It is being considered though Roy says he is leaning towards “no.”
“The honest answer is I don’t know, and I know you would like to have something and you’d like to know as much as I would.” But Williams gave Carolina fans a glimmer of hope when he noted that a decision on Hansbrough’s playing status for tonight’s nonconference game against the Gauchos (10 p.m. ESPNU) would be made during after the team’s shootaround earlier in the day. “I’m leaning toward no, but it depends,” he said.
Hansbrough practiced with the team Thursday and Wednesday and “went through a pretty extensivie workout of running, jumping and doing some things” on the day of the Kentucky game, said Williams.
“He’s been very good conditioning-wise. He’s been doing most of it in the pool.
“Wednesday, he went through practice with no problems and today he through practice. I don’t know if he had any problems. We’ll ice (the leg) down and go through the shootaround tomorrow and do some review and see if he has any problems and make a decision on whether to let him play, or hold him off and try to get two days of a little bit more work.”
The question of whether the injury to Tyler Zeller has any impact on when Tyler Hansbrough returns. Gut instinct says not since Hansbrough was already going through drills before the UK game and it appears since then he has been through two full practices. Roy seems to be wrestling with whether to give it a few more days to be sure the injury does not reappear. UNC has been very cautious about this and rightfully so. The “I don’t know” from Roy is based on the fact they are basically checking to see if there has been in negative reaction to the ramped up activity. Given the nature of the injury you really want to be sure it has truly healed and there are no indications it may happen again once he starts putting strain on it. Since that is the case, the water is a bit muddy here because no one knows what really caused it in the first place other than the fact Tyler Hansbrough might be insane when it comes to working out.
His presence is not needed to dispatch UCSB but at the same time the sooner he can return the better. The flipside to that is if you can rest it one more game why wouldn’t you? Another example of why I do not envy major college coaches in the slightest.
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4 games in 6 days is not the best way to test someone coming back from a stress reaction, IMO. You have to wonder if sitting him tonight AND Monday would be the best thing in this case…
Maybe Roy should just give him some limited minutes during both upcoming games, just to knock off the rust. Otherwise, we shouldn’t really need him to take care of UCSB or Chaminade, so rest him as much as you can.
I should add that since I am neither privy to all of the information that UNC has, nor am I a M.D., I wouldn’t second guess the decision, either way. I have to assume that they will play this more cautiously, than not.
I’d say he sits tonight and is saved for Maui. Being that there’s a potential match up with Harangody in the championship, Roy’s not going to want Hansbrough at or near 100% for that game. But, that’s just my best guess.
I honestly do think this team has a chance at an undefeated record. They only lost three games last year and even with the Zeller injury, only appear to be even more loaded with the addition of Frasor, Drew and Davis.
For those of you who think it is impossible, Memphis should have gone undefeated last year. They lost twice, once in the game that they threw against Kansas and the other time against Tennessee, which they could have easily won.
UNLV also, almost went undefeated back in 1991, losing a game they should have won against Duke.
Carolina, in 1982, lost only one game when they had their starting five together. Versus Wake, Carolina lost at Carmichael, when Perkins missed the game due to illness. Granted, UVa blew us out in Charlottesville, but the intact 1982 Heels only lost one game the entire season.
Duke in 1999 and Kansas in 1997, came reasonably close, each only losing two and most analysts believe that Duke should have been able to win them all that year.
And let’s not forget Illinois in 2005, which only lost two games, both in the last minute….
My point is that going undefeated is definitely possible, although not probable. If Hansbrough can make the difference against say, Texas, it might be worth some marginal risk….
william,
I agree with you that this team has as good of a shot to go undefeated as I’ve seen in a while. It is still a remote possibility, but certainly not one you can completely dismiss. The other point you bring up that is spot on, is why risk a setback against UCSB and Chaminade, who UNC should be able to beat w/o Hansbrough, when his presence will be far more valuable against later opponents. You have to figure that if it is “possible” for him to play tonight, than 3 extra days of rest will only serve as that much extra insurance…
Agreed.
I think we are talking being really sure. Let’s say that they cleared him two days ago to resume normal activity. If they go five days beyond that to next Tuesday that have done everything possible to make sure it is healed. Overcompensation with respect to this issue is not a bad thing.
My only problem is that I’m not sure I’d want his first game action of the season to be against a top ten team. If we could get him a few minutes in one (or both) of our next two games, it might serve to get him back comfortable being awesome. Then he shows Texas/ND what psycho really means.
That would be my one concern too. The fortunate thing here, is that it is still early in the season for everyone, so there may not be that big of a gap in conditioning…
Therein lies the argument to play him 10-15 mins tonight and increase the minutes so when he hits ND/Texas he has three games under his belt.
I wonder if they have thought about playing him tonight, but the holding him out of the Chaminade game?
If Tyler is ready I’d still use caution, maybe give him 10 minutes against Santa Barbara and 10 against Chaminade just to work on “chemistry”…….
HP and C Michael – Excellent point. I think he plays limited minutes tonight, then they see how it reacts. If all is fine, same thing against Chaminade. Likely 10-15 minutes each game. Then ramp him up for those final two games, again if all is fine.
I don’t think the whole undefeated thing comes into play AT ALL. Roy isn’t thinking about that… he’s first going to watch out for Tyler and his best interests in the long run, both here at Carolina and moving forward. A good coach like Roy would never sacrifice a player’s health for another win or two. Second, and I think Roy’s been crystal clear here, is they know they need a healthy Tyler in February and March, not for some meaningless games in November just to be in position to go undefeated. If there’s even a hint of pain in that shin in the next few days, I think they shut him down for a lengthy amount of time, perhaps even into January.
We should definitely bring Hansbrough back slowly. For flow of the game and injury reasons. If we need an extra forward, Green can easily slide into the 4 like he did last year.
I agree with THIM about the undefeated season. It’s nice if it happens but lets remember that winning in March is the main goal. Plus, I think it’s way too early to be talking about going undefeated 2 games into the season.
I agree with both of you, and I hope I didn’t come across as someone who is expecting an undefeated season. I just happen to think it might not be that far-fetched of an idea. More than anything, I’m just looking forward to the ride!