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SAN ANTONIO -- There is a brilliant and striking photograph in the Sunday edition of the San Antonio Express-News that might best illustrate why North Carolina is making vacation plans and Kansas is still playing in the Final Four.
In the photo there is a loose ball on the floor and four players are diving for it. On the left is North Carolina's Ty Lawson, next to him Kansas' Darrell Arthur, who is next to teammate Darnell Jackson and then next to him is Tyler Hansbrough.
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| Judging Tyler Hansbrough after the loss, maybe he will come back after all. (AP) |
The picture stands as almost a symbol for why the Tar Heels lost: the two Kansas players, with pained looks on their faces, hustling, diving, beat the Carolina players to the spot and the ball. Jackson, the Jayhawk, is the only player with two hands on it.
It's a remarkable snapshot, symbolic and telling.
North Carolina wasn't just beaten badly.
They were out-hustled. They were out-muscled. They were out-smarted. The Jayhawks were faster. They were more intense.
The Jayhawks were everything North Carolina was supposed to be.
"Early in the game they were much more aggressive than we were," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams. "We sort of came out a little more casual than we'd like to. They hit us right between the eyes. We probably rushed things a little bit. They just kept hammering. But they were really something early in the game. And then we didn't play the way we wanted to early, to say the least. I guess it's a little like that story tale about the little engine that spent so much trying to get up the hill, it didn't have anything left when it got to the top."
Not sure what that little engine story means but to continue his analogy one engine kicked the other engine's little engine ass.
Now that Carolina is gone, however, what's next for this team?
The biggest question of all: will Hansbrough come back for another year?
Before the Final Four, I would have thought the chances of Hansbrough staying after this season were the same as the great Bill Self getting a decent haircut.
Then I watched Hansbrough in the news conference following the loss. Hansbrough looked as despondent as any player I've seen in some time following a loss. It's true that as time goes on and as NBA types and agents whisper in his ear, the loss will become a much more distant memory, and thoughts of an overflowing money market account will be far more pronounced.
Yet he looked so sad -- and sometimes angry -- he might pull a Florida Gator and make a return.
"You know, I have no idea," said Williams when asked if he thought if Hansbrough would be back. "Tyler and I talked before the season, said we would discuss it after the season's over with. We'll probably sit down Tuesday or Wednesday and try to start making some decisions. Maybe not some decisions, but come up with a plan to give me some time to look into it with the NBA people."
My guess: Hansbrough, as well as some of his NBA-caliber teammates, are likely gone. In a capitalist society, it's just too difficult to leave millions of dollars on the table.
And as John Calipari said when speaking of underclassmen going to the pros, the longer they stay in college, the more NBA scouts and the media pick their game apart. There is also the obvious injury risk.
How would Hansbrough and Ty Lawson do in the draft? This is how the top five portion of my first round NBA mock goes: Michael Beasley, Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Brook Lopez and Jerryd Bayless. Notice no Hansbrough or Lawson.
Neither will go in the first 10 to 15 picks. More likely they'll be selected anywhere from 17 to 24 with Lawson going before Hansbrough. If picked in that area the salaries would be anywhere from $1.5-$1.1 million. Maybe slightly less.
This is always the tough position for players like Lawson and Hansbrough. If you're Beasley or Rose whether or not you go pro is an easy decision. You'd be a fool not to.
It's not the same type of decision for Hansbrough. A comeback could improve his stock but professional scouts are notoriously fickle. They may love Hansbrough now then change their minds in a month.
The Florida Gators are one of those rare situations when players returned and their draft stock was later not drastically injured.
For the immediate future, however, the Tar Heels aren't thinking too much about the future. They're wondering about the past.
They're wondering how Kansas beat them at their own hustle game.