Tyler Hansbrough

Tyler Hansbrough

Andrew Tyler Hansbrough (born November 3, 1985 in Columbia, Missouri) is an American collegiate basketball player for the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. Hansbrough was a unanimous selection for the 2006, 2007, and 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference All Conference Team, 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, and 2008 ACC Conference Player of the Year. In 2008, Hansbrough swept all major individual honors in men's college basketball. For a North Carolina men's player to have his jersey retired, he must win at least one of six national player of the year awards: the Associated Press, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, the National Association of Basketball Coaches, Sporting News, the Naismith Award and the Wooden Award, and wait until his class has graduated. Since Hansbrough has won all six, and is returning for his senior season, he will have his number 50 retired when he graduates from North Carolina in 2009. Hansbrough is the son of Tami Wheat and Dr. Gene Hansbrough and brother of former Mississippi State University and future Notre Dame player Ben Hansbrough.

Hansbrough attended Poplar Bluff High School in Poplar Bluff, Missouri and led the Mules to consecutive Missouri state championships (Missouri State High School Activities Association) Class 5 for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons. In 2005, Hansbrough helped Poplar Bluff beat the then undefeated and number one team in the nation, Vashon High School. While in high school he made the Missouri All-State team twice and averaged 28.2 points and 13.4 rebounds per game as a senior. Due to his growing popularity, ESPN featured a high school game on ESPN2 in which Hansbrough's Mules were beaten 56-40 by Greg Oden and his high school team. Hansbrough accepted an offer to play basketball for North Carolina, turning down scholarship offers to play at Duke, Florida, Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky.

Tyler Hansbrough led the University of North Carolina in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game. He was second in the ACC in scoring behind J. J. Redick of Duke. Additionally, Hansbrough was unanimously selected as the 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year and was also a unanimous selection to the 2006 All Conference Team. This marked the first time that a freshman had ever been unanimously given 1st team All-ACC honors. He was second to Redick in voting for the ACC Player of the Year award. Hansbrough’s best game as a freshman came on February 15, 2006 when he scored 40 points in a home game against Georgia Tech. This mark set the record for most points ever scored by a freshman in a game in ACC history and for the most points scored in the Dean Smith Center (the previous high had been 38 points by Joseph Forte in 2000 vs. Tulsa).

With the University of North Carolina signing what was often considered to be the best recruiting class in the country in 2006, Tyler Hansbrough’s minutes per game took a slight drop but he was just as productive as he was during his freshman season. At the end of the regular season, Hansbrough was averaging 18.8 points per game along with 8.0 rebounds per game.

During the March 4, 2007 matchup with Duke University, Hansbrough scored 26 points and grabbed 17 rebounds while leading the Tar Heels to an 86-72 victory. With 14.5 seconds remaining in the game, Duke's Gerald Henderson, Jr. hit Hansbrough with his right elbow, breaking Hansbrough's nose. Henderson was ejected from the game and received an automatic one-game suspension from the NCAA. Hansbrough went on to play with a nose-guard/face mask through the postseason, before taking it off in the second half of a game against Michigan State, in the second round of the 2007 NCAA tournament.

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North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball

The University of North Carolina men's basketball program is a successful college basketball program, considered to be "one of the dominant basketball teams in NCAA history." The Tar Heels have won four NCAA tournament championships in 1957, 1982, 1993, and 2005, and were retroactively named the national champions by the Helms Athletic Foundation for their undefeated season in 1924. They have also won 17 Atlantic Coast Conference tournament titles, and 27 Atlantic Coast Conference Regular Season Titles (including an Atlantic Coast Conference record 17 outright Regular Season Championships). The program is well-known for its famous alumni, such as Michael Jordan, coaching history, and a rivalry with Duke (a team located only eight miles away in Durham, North Carolina). The rivalry is widely regarded as one of the most intense in all of sports.

From the Tar Heels' first season in 1910-11 through the 2007-08 season, the Tar Heels amassed a 73.6% all-time winning percentage, winning 1,950 games and losing 699 games in 98 seasons. The Tar Heels also have the most consecutive 20-win seasons, with 31 seasons from the 1970-71 seasons through 2000-2001 season. On January 21, 2007, North Carolina became only the second college basketball program to reach 1,900 wins in its history. The University of Kentucky was the only previous school to reach this mark. The Kansas Jayhawks have since become the third team to reach 1,900 wins.

The Tar Heels have won the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament four times, have appeared in the NCAA finals eight times, have participated in 17 NCAA Final Fours, have made it into the NCAA tournament 41 times (tied for second-most all-time), and share the record for the most NCAA Tournament victories (98). North Carolina also won the National Invitation Tournament tournament in 1971, has appeared in two NIT Semifinals, and has made five appearances in the NIT Tournament. Additionally, the team has been the number one seed in the NCAA Tournament 13 times, the latest being in 2009 (most #1 seeds all-time), has been ranked in the top 25 AP Poll 703 times (1st all-time), has beaten #1 teams a record 12 times, has the most consecutive 20-win seasons, with 31, and has the most consecutive top-3 ACC finishes with 37. North Carolina has had a top twenty-five final ranking among Division I schools 42 times as ranked by the Associated Press and 44 times as ranked by the Coaches Poll. In five instances the North Carolina Tar Heels have ended the season with a number one ranking in the Associated Press, and the North Carolina Tar Heels have also been ranked number one five times at the end of the season by the Coaches' Poll. In 2008 the Tar Heels received the first unanimous preseason #1 ranking in the history of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, as well as the first unanimous preseason #1 ranking in the history of the Associated Press Poll.

North Carolina played its first basketball game against Virginia Christian, on January 27, 1910, a 42-21 win for North Carolina. Since then the Tar Heels have amassed an all-time 1,980-703 (.738) record. North Carolina's 1,980 wins are second all time, behind the University of Kentucky's 1,988 wins.

In 1921, North Carolina joined the Southern Conference. The 1924 Tar Heels squad went 26-0 and was retroactively awarded the national championship by the Helms Athletic Foundation in 1936. Overall, the Tar Heels played 32 seasons in the Southern Conference from 1921 to 1953. During that period they won 304 games and lost 111 for a winning percentage of 73.3%. The Tar Heels were winners of the regular season for nine times and won the Southern Conference Championships eight times.

In 1953, North Carolina split from the Southern Conference and became a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels won their first NCAA Championship under coach Frank McGuire in 1957, which was led by Lennie Rosenbluth and several other transplants from the New York City area. C.D. Chesley, a Washington, D.C. television producer, piped the 1957 championship game in Kansas City to a hastily-created network of stations across North Carolina, which helped proved pivotal in basketball becoming a craze in the state. The 1957 National Championship game versus Kansas was the only triple overtime contest in championship history.

In 1960, the Tar Heels were placed on NCAA probation for "improper recruiting entertainment" of basketball prospects--to date, the only time any sport at UNC has been sanctioned by the NCAA. As a result, they were barred from the 1961 NCAA tournament and also withdrew from the 1961 ACC Tournament. Following the season, Chancellor William Aycock forced McGuire to resign. As a replacement, Aycock selected one of McGuire's assistants, Dean Smith.

Smith coached the Tar Heels from 1961 to 1997 and brought an unprecedented level of success to the team. When Smith retired in 1997, he had the most wins ever of any NCAA Division I men's basketball coach with 879 wins, and the 9th highest winning percentage (77.6%)During Smith's time as head coach, North Carolina won the ACC regular season championship 17 times, won the ACC tournament 13 times, won the NIT in 1971, went to the NCAA tournament 27 times, appeared in 11 final fours, and won two NCAA national tournament titles, in 1982 and 1993. The 1982 National Championship team was led by James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and a young Michael Jordan. The 1993 National Championship team starred Donald Williams, George Lynch and Eric Montross. While at North Carolina, Smith helped promote desegregation by recruiting the University’s first African American scholarship basketball player Charlie Scott.

Smith unexpectedly retired before the start of practice for the 1997–98 season. He was succeeded by Bill Guthridge, who had been an assistant coach at the school for 30 years, the last 25 as Smith's top assistant. In his three seasons as head coach Guthridge led the Tar Heels to the NCAA Final Four twice, in the 1998 tournament and again in the 2000 tournament. Carolina reached the Final Four in 2000 as an 8-seed, their lowest seeding in a Final Four appearance.

Guthridge retired in 2000 and North Carolina turned to Matt Doherty, the head coach at Notre Dame and a player on the 1982 championship team, to lead the Tar Heels. Doherty had mixed success while at Carolina. In his first season, the Heels were ranked #1 in the polls in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule and finished with a 26–7 record. But Doherty's second season was the worst in recent history as the Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 8–20, missing postseason play entirely for the first time since the 1965–66 season (including a record 27 straight NCAA Tournament appearances) and finishing with a losing record for the first time since 1962 (Dean Smith's first year as coach). They also finished 4–12 in the ACC—only the program's second losing ACC record ever. The 12 losses were six more than the Tar Heels had ever suffered in a single season of ACC play, and placed them in a tie for 7th place—the program's first finish below fourth place ever. The season also saw the end of UNC's run of 31 straight 20-win seasons and 35 straight seasons of finishing third or higher in the ACC. After bringing in one of the top 5 incoming classes for the 2002–2003 season, the Tar Heels started the season by knocking off a top 5 Kansas team and going on to win the Preseason NIT and returning to the AP top 25. Carolina went on to finish the season 17–15, barely missing the NCAA tournament. Matt Doherty led the Tar Heels to the third round of the NIT where they ended their season with a loss to Georgetown.

Despite the turnaround from the year before and the late season playoff run, at the end of the season Matt Doherty was replaced as head coach by Roy Williams, the longtime coach at Kansas--and before then, an assistant to Smith for 11 years.

Roy Williams's first season was a moderate success. The Tar Heels finished 19–11 and were ranked in a final media poll for the first time in three years. They returned to the NCAA tournament and were ousted in the second round by Texas. A year later, Williams led the Tar Heels to the school's fourth national championship and his first as a head coach. After winning the championship, Williams had to deal with the departure of the team's top seven scorers. Most thought that 2005-06 would be a down season for Williams, but the Tar Heels proved to be surprisingly successful in part due to the help of the freshman Tyler Hansbrough. Williams was named Coach of the Year for his ability to turn around such a new team to such a high level of success. The Tar Heels have since added two other ACC titles to their ledger, sweeping the regular season and tournament titles in 2007 and 2008. The 2008 ACC Tournament was the first time North Carolina has ever won the ACC Tournament without defeating at least one in-state rival during the tournament.

The Tar Heels own several impressive streaks in the history of college basketball. They appeared in either the NCAA Tournament or National Invitation Tournament (NIT) every year from 1967 to 2001. This includes 27 straight appearances in the NCAA tourney from 1975 (the first year that competition allowed more than one team from a conference to get a guaranteed bid) to 2001--the longest such streak in tournament history. The Tar Heels also notched 37 straight winning seasons from 1964 to 2001--the second-longest such streak in NCAA history, behind only UCLA's streak of 54 consecutive winning seasons from 1948 to 2002. Presently, the streak of consecutive tournament appearances is the only one that is seriously threatened; as of the 2009 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Arizona has appeared in 25 straight NCAA Tournaments since 1985.

From the ACC's inception in 1953 to 2001, the Tar Heels did not finish worse than a tie for fourth place in ACC play. From 1965 onward, they did not finish worse than a tie for third, and from 1965 to 1986 they did not finish worse than a tie for second. Neither of these streaks have been seriously threatened by another ACC team; during this time the ACC's other six charter members finished first at least once and last at least once, and only Clemson failed to win a tournament title.

All of these streaks ended in the 2001–02 season, when the Tar Heels finished 8–20 on the season under coach Matt Doherty. They also finished tied for 7th in conference play, behind Florida State and Clemson--only their second losing conference record ever (the first being in the ACC's inaugural season).

Additionally, the Tar Heels hold an interesting and unique record in terms of a recurrent head-to-head rivalry. Since the first game in 1926 at Chapel Hill, the Tar Heels have won 54 consecutive home games against Clemson, which has never beaten the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill, current as of the 2008-09 season. The 54th consecutive win is an NCAA record.

Forty-three former North Carolina men's basketball players are honored in the Smith Center with banners representing their numbers hung from the rafters. Of the 43 honored jerseys, seven are retired.

Seven players (including Jack Cobb, whose jersey did not have a number) have had their jerseys retired. Tyler Hansbrough's number 50 will be the eighth jersey to be retired when he leaves school, as in the 07-08 season he won all 6 of the major awards required to have ones jersey retired.

Junior varsity teams were originally used at Carolina as freshmen teams because freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity team until the NCAA granted freshmen eligibility in the 1970s.

After most schools decided to disband their J.V. squads, Carolina's athletic department opted to keep the team so that non-scholarship students were given the chance to play basketball for UNC. Carolina also uses their J.V. team as a way for varsity assistant coaches to gain experience as head coaches. Roy Williams was a J.V. coach for eight years before he was hired at Kansas.

Students at UNC are only allowed to play on the team for two years, and then they are given a chance to try out for the varsity. The J.V. team also serves as a way for coaches to evaluate players for two years on the J.V. so they will better know what to expect when they try out for varsity later in their careers.

UNC's J.V. team plays a combination of teams from Division II and III schools, some community colleges, and a few prep schools from around the North Carolina area.

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2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 65 schools playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball as a culmination of the 2007–08 basketball season. It began on March 18, 2008, and concluded as the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Memphis Tigers 75-68 in overtime on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, to win their third national championship. The host institution was the University of Texas at San Antonio. For the first time in tournament history since seeding began, the top seeded team from each of the four regionals made it to the final four: Kansas, Memphis, North Carolina, and UCLA.

American University, UMBC, Texas-Arlington, and Portland State all entered the tournament for the first time in their school's history. Another school, Coppin State became the first 20-loss school ever to enter the tournament by winning the MEAC Tournament. The first round of the tournament featured some unprecedented upsets, with four upsets in all four games played in Tampa. The surprise of the tournament was tenth-seeded Davidson, who advanced to the Elite Eight before losing to eventual champion Kansas 59-57, each team's closest game of the tournament.

Each regional winner advanced to the Final Four.

A total of 31 teams received automatic bids for winning their conference tournament championship. Since the Ivy League does not hold a tournament, its regular season champion received the automatic bid. This left 34 at-large bids to be decided from the rest of the field by the NCAA Selection Committee. The at-large bids, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, March 16. Coppin State was the first team to make the tournament with 20 losses. Maryland-Baltimore County, American, Texas-Arlington, and Portland State all received their first tournament bids in school history. Three other teams returned after absences from the NCAA Tournament of 20 years or more—Drake (last appearing in 1971), Cal State Fullerton (1978), Cornell (1988), and Baylor (1988).

Winner advances to 16th seed in East Regional vs. (1) North Carolina.

Top seed North Carolina defeated the play-in game winner Mount St. Mary's 113-74. Their high scoring tied the mark for second most in North Carolina tournament history, aided by Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson's 21 points each. They met Arkansas in the second round, a ninth seed who defeated eighth-seed Indiana 86-72. Indiana had struggled with several tough losses late in the season after a coaching scandal and were unable to stop Sonny Weems' career-high 31 points despite having two AP All-Americans, D.J. White and Eric Gordon, on their team.. Fifth seed Notre Dame advanced to the second round with a 68-50 win over 12th seed George Mason. George Mason had two starters from the 2006 final four team, but were unable to come back after a surge by the Irish early in the first half. In the same pod, fourth seeded Washington State defeated 13th-seed Winthrop 71-40, holding them to 11 points in the second half and leaving them far behind after a 25-1 run. In Birmingham, Alabama, the sixth seed Oklahoma defeated 11-th seeded St. Joseph's 72-64, led by David Godbold, a senior not normally known as a team leader who surprised many with his 25 points. Later in the evening, third seeded Louisville defeated WAC champion and 14th seed Boise State 79-61, sending the Broncos home for the second straight time. They had defeated Boise St. in the 1994 tournament as well, the last time the WAC team came to the tournament. In the afternoon session at Birmingham, seventh seeded Butler defeated 10th seed South Alabama in an 81-61 blowout, setting a school record for 30 wins in one season, and number two seed Tennessee survived a brief scare at the hands of 15th-seeded American, 72-57. American's star player, Garrison Carr, led his team with 26 points, tying the game at 40 with 11 minutes to go before Tennessee went on a 10-0 run to score the win.

Washington State, the region's fourth seed, was first to earn a spot in the Charlotte, North Carolina East Regional by handily beating fifth-seeded Notre Dame, 61-41 in Denver, Colorado. The rout came as a shock to many sportscasters, who expected Notre Dame's offense, which was averaging about 80 points a game, to outdo the Cougars. Instead, Notre Dame shot 24% from the field, their worst offensive effort since 1983 and the fifth-worst in the history of the NCAA tournament's opening rounds. Washington State's win brought them to their first-ever trip to the Sweet 16. Top-seeded North Carolina will challenge the Cougars after defeating Arkansas, the ninth seed, 108-77. The win marked only the third time the Tar Heels had won their first two tournament games by more than 20 points. The other two UNC teams to do this, in 1993 and 2005, went on to win the championship. With the win, North Carolina also set a school record for wins in a season, with 34. Second-seeded Tennessee survived an upset bid from number seven seed Butler, winning in overtime 76-71. Butler was behind throughout regulation, but managed to keep the game close and bring it to overtime, where they gained their first lead, 68-66, about 2 minutes into overtime. Some key defensive stands and free throws by the Volunteers, however, pulled them ahead. They will play third seed Louisville, who beat sixth seed Oklahoma, 78-48. Sooner star Blake Griffin had trouble scoring against Louisville's double-teams, and Louisville's 30-point win was the school's best tournament win since 1968.

Top-seeded North Carolina defeated fourth seeded Washington State 68-47. Washington State was held to 47 points, the least allowed by a Tar Heel team in the tournament since 1946. Tyler Hansbrough struggled in the first half, but North Carolina's other players stepped to give the team a 14-point lead a halftime. In the second half, he led the team with 16 points, contributing to what was at one point in the half a 26-point lead. Third-seeded Louisville went on to face the Tar Heels in the East finals after defeating the second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers, 79-60. Earl Clark scored 17 points, 13 of them coming in the second half, and had 12 rebounds to lead the Cardinals. The Volunteers were held to 34% shooting and Louisville coach Rick Pitino improved to 8-0 in Regional semifinal games.

In the East Regional finals in their home state, against third-seed Louisville, Tyler Hansbrough of the top-seeded Tar Heels carried the team with a 28-point performance, including five straight points after the Cardinals tied UNC midway through the second half to lead UNC to a 83-73 win. The Cardinals came close as the game neared its end, but a Ty Lawson 3 broke a 59-59 tie. Defensive stands combined with 8 for 8 free throw shooting down the stretch gave the Tar Heels the victory. Hansbrough was named the East Region's Tournament MVP.

The Midwest Region featured upsets knocking off the fourth through seventh seeds. Among these was the first upset of the tournament with 11th seed Kansas State's win over the sixth seeded Southern California Trojans 80-67 in Omaha, Nebraska. The media had focused a lot of attention on the freshman stars of both teams, the Wildcats' Michael Beasley and the Trojans' O. J. Mayo. In reality, while Beasley and Mayo did well, it was the other K-State players who made the difference, applying a strong defense to the Men of Troy's attack and coming up with the school's first tournament win since 1988. Also in the Midwest Region, #10 seed Davidson defeated seventh seeded Gonzaga 82-76 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Stephen Curry led the Wildcats with 40 points, 30 of them in the second half. His 40 points are the fifth most in NCAA tournament history, and gave Davidson their first tournament win since 1969. In the same region, 13th seed Siena upset fourth seed Vanderbilt 83-62 in Tampa, Florida. The Saints never trailed in the game and became the first MAAC team to advance since 2004. The Midwest's first-round play ended with 12th seed Villanova's upset of fifth seed Clemson, 75-69, also in Tampa. Behind by eighteen late in the first half, the Wildcats came back, taking the lead at about the twelve minute mark and holding it for the win. The Wildcats have won more games as an underdog in the tournament since seedings began in 1979 than any other team. With Villanova's win, the Forum saw a tournament record four upsets in one day. Earlier in the day, Western Kentucky, San Diego, and Siena defeated Drake, UConn, and Vanderbilt, to set the record.

Earlier that day in Omaha, ninth seed Kent State tied an NCAA Tournament record for scoring lows with their 10 points in one half against UNLV. Eighth-seed UNLV won the game 71-58. Top seed Kansas defeated 16th seed Portland State 85-61, thoroughly dominating both inside and outside with the win. Second-seed Georgetown defeated fifteenth seed Maryland-Baltimore County 66-47 in their first round game, holding them to 31% shooting as compared to their 51%, and third seed Wisconsin stopped an upset threat from 14th seed Cal State Fullerton. The Titans' Josh Akognon scored 31 points, tying a career high, and Fullerton held the lead early in the second half, but were unable hold the lead under the Badgers' offensive pressure.

The third-seeded Badgers from the University of Wisconsin at Madison defeated Kansas State, 72-55 to become the first school to advance to Detroit, Michigan and the Midwest Regional. KSU freshman star Michael Beasley was again dominant with 23 points and 14 rebounds, though he struggled in the second half with only six points due to the Badger defense. Top-seeded Kansas also advanced to the Sweet 16 by defeating eighth seed UNLV 75-56. Four Jayhawks scored in double figures and the team shot 58% from the field while holding the Rebels to 26.7%. On the following afternoon, the 12th-seeded Villanova Wildcats defeated the 13th-seeded Siena Saints in a 12-seed versus 13-seed Cinderella match-up by a score of 84-72 to reach their third Sweet 16 in four years. The Wildcats took an early lead and never trailed the entire game. Tenth-seeded Davidson became the second double-digit seed to advance to the Sweet Sixteen hours after Villanova's victory, ousting second-seeded Georgetown 74-70, and played Wisconsin in the other semifinal. Davidson won on the back of another tour-de-force performance in the second half by Stephen Curry. Curry singlehandedly outscored the Hoyas over the final 14:24, putting up 25 points to Georgetown's 22.

Stephen Curry scored 33 points to lead Davidson to a 73-56 victory over Wisconsin. Davidson, the 10-seed, advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since the 1969 tournament. Curry became only the fourth player in history to score 30 or more points in his first three tournament games. The Wisconsin defense, best in the nation at points allowed with 53.9, remained close until early in the second half, when some key steals and Davidson threes pulled the Wildcats far ahead. Prior to the game, Wisconsin guard Michael Flowers had said of Curry, "At the end of the game I want him to be breathless and remember what team he played against and how hard he worked." Curry would score 33 and cause Flowers' quote to completely backfire.

In the night game, top-seeded Kansas defeated # 12 Villanova, 72-57. The Jayhawks went on a 14-2 run early and never faltered—Villanova never getting within six. Brandon Rush, Russell Robinson, and Mario Chalmers each scored 16, 15, and 14 points, respectively.

Kansas completed the first all top-seeded Final Four in NCAA Tournament history as they defeated 10th seeded Davidson 59-57. The outcome remained in doubt down to the final seconds. Kansas' Sherron Collins missed a shot with 21 seconds left, giving Davidson the final shot. Sophomore star Stephen Curry was double teamed, couldn't find a shot, and passed to Jason Richards, whose shot missed. It was head coach Bill Self's first regional final win. The Wildcats' 25-game winning streak, the longest in the nation, was broken with the loss. Davidson's Stephen Curry scored 25 points and was chosen as the Midwest Region's Most Outstanding Player.

Top seed Memphis took on Texas-Arlington, the region's 16th seed, and went on to win their opening round contest, 87-63, in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Memphis went on to meet Mississippi State, a eight seed which came back from 13-down early in the second half against Oregon to rally for the win, 76-69. Fifth-seed Michigan State handily defeated # 12 Temple, 72-61, and fourth-seed Pittsburgh defeated 13th seed Oral Roberts 82-63, leaving the Golden Eagles behind after an 18-0 run in the first half. Sixth-seeded Marquette won its first tournament game since 2003 with a 74-66 win over #11 Kentucky in Anaheim. Kentucky got to within two points with 22 seconds remaining, but two Marquette free throws and a late steal handed the Wildcats an early tournament loss. They met third seed Stanford in the next round, who handily defeated 14th seeded Cornell 77-53, never trailing the entire game, and never allowing the Big Red to get closer than 18 points in the second half. Miami (Florida), the seventh seed, defeated 10th seed Saint Mary's (California) 78-64, led by Jack McClinton and his 38 points. Their next opponent was second seed Texas, who never trailed in their 74-54 win over 15th seed Austin Peay, a game with four Longhorns scoring in double-figures.

Third-seeded Stanford saw Brook Lopez make the difference in overtime with a basket with 1.3 seconds left to beat Marquette 82-81 and advance to Houston, Texas. Stanford coach Trent Johnson was ejected in the first half, and Stanford had to fight a six-point deficit at halftime to come back for the win. Michigan State became the first lower seed to win in the region, with a 65-54 victory over Pittsburgh. The game was extremely physical and hard-fought, with the Panther coming back from 10 down to take the lead in the middle of the second half, only to see it vanish in the final minutes with help from eight straight points from the Spartan's Drew Neitzel. The Spartans would go on to play Memphis, the region's top seed after the Tigers beat eighth seed Mississippi State, 77-74. In their game, Memphis had four players scoring in double figures in what was a physical, defensive game—unlike what the games the Tigers were used to playing. Mississippi State gave them a late scare by coming to within two with four seconds left, but a free throw by Chris Douglas-Roberts of Memphis followed by a missed three on Mississippi's end gave the Tigers the win. Texas, the second seed, will play the Cardinal in their home state after a 75-72 victory over seventh-seed Miami (Florida). Leading 66-50 with 4:15 left in the game, the Longhorns saw their lead melt in the face of a strong Hurricane rally and a hostile Arkansas crowd. Two key free throws by A. J. Abrams with 9.5 seconds left carried them to a three point lead which held to the end of regulation.

Tens of thousands of Texas fans turned out to Reliant Stadium in Houston and saw the second seeded Longhorns defeat the number three seeded Stanford Cardinal, 82-62. The unlikely defensive star of the game was Texas' Dexter Pittman. Normally not even a starter, Pittman was effective on the court, throwing his size against the tall Lopez twins, high-scorers at Stanford. On the offensive end, D.J. Augustin scored twenty-three points to combine with Damion James' 18 for the win. Stanford made things close at about the 13 minute mark of the second half, bringing it to within one at 52-51, but Texas went on a 16-2 run and turned the game into a rout. Later in the day, top-seeded Memphis defeated fifth seed Michigan State, 92-74. Memphis entered the game as a bit of an underdog, with many predicting them the top seed most likely to lose. Instead, the Tigers went into halftime with a 30-point lead. Derrick Rose lead his team with 27 points, and Chris Douglas-Roberts followed with 25, while Spartan star Drew Neitzel was held to just six.

Top seeded Memphis defeated the Texas Longhorns to earn the third pass into the Final Four for the first time in 23 years with a convincing 85-67 win. Memphis spread the floor and used every man on the field to win. Texas star D J Augustin scored 16 points, but struggled with four turnovers in the second half. Derrick Rose won the Region's Most Outstanding Player award.

In the West Region, with a pod in Tampa as well, Western Kentucky entering as the 12th seed, defeated fifth seeded Drake in overtime 101-99. Drake had come back from sixteen down in the final eight minutes, bringing the game to overtime, and were ahead with 5.7 seconds left. Ty Rogers' three-pointer at the buzzer, the NCAA record-setting 30th three-point basket gave the Hilltoppers the walk-off victory. Also in the West, 13th seeded San Diego upset fourth seed Connecticut 70-69 in another overtime game. The Huskies struggled throughout the game, compounded by the loss of leading scorer A.J. Price to a torn ACL, and De'Jon Jackson's long jumper with 1.2 seconds remaining in the bonus period pulled the Toreros ahead for their first-ever tournament victory, and handed UConn their earliest egress from the tournament since 1979 as well as the first under coach Jim Calhoun. As regards to close games and record-breakers, West Region 15th seed Belmont nearly upset second-seeded Duke in Washington, D.C., but a Gerald Henderson layup with 11.9 seconds left, together with a steal off the inbounds by DeMarcus Nelson in the final seconds, lifted the Blue Devils to victory. This would have been only the fifth time a 15 seed beat a 2 seed. The top seeded UCLA Bruins set several records in their win against 16th-seeded Mississippi Valley State at Anaheim, California, holding them to 29 points in a 70-29 victory. This was the lowest score in the first round in tournament history, and the lowest overall since 1946, before the shot clock rule was introduced. The Delta Devils' 19.7% shooting set another record for lowest shooting percentage in a game in tournament history.

Elsewhere in the West, third seed Xavier avoided an upset by 14th-seeded Georgia, coming back from nine down at the half to win 73-61. They were to play sixth-seeded Purdue next, who scored their 10th-straight first-round win by defeating the 11th seeded Baylor 90-79. Brigham Young, an eighth seed, lost to ninth-seeded Texas A&M 67-62. The Cougars suffered early, not scoring until about the 14-minute mark, but managed to bring the game to a tie at the half. Twenty-six points by Aggie forward Josh Carter, however, made the difference in Texas A&M's win. Lastly, West Virginia, seventh seed in the region, defeated 10th seed Arizona 75-65, scoring 11 three-point shots. With the win, the Mountaineers broke Arizona's streak of twenty straight 20-win seasons, previously the longest streak in the nation.

Seventh-seeded West Virginia began the second round of the tournament by defeating Duke, the second seed, 73-67. The Mountaineers trailed until about eight minutes into the second half, when they took a 43-40 lead. They outrebounded the Blue Devils 47-27, which, combined with several three-point shots, aided in the win. This loss marks Duke's second consecutive loss before the Sweet Sixteen round. West Virginia's Sweet Sixteen opposition in Phoenix, Arizona was #3 Xavier, who defeated Purdue, 85-78. Xavier trailed as late as the 5:30 mark of the second half, but a widespread showing of talent from the Musketeers proved too difficult to stop, as four Xavier players scored in double figures, with two more tied at eight points each. Later that day, the top-seeded UCLA Bruins defeated ninth-seeded Texas A&M, 51-49. The Bruins trailed by as much as ten early in the first half, but slowly chipped away at the lead as the half progressed. The winning basket was scored with 9.5 seconds left on a lay-up by Darren Collison. Texas A&M had one final chance to tie it, but Donald Sloan's drive to the basket was stopped by two UCLA players (pictures show that they both appear to be grabbing Sloan, in what could have been a foul called on UCLA). The ensuing dunk by UCLA's Russell Westbrook was later waived off by officials as occurring after time had expired, making the final score 51-49. The Bruins then played Western Kentucky, a #12 seed who beat #13 seed San Diego by a 73-62 score. San Diego trailed by as much as 15 in the second half, but an 18-2 run gave them a one point lead with 6-and-a-half minutes remaining. Western Kentucky, however, managed to pull ahead once again for the win, making this tournament only the third in history to feature at least two 12-or-lower seeds in the Sweet 16.

Xavier, the third seed in the West, defeated seventh seed West Virginia, 79-75 in overtime thanks to two B.J. Raymond three-pointers in the final 78 seconds. Raymond scored all eight of his points in the bonus round after being held scoreless in regulation, and poor free-throw shooting by the Mountaineers, missing four out of six free throws, sealed the victory. Josh Duncan led the Musketeers in scoring with a career high 26 points, followed by Joe Alexander's 18 points and 10 rebounds. Xavier led by as much as much as 18 during the game, but trailed six late in OT, counting on Raymond's threes to give them the victory. Number one seed UCLA would play the Musketeers in the final, after outlasting 12th seeded Western Kentucky, 88-78. WKU came to within four late in the game, taking advantage of several sloppy Bruin mistakes. Kevin Love led UCLA with 29 points and 14 rebounds, aided by James Keefe's 18 points and 12 rebounds and Russell Westbrooks' 14 and 11. Trailing 41-20 at the half, WKU came out of the locker room determined to win, as evidenced by Hilltopper star Tyrone Brazelton's 31 points, 25 of which came in the second half. A. J. Slaughter missed a crucial three-point shot that would have brought them to within one, and a UCLA run left them nine points behind only two minutes later.

UCLA was the first team to advance to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, the third straight year and the 18th time in school history they have done it, with a 76-57 victory over Xavier. Kevin Love led the Bruins with 19 points and ten rebounds, tied as high scorer with Darren Collison. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute contributed 13 points and 13 rebounds. Derrick Brown led the Musketeers with 13 points. Overall, Xavier was held to 36% shooting from the floor while UCLA shot 56.8%. Love was picked as the West Region's MOP.

For the first time since the current seeding system started in 1979, all four #1 seeds made it to the Final Four.

Memphis became the first team ever to win 38 games in one season by defeating UCLA 78-63. Chris Douglas-Roberts, who scored a game-high of 28 points, combined with Derrick Rose to score a total of 53 of Memphis' 78 points. UCLA star Kevin Love was held to 12 points, and the Bruins lost their third straight Final Four game. Memphis had lost to Ohio State in the Alamodome in the 2007 tournament, and had made it a goal to win in the arena in this year's playoff.

The second semifinal game could be divided up as if it were three different games. The Jayhawks took a 40-12 lead in the first 15 minutes. North Carolina narrowed the deficit to 17 at halftime and opened the second half on a 23-10 run to close to within 4 points with 11 minutes to play. After the teams traded baskets for a few minutes, Kansas pulled away, closing on a 20-7 run for a 84-66 victory over the tournament's #1 overall seed. Brandon Rush led the Jayhawks with 25 points. Kansas' defense held the AP Player of the Year, Tyler Hansbrough, to 17 points and 9 rebounds, slightly below his season averages. The Tar Heels were led by Wayne Ellington's 18 points.

The National Championship Game pitted Memphis against Kansas. Coming into the game, neither team's conference—the Big 12 or the C-USA—had won a national basketball title. Neither team's head coach (KU's Bill Self and Memphis' John Calipari) had garnered a national championship during their head coaching careers, either. Memphis guard Chris Douglas-Roberts had been the leading scorer in the tournament, averaging 23.6 points per game. Memphis became the first team currently from a conference other than the six majors to play in the championship game since 1998. Utah advanced to the championship game in 1998, and UNLV was the last team from a non-major conference to win the national title in 1990.

On the day of the game, the betting lines set by Las Vegas casinos Las Vegas Hilton, Station Casinos, and The Mirage made Memphis the favorite by a spread of 2 points.

After a back-and-forth first half, Kansas led 33-28 at halftime, the first second-half deficit that Memphis faced in the entire tournament. Memphis scored the first five points of the second half to tie the score at 33 with 18:57 left in regulation. The two teams traded the lead until Memphis used a 10-0 run to build a seven-point lead with 5:10 remaining and increased it to nine points with 2:12 remaining in regulation.

Kansas strategically fouled Memphis, which missed four of its final five free throws in regulation while Kansas furiously scored 12 points in the final two minutes of regulation. During that stretch, Kansas went 2 for 2 from 2 point range, 2 for 2 from 3 point range and 2 for 2 from the free throw line. 100% shooting in the final 2 minutes of regulation. Kansas guard Mario Chalmers hit a three-point basket with 2.1 seconds remaining to tie the game at 63, and the game went into overtime.

In overtime, Kansas scored the first six points en route to a 75-68 win. They continued the blistering stretch they started in regulation, going 4 of 6 from the field and 4 of 4 from the line in overtime. It was Kansas's fifth national championship overall and third championship since the NCAA began the modern tournament in 1939. It was also the first national championship for the program since the 1988 team.

This was the 7th overtime National Championship Game in NCAA Division I tournament history. It also represented the first national title for a school representing the Big 12 Conference.

Sixteen conferences — America East Conference, Atlantic Sun Conference, Big Sky Conference, Big South Conference, Big West Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Ivy League, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley Conference, Ohio Valley Conference, Patriot League, Southland, SWAC, Summit League and WAC — went 0-1.

For the 27th consecutive year, CBS Sports telecast the tournament, and for the 18th consecutive year, broadcast every game in the main bracket from the first round to the championship, as Jim Nantz and Billy Packer called the Final Four. ESPN carried the 64th-seed Opening Round game between Coppin State and Mount St. Mary's on March 18th, with Brent Musburger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews serving as the announcing team, as the network has done the Opening Round game since 2002.

Greg Gumbel once again served as the studio host, joined by analysts Clark Kellogg and Seth Davis. For the first time since the rights were acquired, the host team spent the entire tournament at the CBS Broadcast Center in New York City and did not travel to the Final Four site. CBS cited budget cutbacks ordered by the parent company, CBS Corporation. This would also be Packer's last Final Four; in July 2008, it was announced that Kellogg would replace Packer as Nantz's color man in 2009.

Sibling cable network CBS College Sports Network (formerly known as CSTV) picked up one CBS TV broadcast on each of the first two days of the tournament. It aired the Stanford-Cornell contest from Anaheim on March 20, and the St. Joseph's-Oklahoma game on March 21.

Unlike CBS Sports on the broadcast side, CBS College Sports Network did send a team to San Antonio, with Blackburn anchoring coverage and hosting the postgame highlights show, called the NCAA March Madness Highlights Show. Earlier, Greg Amsinger had hosted the postgame program from the network's studios at Chelsea Piers in lower Manhattan. Analysts included Steve Lappas, Greg Anthony, and Jay Williams.

Radio broadcasts were once again being handled again by CBS subsidiary Westwood One, hosted by Tommy Tighe.

Kugler called his first Final Four replacing Harlan, with Raftery and Thompson on color commentary and Jim Gray as sideline reporter.

DirecTV once again offered NCAA Mega March Madness as a pay-per-view package for one payment of US$69. This allowed access to all tournament games in the first three rounds of the main draw not shown on the local CBS station in the viewer's area. This package was exclusive to DirecTV and not available to Dish Network, fiber optic, or cable subscribers.

Online, CBSSports.com and NCAA.com teamed up for NCAA March Madness on Demand. Computer users with broadband connections were able to watch all tournament games from the first round to the championship game for free, thanks to advertiser support from Coca-Cola, AT&T Mobility, Pontiac, and various other companies. The ads were not the same as those shown on television, and there was a separate halftime show hosted by Jason Horowitz joined by analysts including St. John's head basketball coach Norm Roberts.

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2008 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place from March 13–March 16, 2008, at the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. The tournament was broadcast on the ESPN family of networks, along with Raycom Sports in the ACC footprint. Both broadcasters had the games available in HD.

Florida State and Miami won their first round games for the second year in a row. Miami became the first #5 seed to win an ACC tournament game since the conference expanded to 12 teams. The past two seasons, the #12 seed pulled off the upset.

By winning the ACC championship, North Carolina received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and passed Duke for most ACC Tournament Championships with seventeen. Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina was named tournament MVP.

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2008–09 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team

The 2008-09 North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team represents the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Head Coach is Roy Williams. The team plays its home games in the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Tar Heels were a trendy pick to win the National Championship this year, primarily because Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Ty Lawson decided to withdraw from the 2008 NBA Draft, and consensus national Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough never declared for that draft.In the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll the Tar Heels were ranked #1. It is the first unanimous preseason #1 ranking in the history of the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. UNC also received the first unanimous preseason #1 ranking in the history of the Associated Press Poll.

The Tar Heels rolled through the nonconference schedule, along the way winning the Maui Invitational for the third time. They sputtered out of the gate to start ACC play, dropping their first two conference games to Boston College and Wake Forest. However, they recovered to reel off 10 straight conference wins, including a 101-87 thrashing of rival Duke. Their only relatively close games during this stretch came against the ACC's two Florida teams--most notably against Florida State, in which they escaped with a Ty Lawson buzzer-beater.

They lost to Maryland in overtime, but recovered to win their last three games. A win over Virginia Tech gave the Tar Heels at least a share of their 27th regular season title, and fourth in a row. They won the title outright with a season-ending win over Duke.

The ACC Tournament didn't go nearly as well, largely because Ty Lawson was sidelined with an injured big toe. They needed a last-minute score to defeat Virginia Tech, then fell to Florida State in the second round. Still, the Tar Heels were rewarded with the top seed in the NCAA South Region. It was the 13th time the Tar Heels had been selected as a #1 seed--the most since the NCAA began seeding the tournament field in 1979. It is also UNC's 41st NCAA appearance--tied with UCLA for the second-most in history.

The Tar Heels played their first- and second-round games at the Greensboro Coliseum, just an hour west of Chapel Hill. They easily dispatched Radford and LSU to advance to the regionals at the FedExForum in Memphis.

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Dickie Hemric

Ned Dixon ("Dickie") Hemric (born August 29, 1933 in Jonesville, North Carolina) is a former basketball player for Wake Forest University (1952–1955) and the NBA's Boston Celtics (1955–1957).

Hemric played the first two college years at Wake Forest when the school was a member of the Southern Conference. The ACC Male Athlete of the Year was created at the start of the 1954 season, and he played his last two seasons in the ACC, setting conference records for scoring and rebounding that were untouched for the first 50 years of the conference's existence. He was honored as the second recipient of the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1955. In 2002 Hemric was selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary men's basketball team, honoring the fifty greatest players in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

On February 25, 2006, Hemric's scoring record of 2,587 points was broken by Duke University's J. J. Redick. Hemric's record of 1,802 career rebounds has never faced a serious challenge — his contemporary Ronnie Shavlik was second on the list with 1,592 rebounds from 1954–1956, and the closest person to challenge the record since then was current NBA power forward Tim Duncan, who pulled down 1,570 rebounds in his career at Wake Forest from 1994–1997. Hemric is now third all-time in ACC scoring, behind Redick and Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina.

Hemric held for 55 years the NCAA record for free throws made in a career with 905, until being passed by the University of North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough on Feb. 28, 2009.

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