Hansbrough vs. Jordan?

It was almost sacrilegious, but probably inevitable.

With Tyler Hansbrough clinching consensus national player of the year honors Friday, he will be compared with the greatest players of all time in the ACC and at North Carolina.

During a pre-Final Four news conference, a reporter asked Williams to compare Hansbrough to Michael Jordan. Williams didn’t denounce the reporter as a blasphemer.

“Michael wanted to win every drill,” Williams said. “He wanted to beat you. Then he was going to tell you about it in the locker room. Tyler just wants to beat you.”

According to Williams, Jordan didn’t prepare as hard as Hansbrough early in his career. At times in the weight room, Jordan would try to sneak out without doing his work. Hansbrough does what he’s asked and then lifts some more.

It wasn’t until Jordan was in the NBA doing the “Breakfast Club” with Ron Harper and Scottie Pippen on game days, Williams said, that he became a workout junkie.

All this is true, of course. But so is something else. Jordan and Hansbrough are playing college basketball in different eras. In Hansbrough’s era, there aren’t nearly as many accomplished veterans because the best players leave for the NBA after their freshman season. So Hansbrough is playing against weaker competition.

That being said, each has been a treat in his own era. Jordan is appreciated for his unparalleled athletic ability, and Hansbrough for his unrivaled work ethic and desire.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a coach who’d rather have Hansbrough than Jordan in any era. But Hansbrough can take the fact that the question even is being asked as a compliment. – Ken Tysiac