No record fatigue for Hansbrough

Now that Tyler Hansbrough is this late in his senior season, having been around for almost four years scoring and rebounding at the pace he's been scoring and rebounding, just about everything he does sets some kind of a record.

(For example: Saturday's 28 points gave him his 73rd career game with at least 20 points, extending his own ACC record.)

In Saturday's 104-74 win over Georgia Tech, Hansbrough converted the 906th free throw of his career early in the second half, passing Wake Forest's Dickie Hemric for the NCAA record.

At the next stoppage, the milestone was announced to the crowd, and Hansbrough stood to acknowledge the reception, surrounded by his applauding teammates. It's not the first time he's had to wave to the fans, and it won't be the last, but Hansbrough said it never gets old.

"Not really. It's not like I'm going out there trying to break everybody's records," Hansbrough said. "First of all, this is an NCAA record so it's kind of special to me. It's not just the conference or something like that. It's everybody who's played. Also, these records are kind of on the back burner right now. I'm trying to focus on winning ball games and making a run in March."

You could make the argument that anyone who has so many ACC records that "it's not just the conference" is suffering from some degree of record fatigue, but Hansbrough has been genuinely excited about those (or passing Phil Ford for the Carolina scoring record, for example) at the time.

And there's more to come. He's 38 rebounds short of Sam Perkins' Carolina record, 91 points short of J.J. Redick's ACC record and five double-figure games behind Redick.

At one point, Hansbrough was on target to break Redick's record next weekend on Senior Night against Duke, but at his current pace, Carolina is going to need to play at least three postseason games for Hansbrough to break the record, which is certainly likely. (Even if the Heels were upset in their first ACC Tournament game, what are the odds the same thing would happen in the first round of the NCAA Tournament?)

Hansbrough can expect a few more accolades before he's done, even if teammate Ty Lawson appears to be the front-runner for ACC player-of-the-year honors. There's nothing wrong with savoring each one as it comes along. -- Luke DeCock, News & Observer

This article ran originally in Luke DeCock's Talking Points blog on NewsObserver.com.