UNC Tyler Hansbrough - Down Tobacco RoadWooden Award finalist Tyler Hansbrough has North Carolina back in the Final FourApril 2, 2008 By Mike Halford Last season, North Carolina was 10 points up and 6:02 away from a spot in the Final Four. Then, the floor caved in. The Tar Heels missed 22 of 23 shots through regulation and overtime to gift wrap Georgetown's East Region championship. This season, North Carolina was 10 points up and 20 minutes away from a spot in the Final Four. By the 10:21 mark, Louisville had tied the game. Then Tyler Hansbrough stepped in. The junior forward from Poplar Bluff, Miss., put forth his biggest performance in the biggest game of his career. His 28-point, 13-rebound triumph had many pundits running out of adjectives to throw at him, to the point where new ones were created. His 11-point outburst to close out the Cardinals was a great display of... ummm... clutchability? His 20 second-half points in the biggest game of the year exemplified... err... ballsiness? Have you been studying up on your Final Four team and player statistics? Receive all your NFL lines and the FASTEST PAYOUTS on the WEB! Bet on Sports, Casino, Poker and Horses at proBETS Sportsbook and enjoy a huge 25% CASH Sign-up Bonus, 5% Re-load Bonus and Free Cash when you Refer-a-Friend. Open an account and start gambling on the NFL TODAY! Hansbrough is ready to take UNC all the way. (AP Images)Break out the thesaurus and start brushing up on your basic Latin, because Psycho T isn't done yet. Sure, winning the East Regional and knocking off a talented Louisville team erased some demons. But Hansbrough isn't about erasing old memories; he's about making new ones. "It takes all those past experiences away," Hansbrough said of making the Final Four. "But we also can do something bigger." Five Reasons Why UNC Will Win It All 1 - Hansbrough So we've yet to see an individual or defensive scheme slow down Psycho T. Arkansas was going to do it with a frontline featuring four guys over 6 feet 10 inches. Failed. Wazzu was going to do it with a swarming zone that destroyed Luke Harangody. Failed. Louisville was going to do it with 6-foot-11-inch David Padgett, 6-foot-9-inch Derrick Caracter and 6-foot-8-inch Juan Palacios. F-A-I-L-E-D. Hansbrough's production is on par to Al Horford's of last season, Joakim Noah's of two seasons ago and Sean May's of three seasons ago. NCAA championships are won and lost on the strength of the men in the middle. FINAL FOUR - Friday, April 5th Memphis Tigers vs UCLA Bruins Betting Odds, 6:05 PM EST CBS North Carolina Tar Heels vs Kansas Jayhawks Betting Odds, 8:45 PM EST CBS 2 - Ty Lawson's Injury Was A Blessing In Disguise At the beginning of the season, everybody knew Carolina could get out and run. Roy Williams had created the best transition team in the country and Ty Lawson was running the show. Ty Lawson's ankle injury gave the Tar Heels a half-court offense. (AI Wire photo)So when Lawson went down with a midseason ankle injury that cost him six games, the Heels were forced to develop a half-court game with the more methodical Quentin Thomas running the point. After a shaky performance in a loss to Duke (Thomas had six turnovers), the senior guard was brilliant. He dished out 33 assists to just 13 turnovers over the next five games - all Carolina wins. "[My absence] got us a half-court offense," Lawson told ESPN. "We had to slow it down a bit when I didn't play and move the ball a lot more. That's what we're going to have to do to get past the next two games." Final Four odds Team (Seed) Odds Kansas 16/5 Memphis 27/10 North Carolina 33/20 UCLA 63/20 3 - Roy Williams Gone are the whispers and innuendo about Williams not being able to win a national championship. Those died in 2005. Now, he's back amongst the consensus top five coaches in America and has his Tar Heels playing at a remarkably high level. Every tournament game thus far has been decided by 10 or more points and while Hansbrough has been tremendous, Williams has done a sly job of tweaking his rotation to improve bench scoring. Danny Green has averaged 13 per game over his last two, well above his 11.4 ppg average for the season. Green is averaging similar minutes played but is getting into games earlier and creating offense through his defense. He has five steals over the last two games, aiding the UNC transition offense. 4 - Frontcourt Depth Only Bill Self's Kansas team has anything similar to the depth UNC boasts up front. Six-foot-nine-inch Alex Stephenson and 6-foot-8-inch Deon Thompson would be close to starting or at the very least sixth men for most programs. At North Carolina, they're valued rotation players who rebound, block shots and do the dirty work allowing Hansbrough to play his game. Stephenson has emerged as a fantastic shot-blocker, evident in his swat assault on Washington State's Kyle Weaver in the Sweet 16. The big man rotation keeps any or all out of foul trouble, something that UNC has magically avoided throughout this tournament. 5 - Pedigree/History The most storied program in college basketball won it all in 2005 following a very similar path. That team - led by the likes of May, Raymond Felton, Marvin Williams and Rashard McCants - also played its regional games in Charlotte before qualifying for the Final Four. The Carolina mystique is alive and well, embodied by the face of NCAA hoops - Hansbrough. That could go a long way in terms of getting calls from officials and the ever-present basketball gods. Just saying they're there. You've been warned. --- by Bodog at 1800-sports.com on April 05, 2008
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