Earlier this summer, North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough often caught snippets about where Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green were working out, how they were faring at the NBA pre-draft camp, and whether they were projected as first-round picks.
But he never regretted his decision not to join his underclassmen teammates in "testing the NBA waters."
Especially because the trio opted to return, and the Tar Heels are again considered national title contenders.
"I don't think you can ask to be in a better situation,"
Hansbrough, a rising senior, said Monday during his first official gathering with reporters since April. "We have experience -- all these guys have been to the Final Four. We know what it takes to win a regular-season ACC [title], and win the ACC Tournament. And I think all we need to do is cap it off with a national championship."
"Everyone knows we're a good team, and obviously, we don't want to jump ahead and say that's our one goal -- but I think it is."
And why not? With the entire starting lineup back, reserve guard Bobby Frasor's surgically repaired knee healed, four new freshmen in the mix, and Hansbrough determined to be an even better player than the one who swept National Player of the Year honors, there's little doubt that the Tar Heels will be the top target in the nation.
Hansbrough said he always expected that Lawson, Ellington and Green would return: "I thought they all liked college a lot, I didn't really think any of them were going to leave."
But Ellington, the starting shooting guard, and Green, UNC's sixth man, said they didn't make up their minds until the last minute, when they knew for sure they wouldn't be first-round draft picks. Lawson, the Tar Heels' starting point guard, was not available for comment because he was out of town and not enrolled in summer school.
"In my mind-set, in my coach's mind-set, in my family's mind-set, if I wasn't a first-rounder this year, then there was no point in going,"
said Green, adding that playing professionally in Europe next season was never an option.
Said Ellington, a rising junior: "I feel like I can get a lot better, and my stock can get a lot better. So I felt like, as a player, the best decision was for me to come back to North Carolina and work with my teammates on our goals that we would like to accomplish."
Namely, winning a national title.
To that end, Hansbrough -- who needs only 123 points to break the school scoring record, and 602 points to set the ACC scoring record -- has spent much of his season in the gym, trying to improve his ballhandling and guarding the post, and also trying to become faster and stronger.
All reasons he's glad he opted to stay in Chapel Hill, rather than "test the waters"
like his teammates.
"I'm happy that they [Lawson, Ellington and Green] got to learn about it and see all the different teams and see what it's about,"
Hansbrough said. "But for me, I was glad I got to stay here. Because again, I get to train with the guys who watch me all year and know my weaknesses versus people who have maybe only seen me four or five times."
