Tyler Hansbrough was a highly recruited college basketball prospect as a high school student from the state of Missouri of who won two boys basketball state championships. After considering basketball scholarship offers from numerous storied basketball programs such as Duke University, the University of Kansas, and the University of Kentucky Tyler ultimately decided to play hoops for the University of North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels.
When Tyler arrived on the Chapel Hill, North Carolina campus he was greeted by famed head coach Roy Williams. Coach Williams made a name for himself as a long time respected head basketball coach at the University of Kansas before returning to his alma mater in 2003 as the head coach at UNC. Shortly after returning to the college that he graduated from in 1972 Roy Williams won his first national championship with the Tar Heels in 2005. Over the course of the four years that Tyler spent at UNC Hansbrough and Roy Williams formed a bond about as close any athlete and coach can have. When Hansbrough had his jersey retired in February of 2010 before a UNC vs. Duke rivalry game the ceremony brought tears to the eyes of Coach Williams.
As a freshmen on the UNC Tar Heels basketball team Tyler made an immediate impact. The first year star finished the season as the second leading scorer in the Atlantic Coach Conference (ACC) when he trailed only J.J. Redick of Duke, a player that would set the all-time record for points scored in the ACC in 2006 before Hansbrough would later break it in 2009. For his efforts Tyler was not only chosen as the conference freshmen of the year but also became the first player ever to be selected as a unanimous choice for first team All ACC as a freshman. The Sporting News even made Tyler a first team All-American after his first season.
Tyler would play three more seasons and be named to first team All-American lists for each of his four years. Despite being recognized after his junior season in 2007-2008 as the national player of the year Tyler decided to forego the NBA Draft and come back for his senior season in hopes to winning an elusive national championship with Coach Roy Williams. On April 6, 2009 Tyler Hansbrough and Roy Williams achieved their goal by winning a national championship together when they defeated Michigan State University in a game played in Detroit, Michigan.
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