it
was a big deal. Also, the Jordan brand, you know,
having that Jordan symbol on the uniform was really really cool.
Uh Yeah, I mean I never really got caught up
(36:43):
in that, but I remember running out into the uh
to the Smith Center and thinking how cool it was
to hear the band and the atmosphere uh in that
place and the energy. But to be honest, you know,
our team, we didn't have a lot of expectations by
freshman year. Not a lot of people thought we're gonna
be very good. And they had just won a national championship.
(37:04):
They lost Raymond Felt and Rashad McCanns, uh, Shawn me,
Marvin Williams, uh Jawad Williams, and so a lot of
people were, you know, saying, oh, this is gonna be
down year, and so actually, in a lot of ways,
my freshman year was probably one of my favorite years
in college. Obviously, uh, winning national championships real cool, and
everyone thinks that's, uh, that's a year I really liked.
(37:26):
But uh, my senior year, there's a lot of pressure,
and also I was working through some injuries, and so
it was a tough year if you combine all that stuff.
But my freshman year was was really exciting because there
wasn't a lot of expectations and it seemed like everyone
had kind of written us off. But what they didn't
take into account is how tough that team was. I
(37:47):
mean West Miller, who was a super competitor, extremely tough.
Uh he was. He was a main player on that team. Uh,
Bobby Fraser who worked his tell off, a blue collar player,
Marcus Kinnard really braces role. Danny Green came in there,
knocked down some big shots, and then we had a
leader in David Noel who was really good. Uh, and
(38:08):
had a lot of experience and really showed us, um
you know, led us in a way that you know,
made that team tough. And that was probably my favorite
year of Carolina And it's just the fact that we
had took a lot of people by surprise and we
took a lot of pride in that um And I
think looking back on that, the game that really stands
(38:28):
out is a game where we walked into Cameron when
h JJ Reddick Sheldon Williams. It was their senior year,
senior night, Senior night. So Okay, growing up in public Bluff, Okay,
following college basketball, how much did you follow dude? Like?
How much was that? A? Uh yeah, I followed Duke.
(38:52):
I like Duke, but it wasn't I was never like
a big Duke fan. No, I got it. I just
just it's the idea of that. It's like, Okay, so again,
growing up in California, the reason I love Duke was
because of Hurley Early. That's who I kind of patterned
my game after a right, So I just I didn't
know how big it. So the first time you walk
into camera, now you've already played Duke. This is the
(39:15):
interesting At what point in your life, did you learn
to dislike dude to hate duke? Like how you know
what I mean? Like? When? When did that? As soon
as I committed to North Carolina, I bought into I
never hated duke before that. I actually enjoyed watching them.
They had. Uh let's say, Trajan Langdon was the first
real duke guy that I remember when he was there,
(39:37):
he was just lighting them up. And I remember Shane
Battier and those teams, um how good they were. And
then when I was in high school, you know, JJ
Reddick kind of popped up on the scene, you know,
a senior in high school, and I remember they not
only not only did we play them before, they kicked
our ass in the Smith Center like they they just
(40:00):
destroyed us that previous game. And I remember j J.
I think he had thirty eight in the Smith Center
the game before, and he lit us up. And I
think that's a big reason why we uh practiced so
hard and game playing for that game in Cameron because
of what they had done to us previously in the
(40:21):
Smith Center, and so going into Cameron that freshman year
and getting that win, that's that's probably my favorite regular
season win at Carolina was that, and then I remember
just excitement around campus whenever you know, Duke and North
Carolina are so close. For people who don't know, like
when you get a winning Cameron, you want to get
(40:42):
on the bus and go back and party back at
you and see with all your you know, your your classmates.
I mean it is a big scene. And uh, I
remember when we won there, we all celebrated and as
soon as we step on the bus, you know, the
Texas like, hey, where are we going, Like what's what's happening?
And we'd all figured that out and then just drop
our backs and immediately go to Franklin Street or whatever
(41:05):
bar we're gonna go to and celebrate. What are those
What is that game? What do you remember about the game?
The actual game itself? The actual game? I remember, yeah,
so the actual game my freshman year. I remember JJ
really struggled. I think he got off to a good
start and then he really struggled the rest of the game.
(41:26):
And you know, I think half you know, part of
it was because maybe it was senior night for them
and he put a lot of pressure on himself. But also, uh,
Marcus Ginyard was a really good defender. David Noel was
a really good defender. Fraser was a you know, a
very good defender, and West could defend at times. Uh,
(41:47):
but you know he, I mean he West was a
pure shooter, but he he was a competitor to uh.
And I remember we did a really good job on him.
And I remember, you know, yeah, yeah, we did a
great job. I mean in that, did you God Sheldon,
because Sheldon Sheldon had eighteen and fifteen? Yeah you had
(42:13):
you had seven and ten. Yeah, I had a big
game there. I mean it was I think it hit
the top of the key three that kind of really
sealed the game. Uh, so that was a big moment.
I remember. The one thing I remember about the game
is I remember David Noel running up to me, who
was our leader, and just we gave each other a
(42:34):
huge hug. And that was, uh that was really special
to me. And that's one of my you know, looking back,
just like that big relief in that celebration and uh
us you know that team really you know, walking in there, Uh,
it was more like, hey, we're much better than a
lot of people think. But uh, you know, later on
(42:55):
in that you know, we went to the n C
a term and that was when George Mason beat us,
and that was a that was a very difficult below
because we we felt like we had done such a
good job that year and we just got you know,
we just got caught off guard like any team can
in the tournament and that's what makes it so great.
But um, yeah it was. It was a great year
(43:19):
that ended in a tough way for us. Okay, So
you're so much different between your freshman software than you
are leading up to your freshman year, right because, like
you said, you don't even know your campus. You don't
know what to expect. You've got anxiety over conditioning test
like you know, and and and as much as coach
(43:39):
Williams is honest, like he's still recruiting you, it's a
little different when you're playing for him. You get done
with that first year. Where's where's your brain at in
terms of your game, in terms of what you what
you want to do, and and what you thought the
next step was for you. Yeah, so after a lot
of people don't realize this, the only time I actually
(44:00):
really thought about going to the NBA was after my
freshman year, and I talked it over with my mom
and dad and my grandpa and I remember, you know,
I felt like, you know, if I was gonna go,
that would that would be the time. And I felt
like I put myself in good position. Uh, But um,
I decided to come back to Carolina. Actually got a
(44:21):
little homesick. I missed my I missed popular bluff um
in a weird way. But um, I did get a
little comfortable. And I would say it was in a
weird way, but Tom Tom waits in a weird way
because you know, when you think you go to North
Carolina and your star basketball player, uh, going to a
great school, you know, you wouldn't think that, you know,
(44:44):
you missed your hometown. And so I did miss Yeah,
I missed my hometown a lot of friends. It's first
time being away from, you know, my home for a
long time. And so I you know, that was. You
know a lot of people when you're from a small city,
they're like, man, I just want to make it out
of here, or I want to get out of here,
And I'm like, what are you gonna do when you
get out of here? You can do the same thing.
(45:05):
It's another city. And uh, I've always asked that. But um,
now and I did miss I miss I guess I
missed my friends and family a lot. But sure, uh
looking back on it, um, coming into my sophomore year,
I really so Wait, so what was the deciding factor
in like what your mom? Do you talk to your
mom and dad? What what what they say about about
(45:26):
the idea of going pro But I mean they were
both will support you whatever you want to do. But
my grandpa, who's very opinionated, I called him. He's like,
you better go back to school. He was very passionate
about that. What do you call your grandpa? I called
him Papaul growing up. I mean he's no longer here,
but he was. He was somebody who Okay, sheet wait,
so you called Papaul or he called you know, I
called him? And uh, okay, so you call you call him?
(45:50):
Get Like, what was it? What's what's the phone cup?
What's the conversation? Like? I said, Hey, Papa, I'm thinking,
you know, what do you think about if I were
to go to the NBA? Uh? You know Lee Carolina
and my grandpa at the time, he was very old
school and he a lot of people don't realize he's
the first person in his family to ever graduate from
actually even high school and so he became a doctor,
(46:12):
came out of poverty, and he said you better go
back to school. And so that was it, and that
was the whole conversation. He was like, no, I think
you need to go back to school. That was it.
And so he called what did he call you? He
called you Tyler. You just called Tyler. And so Tyler,
you need to go back school. That was it. And
that was all. That's that was my grandpa. That was it,
(46:33):
very direct on us. And uh then we moved on
and probably talked about something else. Uh, but yeah, that
was a big reason why I went back to Carolina
was because of his advice. Uh. And then leading into
my sophomore year, I felt like I had a down year.
My sophomore year. I didn't really meet the expectations that
I wanted. And so, you know, in a weird way,
(46:55):
everyone talks about like a sophomore slump or whatever. For me,
as I got too comfortable, and uh, I think the
success I had my freshman year, sometimes I say I
don't handle success as well as I do losing, because
losing drives me a lot more. And so and so
I felt like I was just getting to repeat what
(47:17):
I did but even though I had a good sophomore, yeah,
I don't. I don't think I met the expectations that
I wanted. And so that's what really drove me. Uh,
the summer in between my sophomore junior year is to
really really improve. And we we took a tough loss
that sophomore year. Uh where did we lose? We lost
to George in the Lead A. You did win the
(47:41):
A C C and the a SEC Tournament. I guess
a team. You guys were pretty good and you lost
in the lead eight to Georgetown. So it wasn't like
it was it was a as a team. It wasn't
a disaster. It was why did you think that? Why?
Why did you personally? What what was missing for you?
I didn't feel I didn't feel like the regular a
SEC play, didn't feel like I played to what I
(48:03):
was capable of. Uh, there were some things I wanted
to add to my game that I didn't really you know,
put it in like I should have. But and even
though I had a good sophomore year, Uh, that Georgetown
loss was tough. And you know, the Lead eight is
very good looking back, and but that team was too talented.
(48:24):
I feel like we let one slip. If you look
at the game, I think we're up to by ten
with about two minutes left. And uh, the Georgetown loss,
and so that was that was a really motivating factor
as well. And and UH coach Williams, he wasn't happy
about that Elite eight loss. I mean he, I mean
(48:45):
we came back to UH to campus and there was
newspaper clippings and all through everyone's, uh, the locker room
about how Georgetown is going to the Final four and everything.
So no one really was really happy with that. And Uh,
I think those factors kind of led me to work
really hard in between my sophomore and junior UH season
(49:08):
at Carolina. You know, you you did gloss over the
fact that you beat Duke yet again, right, so the
first time you do it at senior night, that one
wasn't senior night. It's February. You go in there. Do
you remember the second dude game? Let me see here, Uh,
they had police, they had McRoberts. Um ye was McClure Henderson,
(49:32):
David McClure shire. Yep, Uh, Lance Thomas. Lance Thomas played
a little bit. Mc roberts was was a big time
player in high school and so I remember that matchup
one to get that but uh, yeah, anytime you win
at Duke, it's a big deal. And uh I remember
(49:53):
that one. H I'm not even sure what was the
final school. I think they made a run light to
keep it close. But seventy three, now they weren't They
weren't that good that year. Yeah, they, I mean it
was they weren't that good. But also, um Gerald Henderson
is he was a very good competitor and uh he
(50:15):
he was explosive athletically, and I remember that's the first
time I really got a glimpse of him and as
a player, and I remember I was like, man, he's
gonna be really good. And you know that that's kind
of where that was. But yeah, I mean, do you
guys ever interact with those guys, like, like, it's not
that big an area, right, you got you guys? Uh
and she stayed wake you're all kind of in the
(50:36):
in the triangle in that area. Do you guys ever
see each other, giver hoop with each other, interact with
each other, any of that stuff outside outside of the game.
One time, did they come over to the Smith Center
and play pick up with us? Um? We never like
I know that early on that the duke guys would
come over and play pick up, but that was before
(50:57):
I got there. They just came over one time. We
never really had much of an interaction, and I never
saw the NC State players uh here there. So I
mean occasionally I run into a duke player, very occasionally.
I ran into Sheldon a couple of times. Actually he
came over and said what's up. But there was no
(51:18):
One time I saw a duke player at a Carolina
bar when I was out. I wasn't really happy about that.
But besides, and that was that was just looking back,
that's just so stupid. I mean, like, nah, hey man,
you're at you and see like I totally get I
get it, like you just like hate I don't know.
And I didn't hate any buddy team. I had no
Like I liked the basketball and football when I was
(51:39):
a kid in California. I got there and they're like, look, man,
we hate oh you You're like, I don't know if
I hate you. Then you get there and you're like, yeah,
I hate that. I hate that. That's funny because um,
the same mentality is like you know, you're sitting around
some some teammates and he's run into you know, somebody
on the team that them over and you tap them
(52:01):
up and then they leave them. They're like, dude, what
the funk are you doing? Man? And uh then uh
then then did you do that to them? You're like, man, dude,
that dude is man fuck him, blah blah blah. And
then they come over. We're like, oh, hey, what's up?
How are you doing? And then you say what's something like?
Then you look over and like, what dude, what are
you doing? And uh yeah, And we had that same mentality.
(52:22):
And uh, I remember I ran a duke player over
you know this spot we used to always go out
and uhla residents, we just call it La Rez and
it was it was the best bar in Chapel Hill
when I was in school. And so I saw a
duke player and then because because the talent, because the
(52:43):
set up, because the music, it was everything that combined.
Uh it was great music. It was a great bar.
And it wasn't like it wasn't over ran with too
much frak It was a good mixture of athletes, regular
students and you know, you know, sororities and the fraternities.
They were involved a little bit. But uh, and I
(53:05):
remember I saw a Duke player there and you know,
you sent you here, like man, what's going on? You
get a few drinks in you and you're like, man,
this is our fucking campus, and then you start, you know,
walking in and so so eventually I was like, do
what you can't go get your own girls over at
Duke or something like that, and he looked at me
to be a hundred percent honest with you, this is
(53:27):
a much better scene. And then I think we both
tapped each other up right there and just started laughing. Uh.
But uh, yeah, that was that was pretty funny. But
now it was that's the only interaction I had running
into somebody actually at you and see. Even though I
heard that, I don't know how true this is. There's
so many rumors out there, but I heard that J
(53:48):
J ready one time when went out and you and
see and uh, he went to this place called Bob's
and apparently everyone just I mean, he ended up leaving.
But that was just a rumor. I'm sure if it's
true or not. Yeah, all right, that's it for part one.
Stay tuned for part two. We'll drop it into a
couple of days I know, I know you're salivating it.
(54:11):
More of Tyler Hansbro. Oh yeah, we got the National
Championship season plus all the way up to the green room.
That's all part of Part two. In the meantime, reminded
the Doug Otlump shows daily three to five Eastern Time,
twelve to Pacific on Fox Sports, trading the I Heart
Radio app. You can always just follow me on social
media and look. Remember subscribe, download rate, write a review
(54:32):
even if you don't like it, but I think you
do like it, right a review. I'm Doug Gotli. This
is all ball
Hey, welcome, and I'm doing this is All Ball where
we have great basketball, usually basketball based conversations. Sometimes if
you look through our library there are there are non
basketball conversation with football. We've done a lot of football,
We've done some baseball as well. Today's episode is part
one of Tyler Hansbro. You may know him as Psycho T,
(00:31):
but that's not actually the nickname that everyone who truly
knows him calls him. So maybe this is a great
way of saying, you listen to the Doug Gottlib Show,
or you listened to the All Ball podcast right now,
you know the real nickname for Tyler Hansbro. Oh that's good, right, Yeah,
it's in here. There's a lot of good stuff in here. Um,
(00:52):
his dad went to Missouri. Why do you go to Carolina?
You have to jog your memory a little bit of
the time. What was high school days? Like? Where did
he visit? What was his best visit? All that stuff
is in part one. Tyler Hansborough from a National Player
of the Year, national champion, a guy who beat duke
(01:12):
at duke all four years in North Carolina. My exclusive
podcast with him is right now in Elbow tyle Let's
let's start at the start, the very beginning. Okay, what
I know of is Popular Bluff High School. But is
that where you grew up? I grew up in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
(01:35):
Small town, small community. Um, it's a hard working, blue
collar community if you ask me, Uh, in the middle
of nowhere. Uh. And I know a lot of there's
a lot of pride in Popular Bluff. To anybody's been
from a small town realizes, uh, how prideful small towns
can be. But I'll just give you a um something
(01:56):
that I tell a lot of It's about two and
a half hours from the closest report and everyone kind
of is like wow when I say that. But yeah,
I I grew up in Paper Bluff, Missouri. Was actually
born in Columbia, Missouri. Uh, where my dad went to school. Um.
But yeah, you know, I love being from Papla Bluff. Um,
(02:18):
what's the what's the gym? Like? The high school gym?
Like the high school gym. I will tell you if
you were to walk in there when I played, it
would probably be the best high school, Jim You've ever been.
It was unbelievable we had. Um, I would say probably
it holds probably around two thousand and maybe three thousand
(02:39):
and Uh. The cool thing is when uh I grew
up watching basketball, Um in my community all the time.
I can tell you around Christmas time, every high school,
every small town they have this basketball tournament and so
uh in Poplar Bluff they have the the Showdown and
(03:01):
it's where they you know, have you know some teams,
high school teams from the towns around uh close to
poper Bluff, and then they always bring in you know,
they always pay a team to come in that's really good.
Uh and that team usually beats up on everybody actually
Popera Bluff Before UH my team started, uh, you know,
my when I was in high school, we never really
(03:22):
won the Showdown, which is kind of odd, but um,
it's ah it is a great gym. And I remember
when when I first started watching the high school games,
there wasn't a big crowd but me and my brother
and our team. Uh, I would say my sophomore year,
we sold out every single game and the community really
(03:43):
rallied behind us. And it's uh there's something about small
town high school gyms that uh, there's nothing like it.
And the work we put in every single day. We
had an old school, high school coach, uh John David
Botello and Glenn you Banks. Now nobody, there's no coach
(04:07):
in all of America that outworked, Uh coach you Banks.
Coach you Banks would have us in the gym at
five thirty in the morning every single off season, doesn't matter.
You're in the gym at five thirty until school starts
around seven thirty and you're doing something, work on your
free throws or whatever. And Uh that was just you know,
(04:29):
part of my high school and the way we worked. Okay,
So growing up you mentioned your dad going to misdoo
was your was your house like Missoo? Everywhere house was?
It was? It like what was what was the sports
atmosphere like in your house? I get my example. My
dad was a old college coach. Uh. He was in
(04:49):
Ohio State alum. But we weren't really I don't remember
ever watched I remember watching Ohies Day basketball as a
point guard named Jay Burton. It was awesome. Uh, But
we watched East Basketball even out in California because it
was on at four o'clock on Mondays and there was
lots of California kids that played at Syracuse that had
played for him. We played at Yukon Um. So there
(05:11):
wasn't like one school we watched We love basketball my house,
but we watched He was a New York Giants football fan, etcetera, etcetera.
What was your sports household? Like we were Missoo and
it wasn't even close like we. I grew up a
Missouri Tigers fan and it was cream Rush was there? Uh?
I think is uh Clarence Gilbert? I think that was
(05:32):
somebody who's there? I used to love watching Clarence Gilbert.
He used to light it up. Um and then they
had Norm Stewart Storm and Norman Um. I grew up
a huge Missoo fan and uh so we when I
was in high school, one game that my dad always
took me to, me and my brothers was a Missoo
(05:52):
Illinois game in St. Louis. It was a great rivalry
and it was always packed and going to those aimes
really made me love to get I just the atmosphere
and the robbery. Uh the border war um to say.
But I grew up a huge Missoo fan. And then
eventually when I was, you know, getting recruited by Missouri,
(06:15):
our tickets got a lot better when we started, Uh,
me and my brother started getting recruited. But yeah, I
grew up a Missoo fan. And I will say, uh,
in high school when they started recruiting me, Um, they
were they got and they got themselves into a lot
of trouble. Their program had some issues when Quinn Snyder
(06:35):
was there. They started firing assistant coaches. Some players are
in trouble. And that's where I started looking elsewhere when
I was in high school at my recruitment, and I
think that's what really opened the door for North Carolina
to be honest, um, when they were going through all
those issues. When you're playing Popular Bluff, what was your
(06:58):
exposure like to the rest the country's basketball at your
au seen? When did you start to travel and compete
against other areas so the au Seen? Uh, I would
say probably my sophomore year. And I remember I was,
you know, there's this perspective that when you're from a
(07:20):
small town that how am I going to get exposure?
And that is just the mindset that you know, and
a lot of people come through Popula Bluff, how you know,
I want to play college basketball? How are people going
to see me? And I wish I had the mindset
now looking back. Listen, if you're good enough, people are
gonna find you. I don't care where you're at. If
(07:40):
you if you're good enough, people will find you. And
so my sophomore year, UM in high school, I started
playing for an AU program in St. Louis, which about
two and a half hour drive. And so me and
my brother we started going up there and playing occasional
um AU games and tournaments. And I think the AU
(08:01):
now has really taken off. It wasn't quite what it
is today back then, um, and it was still a lot.
So um that's where you know, I started playing with
the St. Luce Segos, which they have a ton of
good players came from that program, Bradley Bill, David Lee,
Larry Hughes, a lot of guys. And so who's who's
(08:21):
on your Who's on your? First of all, were you
were you always big? Like? What when you enter high school?
How big were you? I was? Like my freshman year,
I was probably about six six. I was super skinny,
I was now And actually I grew probably four to
five inches between my eighth grade and ninth grade year.
(08:45):
So going into my freshman year, I remember coming in
people all legs and arms and I had I wasn't weak,
but I was super skinny, and I did get bullied
a little bit. And it's funny because the older like
so I wanted to play on the varsity team and
I felt like I was good enough and I did.
(09:05):
But I had the high school coach, who you're gonna
earn your position, and I knew that, you know, juniors
and seniors, they weren't gonna give me anything. Especially there
was a lot of pride. You get your spot taken
by a freshman in high school. Uh, that's a big deal.
And it's also an ego blow. And so I used
to come out there and uh my older brother was
(09:26):
out there too. Nobody fouls harder than my older brother Greg, uh,
and he used to. He used to foul the ship
out of me in practice that all the seniors used
to just drill me. Uh. But eventually that's what pushed
me to put the work in the weight room. Uh.
Started eating protein shakes everything and put it on, put
on a lot of weight to get ready for my
(09:48):
sophomore year. But my freshman year, we had some pretty
good uh players, athletic players. We could run a lot
and I would say we you know, we were pretty good. Um,
we started making some noise, winning some games. I broke
my leg UH at the end of my high school
(10:10):
UH season, last game of the year, I snapped my
leg and a half and had to have four screws
but in there and so that cup I was playing
in the last the last game at the year in
the UH state playoffs. I got a fast break and
I was going up for a dunk and my I
had just grown so much that my bones weren't strong
(10:31):
enough to really, you know, withstand a lot of pressure.
And I just went down and when I, you know,
I tried to jump, my leg just snapped. And so uh.
I spent pretty much that freshman to sophomore summer rehabbing
my knee. And luckily my dad is an orthopedic surgeon,
(10:52):
so my dad did a ton of my rehab. I
remember we used to go run stairs, uh, strengthening, and
I was pretty lucky to have my dad with a
medical background to really help me through that one. So
you start traveling you're growing. You mentioned that that going
to those Illinois Miszoo games really kind of made you
want to play college basketball. When did when did you
(11:16):
take off? When did your game start to explode? Was
the when was the moment? I know exactly. It's the
um there's this There was this Nike Hoop Jamboree in St.
Louis and I think it was my sophomore year. My
AU coach, Um, he comes up to me. He's like, hey,
(11:41):
we think you're pretty good and there's this hoop Jamboree.
We're gonna pull some strings and we're gonna let you
play in there. And so he was just like this
is a big deal, Like if you want to get
on a map, you gotta play well here. And I
remember put a lot of pressure on myself. So I
worked my ass off in the gym. I mean I
was in the gym shooting everything, trying to you know,
(12:02):
hone in my game. And I remember going to that
hoop jambur and that's probably some of the best basketball
I played. But I remember there was one other player
there who I thought was like, man, this guy is incredible.
Uh is greg Oden? And Greg Oden came out of
hoop Jamboree too, And if anybody remembers greg Oden in
high school or saw him in high school, that guy
was a highlight and it was just like, you're like,
(12:25):
there's no way this kids and just a high schooler.
I mean, he was dominating. And I remember that's the
first experience I had with somebody who was just really
really good, and uh, I was in high school and
I was just like, man, but me and him both
came out of that hoop jamboree and then I think
(12:46):
we got invited to the Nike All American Camp in Indianapolis,
and that's where things kind of took off. And that's where, uh,
that's where I started getting a bunch of colleges contacting,
uh my high school coaches, and then they started showing
up at my high school. That's where the recruitment really
took off, or where I kind of came up on
(13:06):
the scene. First time you met Roy Williams or saw
Roy Williams, that was at the Nike All American Camp
and he was there recruiting another player and I happened
to be playing against him and I can't remember which.
I can't remember who it was. I want to say
it was Derek Character, but UH coach said it was
(13:27):
somebody else. I'm not sure, but I remember I had
a good game and then all of a sudden, Coach
Williams followed me to every single game after that at
that tournament the next day, is at everything the next day,
and then all of a sudden, they know North Carolina
was contacting my my high school. And so that's when
the recruitment for North Carolina. North Carolina really took off. Um, okay,
(13:51):
so what what was that recruitment period like? So here's
what coach Williams is famous for, and I think you
probably know this one again, is he was always known
as the head coach that would do it himself. He
wanted you. He was sitting mid court for your games.
He'd be there your practice and he'd personally arranged practices
so that they'd be early, right, and then he can
(14:14):
go recruit, Like the day before you guys have a
day off, he'd have an early practice so he can
go fly and go wherever. I know this because he
recruited Paul Pierce, who I played with some my the
Summer Reform my senior year. And then he recruited Eric Chenowith,
both the Kansas who I grew up with. And so
you always back then, you wanted if Roy Williams was there,
(14:36):
who he was there to see was like, Damn, coach
Williams is here? Um? Is that is that how it
happened with you? He was he at in Popular Bluff,
like sitting there courtside. Yeah, he was. Uh, he would
show up in Poper Bluff quite often just to come
watch me play, you know, even open Jim and U.
(14:56):
He would fly right there. But the one thing that
was different with Coach Williams when he was recruiting me
is I kind of felt an honesty from Coach Williams
that I didn't get a lot from other coaches. And
I'm not saying other coaches lie or anything, but with
coach Williams, Uh, there was no like, yeah, you come here,
you'll start, I'll give you minutes, blah blah blah, even
(15:19):
though he was like I'd be shocked if he didn't
play here a lot, um, but he he made sure
that I was gonna earn my position at North Carolina. Also,
they didn't know that, you know, when he's recruiting me,
Seawan May was gonna leave early. You could probably guess
that Marvin Williams was gonna leave early. But uh, none
(15:39):
of that was like kind of given to me. But
also the other aspect from North Carolina that I really liked.
There was Joe Holiday, who was an assistant coach for
coach Williams. Uh. He was somebody who I built a
really good relationship with and he always called to check
up on me. And I just felt a connection in
a chemistry with Coach Holiday that I didn't get from
(16:02):
a lot of other schools. And he was a great ring.
He was He's probably the best college recruiter that no
one really talks about who's with Coach Williams all the time. Uh.
And he I really felt comfortable with him and knowing
Coach Williams. Coach Williams recruited me as hard as anybody,
probably harder, and also sent me a ton of handwritten notes. Uh.
(16:24):
And I was I was laughing because I was thinking.
I was like, there's no way Coach Williams is writing
all these notes to me. There's no way he's sending
me all these letters. He's got to have a secretary
doing it or something like that. But then, you know,
as I was at Carolina, I realized it was him
because his handwriting. If you know his handwriting, nobody can
duplicate that is. I mean, it's it's cursive, it's perfect,
(16:46):
and uh, I knew it was him, and I just
kind of laughed, like thinking about all that time he
spent writing me those letters. Um, but that's that's really
how the North Carolina recruitment, uh, you know picked up
for me, and that's you know why I liked them
so much. Where else did you visit? Uh? Well, actually, um,
I visited Kansas with Bill self. I really liked Bill
(17:08):
self a lot. Um Florida, Billy Donovan was there. Actually.
I originally thought I was going to go to Florida,
and Florida actually had me. But my dad wasn't sold
on Florida as much as I was was. He kept
saying that time, that's a football school. And you know,
(17:31):
it's kind of odd because my dad didn't think they
win a national championship and ended up winning. They won
back to back national championships, which is hilarious given him
over that like a we we really haven't visited it
much because things really worked out well in North Carolina
(17:52):
and they went back to back national championship and I
don't think anybody's done it. Since Fox Sports Radio has
best sports talk lineup in the nation catch all of
our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and within
the I Heart Radio app search f s R to
listen live. Okay, Kansas, Florida, Carolina? Who else? Kentucky, Tubby
(18:17):
Smith It Kentucky was really good to he was he
was up there. It was a tough decision. Tubby made
it hard. I really really liked Tubby. I felt like
he's a genuine guy, worked hard, and there was there
was there to take off five? Who was the fifth Miszoo? Okay,
and that was that was? That was ship show time? Right?
Was Quinn still there? They had? They fired him? No,
(18:37):
Quinn was there and uh, actually I like Quinn a lot,
but their their program and it's just so many rumors
and they had so much going on. Uh that really
made it tough. Okay, So um, what was the best visit?
Forget about forget about what was the best visit? Florida.
It's not even close. Florida was the best visit. I
(18:58):
mean David Lee was my host, which you know David Lee,
He's from St. Louis. I was a young high schooler.
I was a freshman when he was a senior. So
he was like a top player in the country. And
so I had. I had watched David Lee play all
the time for uh. I think he played for Shamanad.
I think, uh yeah, something like that, uh in St. Louis.
(19:21):
And so he was. He was one of the first
really good high school players that I watched. And I
mean David Lee and high school. He was doing everything.
He was bringing up the court, dunking and shooting it whatever.
And uh. So I remember when I went to Florida,
David Lee was gonna be my host, which at the time,
I mean I I looked up to David Leegue a
lot of Missouri guy doing big things and you know,
(19:41):
big time high school player. And so I mean we
go out and uh obviously, uh I was a high
school kid and I had been exposed to many you know,
college parties or whatever. We go to this club and uh,
I mean, I mean I've never seen and I was
in awe of how I mean, the beautiful women and everything.
(20:03):
I seemed like every girl was coming up and talking
to me. I remember looking over, is this what it's
like to play here at Florida? And uh, of course
it's like, oh yeah, every every night. And so I
was just like I'm coming and so I told him
that it was the best visit, and uh, yeah, it was.
I can't imagine what my eyes looked like as a
(20:26):
young high schooler on that Florida visit. It was amazing.
The worst visit would be North Carolina. And it's funny
I say that because when I was in North Carolina
on my visit, they had a historic ice storm and
the ice storm closed all the airports everything. I had
(20:49):
gone out with the guys and it was it was
a good time. But you know, I was quiet high
school kid, and I don't know, I just didn't something
didn't sit right with me that visit, and so um,
I went back, and you know, I really liked the coaches,
but I was just like, man, I don't know if
this is a good fit. Um, I didn't have the
(21:10):
best visit. And so my dad talked me into another
visit coach, and so I went back out there and
actually West Miller hosted me this time is unofficial. Wanted
to go back and West is one of my best
friends now. But we went out and had a good
time and I was like, man, this is possible. At
U n C. I was like, yeah, this is a
(21:31):
much better visit. And so that that would be up
there with that was right behind Florida's visit. But we
had a good time and so that's uh, that's basically
how he ended up in North Carolina. Yeah he uh,
I actually did did a part with him. I mean
there's that's like Mr. North Carolina right to go from
from starting as a freshman at at j m U
(21:51):
two then walk on and then be a star there.
That's a pretty solid, pretty solid story from West Um. Okay,
so did you did you signed before your senior year? Um?
I committed my junior as I signed my senior year. Okay,
So what's that senior year in high school like? When
(22:11):
you're going to North Carolina? So every small town you
go to and play against you're going to Carolina. What
was the energy like in all those high school gyms?
Actually it started probably my junior year. I mean my
high school team we were we were very good. And
so my other brother Ben, who was on my team,
(22:32):
was a very good college player. Then we had people
in really we had a Division one running back to
Tensley played UH s I U and then we had
another guy played JUCO. Then we had another D one
UH football player who got Hurt could have played. Uh,
and he was actually bigger than me. He's about six
nine to eighty. Uh, just a big dude. And so
(22:54):
we were a legit high school team. And so junior
year we started getting a lot of a lot of
hype around us, and so we started smashing every team
in in in the local area. And uh, which popular bluff.
We usually have a competitive basketball team, but from that
(23:14):
junior year, we really dominated Missouri and you know, all
the all the rivalries close by, and all the teams
that that were ranked, they would i mean the games
would start selling out two hours before the games. You know,
you couldn't get into the building. And the atmosphere I
mean was unbelievable. I mean it was it was fun
(23:37):
to play in and be part of. And uh, we
we won state my junior year, but uh, there was
a really good high school team who also won state,
which was a class below us. We were the we
were five A, and in the class below us was
this high school team named Bashon, which was one of
(23:59):
the time franked teams in the country and they had
won you know, thirty forty games or whatever in a row.
And so the next year they reclassified to five A
and so they were they were kind of there was
all these rumors and rumblings about VASHN was a better team,
blah blah blah, and the we were a small town,
(24:22):
middle of nowhere school. They were inner city St. Louis
and so you had that dynamic at play and there
was a lot of voices and they were hyping the
game up. So that next year, going into my senior year, uh,
there were there were a lot of cool games. But
to start off the year we had we we we
actually played a game on ESPN against Greg Odin Mike
(24:43):
Conley in hinkel Field House, which was a really cool
experience for Yeah, it was big time for our for
our hometown, our program. I mean we're on ESPN. Everything
was great, and uh when we went on that trip,
the funny thing I remember about it is is I
knew who Greg Oden. I mean I know Greg Oden,
(25:04):
I've seen him play a lot, but a lot of
my teammates have it. And so when we're game planning,
we had, uh, my best friend Ross well and who
was like six six nine, the big dude, and he
was our banger. I mean he was an absolute banger
and so he was physical, he really embodied defense, and
I was like, man, you didn't have your hands full
(25:25):
of this game. And so I knew he was gonna
help me out a lot because he could wear greg
Oding down and he did a great job on him
in the first half. The second half, greg Oing dunked
on him probably four or five times, just monster tomahawk
hammer jam right on his face. And I remember after
the game, he was my roommate. We're both sitting laying
(25:45):
down and then you know the MSPN, the top plays
doneah nu, donea nu and they just had they just
had Ross just getting dunked on three times in a
row as the highlights, and you could hear the whole
hallway our high school team to start dying laughing, and
uh you know, and I remember that that was really
uh funny. Uh but uh you know. We we went
(26:10):
on and we you know, that year, we pretty much
dominated most teams that we play. We're really good, good team.
And then two eventually we got to the state playoffs
and we met Vashan in the state finals and they
had one, I think at the time fifty two games
or fifty three games in a row. They're actually the
number one team in the country, and so, uh we
(26:32):
went in there, and I remember we won the state
championship the next year against Vashon, which was a huge
deal for our school and the fan bases. You could
tell who's pulling for Vashon, and you could tell who's
pulling for Papa Bluff before you pulled up. And I
wasn't a big, you know, ship talker back in the day,
but I will tell you my younger brother Ben, who
(26:53):
was one eight personality for me, he was a big
ship talker. Roth Swallen was a big ship talker. And
those two dudes would talk smack before. And remember when
we started passing, we passed Vashean as we're going into
the It was a new arena for Maszoo at the time.
That's when we played the state championship and Vashon sat
(27:15):
and all of a sudden, I knew Ben and Ross
just jumped on it. They started talking a little smack too,
But I was just sitting back there, and uh, you know,
winning that game was a huge deal for our community obviously,
but also to uh you know, it seemed like Vashon
kind of dominated uh Missouri basketball and also intimidated a
(27:35):
lot of teams from St. Louis and being from Poper
Bluff and that small town pride as growing up, this
is a wrong way to look at it. But being
from a small town, we always viewed the city. You know,
city people is kind of like not really hard workers,
and you know they kind of have the kind of
have everything a little easy. And so I think that
(27:57):
perspective and I carried that view in high school. I thought,
you know, most teams from St. Louis were kind of
soft and so, um, I mean there's there's the there's
the there's the age old like all they do is
try and go one on one. You know, we play
as a team, right, We're harder working. It's the classic
city versus the country. Right, Yeah, that's that's exactly what
(28:20):
it was. And uh, I remember we went out there
and beat up on him and we won the game.
It was a huge deal. And uh actually they had
something uh set up on TV for after the game.
They thought it was on Fox Sports, and uh they
thought vas Sean would just win the game, and so
(28:41):
they had something program talking about the road to Perfection
and winning the state championship where they had followed that
team around the whole year and they were gonna put
everything together for after when they won the state championship
and then and then we want it and uh so,
uh they it kind of ruined their uh their episode
(29:01):
after the state championship, which everyone from my hometown really liked.
But no, that that was that was big time for
us McDonald's American game. What was that like? That was
that was a great experience. Um, you know, and and
looking back on it, uh, you know, there's a little
(29:25):
there's some politics in there, but you know, being a
top player, I mean and getting teamed up you realize,
how you know, the game itself isn't all that important,
but just being there and then being selected was a
big deal. I'm not sure anybody from Papa Bluff has
been and McDonald's American uh since or before, but yeah,
(29:47):
it was a big deal for for me in my community.
Well it's it's because it's like here's how I pictured
because this is I didn't playing the uh McDonald's. I
played in the Magics which is now the Jordan Brand, right,
And I just remember like I was playing to win,
you know. I actually the whole week in practice, like
I was studying Stefan Marbury because I didn't want to
(30:08):
get lit up by Stephan Marbury. So I figured out
that he wanted to drive out of his right hand
and shoot pull ups out of his left hand, you know,
and so so I was like pushing up on it,
making a go left. And if you look back, like
he had a terrible game shooting the basketball. He was
I want to say, like two for twelve. I don't
think he hit any on me, and I didn't want to.
(30:29):
I didn't want to get crossed up whatever. And I
only hit I only took like two shots or maybe
three shots at a bunch of assists. But I I
I look back and up with pride, like, hey, my
team won by thirty. But again, that's not what that
game is about. I kind of picture you the same way.
It's like you're you're playing like I want to get
a rebounds or a run, and meanwhile every everybody else
is like they're just kind of having fun. Is that
(30:50):
was that your experience and you're playing it? Yeah? I
prepped for I mean when I had the when the
game was going on, I was like, no, I'm gonna
come out of here and dominate um and trying to
win the game. But uh, looking back, you know, I realized,
you know, actually the game was like that was still
you know, you you played in you know, high schoolers
could go to the NBA, and that was kind of
like a big deal. And so I realized a lot
(31:13):
of people were trying to position themselves for you know,
draft stock or whatever, and uh, so there was so
much pressure on a lot of kids put on themselves,
you know. So eventually everyone played selfish and you know,
you see the parents come down start talking to their
kids or whatever. Actually I can't say who it was,
(31:34):
but well I remember one parent pulled their kid out
and said, don't go back in, and I was just like, man,
what the hell? And uh but yeah, looking back on
the game, it was also cool because you know, yeah,
the the parent came down was like, no, you're done,
don't play more because they thought they were positioning their
kids for a draft stock. And uh. But the other
(31:57):
side of that is, uh, I got to meet uh
Bobby Fraser, uh, Danny green All at the McDonald's game,
which we eventually went to Carolina together. So it's a
chance to meet some of my teammates, uh, which I
looking back, that was a pretty good just experience as well.
You show up at Carolina when did you get there?
Summer or fall? Summer before my freshman year, and uh,
(32:22):
when I first walked on the campus, I remember, I
remember calling my mom and I was just like, man,
I'm lost. This place is so big. And I was like,
can you just like tell me where I'm at? I
have no clue where I'm going, Like I'm lost on
campus looking back, Man, this place is not that big.
(32:43):
Just being from Popular Bluff, I was just I was
just so I mean, the campus were just so big
to me at the time, but realizing it now, knowing
what I know now, it's just you know, you and
c is not a big campus. But I was blown
away by the place. Um, you know, it's it's much
different than Popular Bluff where I'm from. Okay, so you
(33:04):
you get ready for what was your preseason condition like
Carolina preseason conditioning? What was that like? I was so
I had so much anxiety that I wasn't going to
pass the conditioning test, that I was in the best
shape of my life. What was it going to mean?
You ever heard of thirty threes? So it's six down
and backs in thirty three seconds? So one, two, three, four, five, six,
(33:30):
So it's six touches yep, yep. So you get yourself
worked up that you couldn't pass the three and thirty three. No,
we did twelve of them and you had a minute maybe,
so you had a minute rest in between each thirty
three and you had to make twelve of them and
uh yeah, so it's back to So it's back to
(33:52):
back with the minute rest in between each thirty three
and so um, I was so paranoid about that. Everyone
had talked about how hard the conditioning test is. That
actually my freshman year I had no problems with it.
I passed it, and I was you know, I was
super excited about it, and I was in the best
(34:13):
shape of my life. Uh, not to mention that test
is a beast and they don't even do that test anymore.
I remember. I always like to kind of like that
is my gauge how tough guys are when they come
in their freshman year, shif they can do that conditioning
tests And uh, but it's funny because my sophomore year
(34:33):
I did so well on the conditioning test that my
sophomore year I had to dive through up and had
to drop out because I didn't have the anxiety that
I did the previous year about it, So I wasn't
nervous or a paranoid that I wasn't gonna make it,
so I didn't take it as serious. And uh, I
end up throwing up one thirty three, which you can
(34:55):
miss one, but you have to make it up after
the twelve one. So there's so you have to make twelve. Uh,
but if you miss one, you get one chance to
make that up one time. But if you missed two,
you have to redo the whole test. And so I'll
let you can't miss until you can't play until you
(35:16):
pass the tests at the that that was the rule
in the early days when I was there, and so
um I I missed one my sophomore year, but I
got the chance to make it up just because it
was one, and I made it. Uh. But I did
pew halfway through. Um, I remember that. But the conditioning
(35:37):
tests was so great because you're in better shape for
the conditioning testing. You are at any point in the season.
If you ask me, I mean you're healthy. You're not.
You don't have your body is not as banged up,
and all you're doing is preparing for the conditioning tests
because you're you know, you're so paranoid a boy not
passing it. Interesting your first year, you're defending national champions
(35:59):
and won the actually change in St. Louis right against Illinois,
by the way, like all kinds of kind of bout
to Illinois. But you know, most of those guys had left.
Most of those guys were We're gone. Um what the
first time you put on your Carolina uniform? Are guy
on the side? What's that like the the universe means
(36:21):
the best uniform? It's not not. The Carolina blue is
the best and uh and so I you know, it
was a big deal. Also, the Jordan brand, you know,
having that Jordan symbol on the uniform was really really cool.
Uh Yeah, I mean I never really got caught up
(36:43):
in that, but I remember running out into the uh
to the Smith Center and thinking how cool it was
to hear the band and the atmosphere uh in that
place and the energy. But to be honest, you know,
our team, we didn't have a lot of expectations by
freshman year. Not a lot of people thought we're gonna
be very good. And they had just won a national championship.
(37:04):
They lost Raymond Felt and Rashad McCanns, uh, Shawn me,
Marvin Williams, uh Jawad Williams, and so a lot of
people were, you know, saying, oh, this is gonna be
down year, and so actually, in a lot of ways,
my freshman year was probably one of my favorite years
in college. Obviously, uh, winning national championships real cool, and
everyone thinks that's, uh, that's a year I really liked.
(37:26):
But uh, my senior year, there's a lot of pressure,
and also I was working through some injuries, and so
it was a tough year if you combine all that stuff.
But my freshman year was was really exciting because there
wasn't a lot of expectations and it seemed like everyone
had kind of written us off. But what they didn't
take into account is how tough that team was. I
(37:47):
mean West Miller, who was a super competitor, extremely tough.
Uh he was. He was a main player on that team. Uh,
Bobby Fraser who worked his tell off, a blue collar player,
Marcus Kinnard really braces role. Danny Green came in there,
knocked down some big shots, and then we had a
leader in David Noel who was really good. Uh, and
(38:08):
had a lot of experience and really showed us, um
you know, led us in a way that you know,
made that team tough. And that was probably my favorite
year of Carolina And it's just the fact that we
had took a lot of people by surprise and we
took a lot of pride in that um And I
think looking back on that, the game that really stands
(38:28):
out is a game where we walked into Cameron when
h JJ Reddick Sheldon Williams. It was their senior year,
senior night, Senior night. So Okay, growing up in public Bluff, Okay,
following college basketball, how much did you follow dude? Like?
How much was that? A? Uh yeah, I followed Duke.
(38:52):
I like Duke, but it wasn't I was never like
a big Duke fan. No, I got it. I just
just it's the idea of that. It's like, Okay, so again,
growing up in California, the reason I love Duke was
because of Hurley Early. That's who I kind of patterned
my game after a right, So I just I didn't
know how big it. So the first time you walk
into camera, now you've already played Duke. This is the
(39:15):
interesting At what point in your life, did you learn
to dislike dude to hate duke? Like how you know
what I mean? Like? When? When did that? As soon
as I committed to North Carolina, I bought into I
never hated duke before that. I actually enjoyed watching them.
They had. Uh let's say, Trajan Langdon was the first
real duke guy that I remember when he was there,
(39:37):
he was just lighting them up. And I remember Shane
Battier and those teams, um how good they were. And
then when I was in high school, you know, JJ
Reddick kind of popped up on the scene, you know,
a senior in high school, and I remember they not
only not only did we play them before, they kicked
our ass in the Smith Center like they they just
(40:00):
destroyed us that previous game. And I remember j J.
I think he had thirty eight in the Smith Center
the game before, and he lit us up. And I
think that's a big reason why we uh practiced so
hard and game playing for that game in Cameron because
of what they had done to us previously in the
(40:21):
Smith Center, and so going into Cameron that freshman year
and getting that win, that's that's probably my favorite regular
season win at Carolina was that, and then I remember
just excitement around campus whenever you know, Duke and North
Carolina are so close. For people who don't know, like
when you get a winning Cameron, you want to get
(40:42):
on the bus and go back and party back at
you and see with all your you know, your your classmates.
I mean it is a big scene. And uh, I
remember when we won there, we all celebrated and as
soon as we step on the bus, you know, the
Texas like, hey, where are we going, Like what's what's happening?
And we'd all figured that out and then just drop
our backs and immediately go to Franklin Street or whatever
(41:05):
bar we're gonna go to and celebrate. What are those
What is that game? What do you remember about the game?
The actual game itself? The actual game? I remember, yeah,
so the actual game my freshman year. I remember JJ
really struggled. I think he got off to a good
start and then he really struggled the rest of the game.
(41:26):
And you know, I think half you know, part of
it was because maybe it was senior night for them
and he put a lot of pressure on himself. But also, uh,
Marcus Ginyard was a really good defender. David Noel was
a really good defender. Fraser was a you know, a
very good defender, and West could defend at times. Uh,
(41:47):
but you know he, I mean he West was a
pure shooter, but he he was a competitor to uh.
And I remember we did a really good job on him.
And I remember, you know, yeah, yeah, we did a
great job. I mean in that, did you God Sheldon,
because Sheldon Sheldon had eighteen and fifteen? Yeah you had
(42:13):
you had seven and ten. Yeah, I had a big
game there. I mean it was I think it hit
the top of the key three that kind of really
sealed the game. Uh, so that was a big moment.
I remember. The one thing I remember about the game
is I remember David Noel running up to me, who
was our leader, and just we gave each other a
(42:34):
huge hug. And that was, uh that was really special
to me. And that's one of my you know, looking back,
just like that big relief in that celebration and uh
us you know that team really you know, walking in there, Uh,
it was more like, hey, we're much better than a
lot of people think. But uh, you know, later on
(42:55):
in that you know, we went to the n C
a term and that was when George Mason beat us,
and that was a that was a very difficult below
because we we felt like we had done such a
good job that year and we just got you know,
we just got caught off guard like any team can
in the tournament and that's what makes it so great.
But um, yeah it was. It was a great year
(43:19):
that ended in a tough way for us. Okay, So
you're so much different between your freshman software than you
are leading up to your freshman year, right because, like
you said, you don't even know your campus. You don't
know what to expect. You've got anxiety over conditioning test
like you know, and and and as much as coach
(43:39):
Williams is honest, like he's still recruiting you, it's a
little different when you're playing for him. You get done
with that first year. Where's where's your brain at in
terms of your game, in terms of what you what
you want to do, and and what you thought the
next step was for you. Yeah, so after a lot
of people don't realize this, the only time I actually
(44:00):
really thought about going to the NBA was after my
freshman year, and I talked it over with my mom
and dad and my grandpa and I remember, you know,
I felt like, you know, if I was gonna go,
that would that would be the time. And I felt
like I put myself in good position. Uh, But um,
I decided to come back to Carolina. Actually got a
(44:21):
little homesick. I missed my I missed popular bluff um
in a weird way. But um, I did get a
little comfortable. And I would say it was in a
weird way, but Tom Tom waits in a weird way
because you know, when you think you go to North
Carolina and your star basketball player, uh, going to a
great school, you know, you wouldn't think that, you know,
(44:44):
you missed your hometown. And so I did miss Yeah,
I missed my hometown a lot of friends. It's first
time being away from, you know, my home for a
long time. And so I you know, that was. You
know a lot of people when you're from a small city,
they're like, man, I just want to make it out
of here, or I want to get out of here,
And I'm like, what are you gonna do when you
get out of here? You can do the same thing.
(45:05):
It's another city. And uh, I've always asked that. But um,
now and I did miss I miss I guess I
missed my friends and family a lot. But sure, uh
looking back on it, um, coming into my sophomore year,
I really so Wait, so what was the deciding factor
in like what your mom? Do you talk to your
mom and dad? What what what they say about about
(45:26):
the idea of going pro But I mean they were
both will support you whatever you want to do. But
my grandpa, who's very opinionated, I called him. He's like,
you better go back to school. He was very passionate
about that. What do you call your grandpa? I called
him Papaul growing up. I mean he's no longer here,
but he was. He was somebody who Okay, sheet wait,
so you called Papaul or he called you know, I
called him? And uh, okay, so you call you call him?
(45:50):
Get Like, what was it? What's what's the phone cup?
What's the conversation? Like? I said, Hey, Papa, I'm thinking,
you know, what do you think about if I were
to go to the NBA? Uh? You know Lee Carolina
and my grandpa at the time, he was very old
school and he a lot of people don't realize he's
the first person in his family to ever graduate from
actually even high school and so he became a doctor,
(46:12):
came out of poverty, and he said you better go
back to school. And so that was it, and that
was the whole conversation. He was like, no, I think
you need to go back to school. That was it.
And so he called what did he call you? He
called you Tyler. You just called Tyler. And so Tyler,
you need to go back school. That was it. And
that was all. That's that was my grandpa. That was it,
(46:33):
very direct on us. And uh then we moved on
and probably talked about something else. Uh, but yeah, that
was a big reason why I went back to Carolina
was because of his advice. Uh. And then leading into
my sophomore year, I felt like I had a down year.
My sophomore year. I didn't really meet the expectations that
I wanted. And so, you know, in a weird way,
(46:55):
everyone talks about like a sophomore slump or whatever. For me,
as I got too comfortable, and uh, I think the
success I had my freshman year, sometimes I say I
don't handle success as well as I do losing, because
losing drives me a lot more. And so and so
I felt like I was just getting to repeat what
(47:17):
I did but even though I had a good sophomore, yeah,
I don't. I don't think I met the expectations that
I wanted. And so that's what really drove me. Uh,
the summer in between my sophomore junior year is to
really really improve. And we we took a tough loss
that sophomore year. Uh where did we lose? We lost
to George in the Lead A. You did win the
(47:41):
A C C and the a SEC Tournament. I guess
a team. You guys were pretty good and you lost
in the lead eight to Georgetown. So it wasn't like
it was it was a as a team. It wasn't
a disaster. It was why did you think that? Why?
Why did you personally? What what was missing for you?
I didn't feel I didn't feel like the regular a
SEC play, didn't feel like I played to what I
(48:03):
was capable of. Uh, there were some things I wanted
to add to my game that I didn't really you know,
put it in like I should have. But and even
though I had a good sophomore year, Uh, that Georgetown
loss was tough. And you know, the Lead eight is
very good looking back, and but that team was too talented.
(48:24):
I feel like we let one slip. If you look
at the game, I think we're up to by ten
with about two minutes left. And uh, the Georgetown loss,
and so that was that was a really motivating factor
as well. And and UH coach Williams, he wasn't happy
about that Elite eight loss. I mean he, I mean
(48:45):
we came back to UH to campus and there was
newspaper clippings and all through everyone's, uh, the locker room
about how Georgetown is going to the Final four and everything.
So no one really was really happy with that. And Uh,
I think those factors kind of led me to work
really hard in between my sophomore and junior UH season
(49:08):
at Carolina. You know, you you did gloss over the
fact that you beat Duke yet again, right, so the
first time you do it at senior night, that one
wasn't senior night. It's February. You go in there. Do
you remember the second dude game? Let me see here, Uh,
they had police, they had McRoberts. Um ye was McClure Henderson,
(49:32):
David McClure shire. Yep, Uh, Lance Thomas. Lance Thomas played
a little bit. Mc roberts was was a big time
player in high school and so I remember that matchup
one to get that but uh, yeah, anytime you win
at Duke, it's a big deal. And uh I remember
(49:53):
that one. H I'm not even sure what was the
final school. I think they made a run light to
keep it close. But seventy three, now they weren't They
weren't that good that year. Yeah, they, I mean it
was they weren't that good. But also, um Gerald Henderson
is he was a very good competitor and uh he
(50:15):
he was explosive athletically, and I remember that's the first
time I really got a glimpse of him and as
a player, and I remember I was like, man, he's
gonna be really good. And you know that that's kind
of where that was. But yeah, I mean, do you
guys ever interact with those guys, like, like, it's not
that big an area, right, you got you guys? Uh
and she stayed wake you're all kind of in the
(50:36):
in the triangle in that area. Do you guys ever
see each other, giver hoop with each other, interact with
each other, any of that stuff outside outside of the game.
One time, did they come over to the Smith Center
and play pick up with us? Um? We never like
I know that early on that the duke guys would
come over and play pick up, but that was before
(50:57):
I got there. They just came over one time. We
never really had much of an interaction, and I never
saw the NC State players uh here there. So I
mean occasionally I run into a duke player, very occasionally.
I ran into Sheldon a couple of times. Actually he
came over and said what's up. But there was no
(51:18):
One time I saw a duke player at a Carolina
bar when I was out. I wasn't really happy about that.
But besides, and that was that was just looking back,
that's just so stupid. I mean, like, nah, hey man,
you're at you and see like I totally get I
get it, like you just like hate I don't know.
And I didn't hate any buddy team. I had no
Like I liked the basketball and football when I was
(51:39):
a kid in California. I got there and they're like, look, man,
we hate oh you You're like, I don't know if
I hate you. Then you get there and you're like, yeah,
I hate that. I hate that. That's funny because um,
the same mentality is like you know, you're sitting around
some some teammates and he's run into you know, somebody
on the team that them over and you tap them
(52:01):
up and then they leave them. They're like, dude, what
the funk are you doing? Man? And uh then uh
then then did you do that to them? You're like, man, dude,
that dude is man fuck him, blah blah blah. And
then they come over. We're like, oh, hey, what's up?
How are you doing? And then you say what's something like?
Then you look over and like, what dude, what are
you doing? And uh yeah, And we had that same mentality.
(52:22):
And uh, I remember I ran a duke player over
you know this spot we used to always go out
and uhla residents, we just call it La Rez and
it was it was the best bar in Chapel Hill
when I was in school. And so I saw a
duke player and then because because the talent, because the
(52:43):
set up, because the music, it was everything that combined.
Uh it was great music. It was a great bar.
And it wasn't like it wasn't over ran with too
much frak It was a good mixture of athletes, regular
students and you know, you know, sororities and the fraternities.
They were involved a little bit. But uh, and I
(53:05):
remember I saw a Duke player there and you know,
you sent you here, like man, what's going on? You
get a few drinks in you and you're like, man,
this is our fucking campus, and then you start, you know,
walking in and so so eventually I was like, do
what you can't go get your own girls over at
Duke or something like that, and he looked at me
to be a hundred percent honest with you, this is
(53:27):
a much better scene. And then I think we both
tapped each other up right there and just started laughing. Uh.
But uh, yeah, that was that was pretty funny. But
now it was that's the only interaction I had running
into somebody actually at you and see. Even though I
heard that, I don't know how true this is. There's
so many rumors out there, but I heard that J
(53:48):
J ready one time when went out and you and
see and uh, he went to this place called Bob's
and apparently everyone just I mean, he ended up leaving.
But that was just a rumor. I'm sure if it's
true or not. Yeah, all right, that's it for part one.
Stay tuned for part two. We'll drop it into a
couple of days I know, I know you're salivating it.
(54:11):
More of Tyler Hansbro. Oh yeah, we got the National
Championship season plus all the way up to the green room.
That's all part of Part two. In the meantime, reminded
the Doug Otlump shows daily three to five Eastern Time,
twelve to Pacific on Fox Sports, trading the I Heart
Radio app. You can always just follow me on social
media and look. Remember subscribe, download rate, write a review
(54:32):
even if you don't like it, but I think you
do like it, right a review. I'm Doug Gotli. This
is all ball
Host
Doug Gottlieb
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