Gary Parrish

Obviously, I disagree with Gregg Doyel's column .

I love Gregg.

I wish I was as muscular as him.

But I disagree with the idea that Tyler Hansbrough has to be a first-team All-American. That's why I made him a second-team All-American. And if you understand my criteria -- which Gregg does, and I appreciated him acknowledging it -- then you know that this decision came down to me selecting DeJuan Blair or Tyler Hansbrough, because I'll put no more than two bigs on any All-America team, and I wasn't leaving off Blake Griffin.

So really, that's the debate: Hansbrough or Blair.

Gregg thinks it should be Hansbrough.

That's a reasonable opinion.

But to me, Hansbrough has not had a better season this season than Blair has had this season.

Period.

Sure, Hansbrough is averaging more points per game (21.1 to 15.6). But Blair is averaging more rebounds (12.4 to 8.1), and he's doing it while playing 3.3 fewer minutes per game than Hansbrough (30.0 to 26.7). Also worth noting is that Blair simply doesn't get the opportunities Hansbrough gets on the offensive end, which is why his points aren't comparable despite the fact that Blair actually has a higher field goal percentage (59.6 to 52.5).

Understand, Hansbrough takes 12.96 shots per game and shoots 8.42 free throws to get his 21.1 points. Blair takes 10.90 shots per game and shoots 4.23 free throws to get his 15.6 points, which means Blair takes roughly two fewer shots and four fewer free throws than Hansbrough per game, and if you consider Blair's percentages from both the field (59.6) and free throw line (69.2) it's clear he'd average more points than Hansbrough if he had the same opportunities.

(Please, just stay with me; this is going to be good.)

If Blair took the same number of shots (12.96) and free throws (8.42) per game as Hansbrough, and if Blair made those attempts at the same rate he currently makes his attempts, then Blair would make 7.72 field goals and 5.83 free throws per game. Multiply the 7.72 field goals by two (for two-point baskets) and the 5.83 free throws by one (for one-point baskets), and what you'll find is that if Blair took as many shots and free throws as Hansbrough he'd average 21.27 points per game, which is slightly better than the 21.12 points Hansbrough is averaging.

(Jesus, my head is hurting.)

So that's that.

I think Blair has been just as dominant as Hansbrough, but he's done it more efficiently and for a team that has accomplished just as much. Basically, that's why I went with Blair, but I did feel sick about it, because I love Hansbrough and think all the anti-Hansbrough talk is insane. If you hate Tyler Hansbrough, something is wrong with you, not him. But for these purposes, I had to look for the two bigs who are having the best seasons in this particular season, and in my opinion -- with apologies to Gregg Doyel -- that's Blake Griffin and DeJuan Blair.

As for some other controversial decisions, I'll address them quickly.

Right now.

Where's Jodie Meeks?

If you look at my All-America teams you'll see that every guy I have listed is projected by Jerry Palm to play in the NCAA tournament, except for Davidson's Stephen Curry. That should show you how much emphasis I put on winning, and how much I disregard players posting big numbers for bad teams. I mean, lots of guys post big numbers on bad teams (UCF's Jermaine Taylor comes to mind). So while I do think Meeks is great and one of the most fun guys to watch in college, the reality is that he's posting big numbers for a bad team, one that is especially bad by Kentucky standards.

For that same reason, I left off Notre Dame's Luke Harangody, too.

Simply put, I like impact players on successful teams.

Let the world be warned.

So how do you justify Stephen Curry?

I don't think Curry was on a bad team. I think he was on a conference champion that got caught in the semifinals of the Southern Conference tournament, and now he'll pay the price for that. Is Davidson as good as a good Big East or ACC team? Of course not. But relative to Southern Conference teams, the Wildcats are very good, which means Curry was succesful by any reasonable measuring stick, just not when you have to be in a one-bid league, unfortunately.

And why can't you have three bigs on the same team again?

Think of an All-Pro football team.

They don't just take eight quarterbacks when they do those.

They take a quarterback, a few receivers, a kicker, a couple of safeties, so on and so forth. I like that because it better resembles an actual team , and that's my thought process on not having three traditional bigs (like Griffin, Blair and Hansbrough) on the same team, because there's no way those three would ever actually get on the court together at the same time, I don't think.

If you want to know the truth, I believe there are eight players worthy of first-team All-America status.

They are ...

• Ty Lawson
• Stephen Curry
• James Harden
• Blake Griffin
• DeJuan Blair
• Tyler Hansbrough
• Hasheem Thabeet
• Sherron Collins

That's my top eight, regardless of position. So what I did was take a point guard (Lawson), a shooting guard (Curry), a wing (Harden) and two bigs (Griffin and Blair) from that list, and I called it a day. It really was that simple. And I hope that makes some sense, though I'm sure it won't to some.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The Senior Day festivities here at the Dean Smith Center just concluded.

Predictably, Tyler Hansbrough received the loudest ovation.

As for Ty Lawson, he jogged onto the floor about 15 minutes before tip-off to a huge round of applause.

If he doesn't play, I'll be shocked.

He's in the layup line right now.

Blake Griffin is running away with the National Player of the Year award.

That's what the results of a straw poll conducted by Michael Rothstein show. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette writer reached out to 55 media members from across the country (myself included), and 51 of them placed Griffin at the top of their ballot (myself included).

The top three in order were ...

1. Blake Griffin (Oklahoma)

2. Stephen Curry (Davidson)

3. Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)

Click this link to see the full results.

It was an ugly and goofy shot that Tyler Hansbrough used to become North Carolina's all-time leading scorer.

In other words, it was perfect.

Anything besides ugly and goofy would've been inappropriate given the subject at hand. So count me among those who smiled when Hansbrough's patented muscle-through-a-double-team-and-th
row-an-awkward-shot-at-the-rim move banked in, because a large portion of his 2,302 career points have come in a similar way, which is just one of the reasons so many fans are turned off by his game.

You see, Hansbrough doesn't shoot like Stephen Curry.

Or dribble like James Harden.

Or jump like Blake Griffin.

And that's too bad.

But the North Carolina senior is one of the best in the history of college basketball at simply putting the ball through the rim by any means necessary. Low on style points, high on actual points. And in a bottom-line business, shouldn't that be all that matters?

Answer: Yes, I think so.

So congratulations to Tyler Hansbrough.

His UNC scoring record is now 2,302 ... and counting.

If you don't think Luke Harangody is looking forward to tonight's match-up with Tyler Hansbrough, well, you must not have read my column from a couple of months ago, the one where Harangody openly discussed being overshadowed by Hansbrough despite having similar numbers.

"People say maybe I don't get as much respect as he does, that he's the player everyone is talking about," Harangody told me when I visited Notre Dame in September. "But that's just another thing that motivates me to do more."

Honestly, I can't wait for tonight.

Again, tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET.

It's as close to must-see TV as you can get for November basketball.

All is right in the college basketball world.

Tyler Hansbrough is playing again.

The consensus preseason Player of the Year made his debut Friday night at UC Santa Barbara of all places. He posted numbers (13 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes) but finished just 2-of-8 from the field, which was very un-Hansbrough-like considering the senior shot 54.3 percent from the field through three years of college.

Either way, the Tar Heels rolled.

Final score: UNC 84, UC Santa Barbara 67.

And the best news is that now we can stop wondering whether Hansbrough will be available for the Maui Invitational because barring some setback he'll be on the court when the Tar Heels open the event with Chaminade on Monday. Tuesday will be a game with either Alabama or Oregon. And if there's a basketball god in the Pacific Ocean the tournament will culminate Wednesday with a North Carolina-Notre Dame showdown that'll pit Hansbrough against fellow first team All-American Luke Harangody, which really would be a joy and the best possible way to spend Thanksgiving Eve.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The news of the day: Psycho T is back in action.

And now he just has to get that shooting percentage up to snuff.

No Tyler?

No problem.

You know, because there was another Tyler ready to step in.

That's the storyline from North Carolina's opener, that even though the top-ranked Tar Heels weren't exceptional or overwhelming they still cruised to an 86-71 victory over Penn sans Tyler Hansbrough and his stress reaction. In his place was Tyler Zeller, a McDonald's All-American who got a team-high 18 points while proving that stockpiling talent regardless of your needs is the absolute best way for a coach to run a program, which is why Roy Williams has been running one of the nation's best programs (first at Kansas, now at North Carolina) for the past two decades.

Did North Carolina need frontcourt help?

No, not really.

But Williams still went out and signed a pair of McDonald's All-American frontcourt players in Zeller and Ed Davis, meaning UNC now has two of the best first-year forwards (Zeller and Davis) and two of the best veteran forwards (Hansbrough and Deon Thompson) in the entire nation. And that's why the Tar Heels would almost certainly remain a national title contender even if Hansbrough never played again, because the talent from top to bottom is unmatched, proof being how the second-best Tyler on the team got 18 in his opener.

The AP All-American team looks exactly like the CBSSports.com All-American team.

But that doesn't mean there shouldn't be some debate.

The reality is that when I put together my team the only must-have-players were Tyler Hansbrough, Stephen Curry and Luke Harangody. I can't understand why any ballot wouldn't include those three names, but I can't understand a lot of what happens on AP ballots. So whatever. As for Blake Griffin and Darren Collison, yes, I also featured both. But I considered teams without those names and actually almost went one of the following:

G: Darren Collison (UCLA)
G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: James Harden (Arizona State)
F: Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F: Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)

Or ...

G: Stephen Curry (Davidson)
G: James Harden (Arizona State)
F: Tyler Smith (Tennessee)
F: Luke Harangody (Notre Dame)
F: Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina)

To be clear, I love Griffin and Collison. But Collison's dreadful Final Four appearance is something I nearly couldn't get out of my head, and though Griffin was dominant as a freshman his numbers weren't quite as good as Hansbrough's or Harangody's. So that's why I considered dropping one or both for Harden and/or Smith. But in the end, I think I got it right. And I think the AP voters got it right, too.

So good for me.

And good for them.

And we'll just have to argue some other day.

This national title run isn't off to a great start, is it?

Looks like it might be a national title limp.

That's the only opinion to have in light of Thursday's news that North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough is out with a stress reaction in his right shin. According to a school official, there is no timetable for a return. Roy Williams is expected to address the situation Friday.

Meantime, this must be a nightmare for UNC fans.

The Tar Heels lost Marcus Ginyard until December thanks to a preseason injury, and now Hansbrough is out until who knows when? Could be middle of next month. Or December. Or January. The unknown is a concern. And though I'm no expert on stress reactions, my experience in writing about them has taught me that they seem to linger longer than anybody ever anticipates and in many cases don't go away without a lengthy break.

In other words, if this was June it would be no big deal.

But it's (almost) Halloween.

UNC opens with Penn in 19 days

So there's not a whole lot of time to rest without missing games, and I think everybody (except Duke fans) can agree it would be awful if Hansbrough's senior season was delayed or marred by injury. Regardless of your feelings about the CBSSports.com All-American, Hansbrough represents what most of you say you want from college basketball players. You say you want them to stay out of trouble, work hard and love the college game so much that they are compelled to reject millions of dollars in guaranteed NBA money to remain in school for as long as possible. Well, Hansbrough has done each of those things, which is why all reasonable humans (except Duke fans) should hope for a speedy recovery, because it just doesn't seem fair when people pay a price for supposedly doing the right thing.

Here's Monday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Do you honestly think North Carolina can go undefeated? Do you not remember Tyler Hansbrough's embarrassment in the Final Four? He got virtually shut down by a freshman. There is no way. How about (ask yourself) if Kansas can repeat with the up-and-coming superstar in Cole Aldrich and a great guard in Sherron Collins? East coast bias at its best.

-- Matt

I'll address your questions one at a time, you angry idiot.

Question No. 1: Do you honestly think North Carolina can go undefeated?

Answer: I think it's possible, yes, and I explained why in the column on the Top 25 (and one).

Question No. 2: Do you not remember Tyler Hansbrough's embarrassment in the Final Four?

Answer: Yes, I remember it. I was sitting courtside. But keep in mind, Hansbrough still finished with 17 points and nine rebounds in that game, meaning his "embarrassment" was career numbers for most people. All BS aside, here's the truth: Hansbrough will go down in modern history as one of the most consistently dominant players in college basketball. To discount that guy is just silly.

Question No. 3: How about (ask yourself) if Kansas can repeat with the up-and-coming superstar in Cole Aldrich and a great guard in Sherron Collins?

Answer: The odds of Kansas repeating are somewhere between slim and no-chance-in-hell because, you know, Bill Self pretty much lost his whole team. Ask Billy Donovan how easy it is to win when you lose your whole team. Or ask Thad Matta. Both those guys lost the cores of the teams that played in the 2007 national title game and ended up in the 2008 NIT. So though I'm not exactly predicting a similar fate for Kansas, I think it's fair to suggest an NIT title is much more likely than an NCAA title.

(PS: By the way, Matt, I live in the south and have always lived in the south, which is why I do not have an east coast bias or west coast bias. If anything, I have a Mississippi Delta bias, but that affects my taste in music more than basketball. So that's probably something you should remember going forward.)

Here's Monday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: I think Duke has gotten a little bit better for the 2008-2009 season. ... They added a few new freshmen in Miles Plumlee, Elliot Williams and Olek Czyz. I think, MAYBE, some of them could make a huge difference, especially since DeMarcus Nelson is gone. So how do you think the Duke Blue Devils will fare this year? Do they overcome North Carolina for (the title of) best ACC team?

-- Korey

Let's get one thing straight: North Carolina is on a separate level than everybody else. I can't stress this enough because I can't remember a year when there was this big of a gap between No. 1 and No. 2. Granted, I don't go back decades because I'm only three decades old. But the point is the same, that anybody predicting anything other than a North Carolina ACC regular-season title, ACC tournament title and NCAA tournament title is just trying to be cute. Remember, UNC was the favorite heading into last season's NCAA tournament, meaning after four months of basketball the Tar Heels were considered to be better than both Kansas and Memphis. Obviously, they fell flat in the Final Four. But it's still worth noting that the top six players from a team that went 36-3 are all back.

So to answer your question, no, I do not think Duke will overcome North Carolina for the title of best ACC team.

Not unless Tyler Hansbrough breaks himself jumping off a roof.

But that said, I do like Duke.

The loss of Nelson will hurt, obviously. But, like you pointed out, the Blue Devils add a McDonald's All-American in Elliot Williams and every other starter returns from a 28-win team. That's strong enough to put them in the top 10 of any sensible preseason poll, just not strong enough to get them past North Carolina.

Maybe next year.

Here's Wednesday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Why didn't you ask Tyler Hansbrough's little brother -- who is Luke Harangody's teammate -- who he thinks is better?

-- Greg

No question, I should've talked with Ben Hansbrough for the sake of the column because regardless of what he said it would've added an interesting element. So that was a mistake. But just so we're clear, I never set out to determine whether Harangody was better than Hansbrough, or vice versa. That wasn't really the point of the column as much as it was to show how there isn't much difference in the production of the two standouts, certainly not as big of a difference as there is in their reputations.

Hansbrough averaged 22.6 points and 10.2 rebounds in 33 minutes per game last season while Harangody averaged 20.4 points and 10.6 rebounds in 29 minutes per game. That's remarkably close. And yet Harangody isn't nearly as notable on the national level -- which is what I found interesting, that he's just as dominant and efficient as Hansbrough but nowhere close to the North Carolina star in stature.

Will that change this season?

Perhaps.

Especially if Notre Dame meets expectations.

But don't get it twisted when it comes to Hansbrough. I wasn't trying to bring him down as much as I was trying to raise Harangody up, because -- as I've written many times -- Hansbrough is on track to have one of the greatest careers in the history of college basketball and thus deserving of his fame. Like him or not, the guy is really good. I just think Harangody is really good, too.

Here's Tuesday's Dear Gary ...

Dear Gary: Tyler Hansbrough is overrated! Go Duke!

-- Hayden

I knew that column about how Stephen Curry could be the New Face of College Basketball would be perceived as a shot at Hansbrough, which is why I went out of my way to write nice things about the North Carolina senior -- like that he's the "easy pick for Preseason National Player of the Year, destined to go down as one of the best in ACC history and if I had to start a college team tomorrow I'd take him with my first pick. Make no mistake, I like Psycho T (and let the record show I think he'll be a better pro than most expect)."

Despite all that, UNC fans thought I was bad-mouthing Hansbrough.

And anti-UNC fans -- mostly Duke fans, shockingly -- applauded me for ripping Hansbrough.

But both groups of fans are missing the point.

I was not bad-mouthing or ripping Hansbrough while writing about Curry, and let me take this moment to explain how Hansbrough is not overrated at all. Most people think he's the most dominant basketball player in America and that's exactly what he is, the most dominant basketball player in America. So Hansbrough isn't overrated. He's accurately rated. Likewise most people think the Beatles are the best band of all-time and that's exactly what they are, the best band of all-time. Thus, the Beatles are accurately rated, too. So Tyler Hansbrough and the Beatles are accurately rated, and I hope we never have to go over this again.

That said, I don't necessarily believe Hansbrough is the type of player casual fans love to watch on TV.

I kinda agree with the coach from the column on that point.

His game doesn't feature blocked shots into the second row, beautiful drives to the basket or gorgeous stepback jumpers. Hansbrough does his work in other, less-pretty ways. Which is why I think Curry is the guy most fans would rather watch play a game even though Hansbrough should be the Preseason National Player of the Year (he's the best player on the best team, after all). And I think that's a reasonable point that shouldn't be taken as a shot at Hansbrough.

I am the Walrus.

Goo goo g'joob.