Hansbrough fatigue isn't excuse for slighting Psycho T

Parrish: National Awards | Rebuttal

We're sick of Tyler Hansbrough. That's just the way it is. Sorry, Tyler. We're sick of you.

And we'll make it official this week when the 2008-09 All-America teams begin trickling in and Hansbrough is left off the first unit.

How can one defend leaving Tyler Hansbrough off an All-America team? (Getty Images)

The trickle starts today and it will start here, in fact, with Gary Parrish unveiling the CBSSports.com All-Americans. Parrish picked five players on the first team. I've studied his first team top to bottom, then bottom to top, and there's not a single mention of Tyler Hansbrough. I even read the names backward, hoping Parrish snuck Hansbrough onto the team subliminally. Nothing. No spot on the first team for Hansbrough.

It won't just be Parrish, either. I'm hearing Hansbrough will be on the outside looking in on various All-America teams this year, which means college basketball got a whole lot better, or Tyler Hansbrough got worse. Or we're sick of him, which is the only conclusion in this nonsensical situation that makes any sense to me. For four years Hansbrough has been shoved down our throat by television. Dick Vitale loves him. All announcers love him. If Hansbrough wore a helmet and pads, he'd be Tim Tebow.

Who was robbed of the 2008 Heisman, by the way. Because we're sick of him, too.

As a society, we suck. You know that? We suck. Our collective attention deficit disorder means we simply cannot focus on a great college player for four years. The shelf life of superstars is ticking from the moment they hit college, because we already knew all about them in high school. As freshmen they're still fresh. As sophomores, sort of. But after that, jeez -- turn pro already, willya?

All Hansbrough does is put up massive numbers and win lots of games. That's all. And for three years, that was enough. He was a third-team All-American as a freshmen, and as a sophomore and junior was a consensus first-team All-American -- not just lucky enough to make it onto some fringe group's first team, but a consensus pick. Which means he was an All-American by, um, consensus. Ahem.

Last year Hansbrough was a unanimous pick for the Associated Press All-America team. Seventy-two people voted. Seventy-two put Hansbrough on the first team.

One year later, Hansbrough might not make the first team at all? Crazy. And it starts right here with Gary Parrish, who is a friend and, in all seriousness, the most thoroughly talented journalist I've ever worked alongside ... but who is really starting to tick me off. Look at his picture, and then look at mine. Clearly, active hair is not indicative of an active brain.

Because I'm right.

Eight freshmen who turned pro in 2007 went in the first round of the NBA Draft. Ten more freshmen went in the first round in 2008. All those million-dollar babies, gone. But Hansbrough dominated when they were in school, and he's still here. And he didn't get worse. He is rebounding more, shooting better, blocking more shots, turning it over less and scoring almost three points more per game than he did as a sophomore, when he was a consensus All-American.

And now he's not? Ridiculous. Hansbrough will go down as one of the most decorated players in college basketball history, and in those four years of college he is having his second-best season at 21.1 ppg and 8.1 rpg. Hansbrough even meets the misguided "team" criteria some voters attach to All-Americans, meaning he is producing at a high level for a team winning at a high level.

That criteria probably will keep Notre Dame's Luke Harangody off most All-America first teams, by the way. Although he's the only player among the country's top 10 in scoring (23.7, seventh) and rebounding (12.1, fifth), Notre Dame is 17-13 overall, under .500 in its league and most likely headed to the NIT. So how good is he, really? That's the argument, and I hate that argument. Harangody is having a monster season, and he's an All-American. That's how good he is.

The only player in America who is clearly an All-American before Hansbrough -- and before Harangody, for that matter -- is Oklahoma's Blake Griffin. He's having one of the craziest seasons in years at 22.1 ppg, 14.2 rpg (second nationally) and 63.4-percent shooting from the field (third). He has put up Nintendo numbers, including 40 points and 23 rebounds against Texas Tech, 35-and-21 vs. Gardner-Webb and 25-and-21 vs. Davidson.

Hansbrough didn't have any PlayStation games. He just checks in with something approaching 20 points and 10 rebounds, and he does it every time. But we've seen that before. Now, if he could put up 20-and-10 while balancing a rubber ducky on his nose ...

Griffin will be an All-American everywhere, including here at CBSSports.com, where he joins Pittsburgh's DeJuan Blair (15.6 ppg, 12.4 rpg) in the frontcourt. The rest of the first team is Davidson's Stephen Curry (28.6 ppg, 5.7 assists), Arizona State's James Harden (20.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.1 apg) and North Carolina's Ty Lawson (15.9 ppg, 6.5 apg).

Although Parrish is on the record in his appreciation for Hansbrough, the UNC senior didn't make it because Parrish wanted to make it a true team. Blair and Griffin are his bigs. Harden is on the wing. Lawson and Curry are the backcourt. Makes sense.

Except for the part where Hansbrough gets left out.

Sorry. I can't get past that. Not even this year, which has had more great players having great years than any season in the 12 years I've closely followed college basketball. Even with all those freshmen turning pro in 2007 and '08 -- or maybe because of it -- this season has had some individual monsters. Hasheem Thabeet of UConn is a legit All-American candidate. So is Jerel McNeal of Marquette. Levance Fields and Sam Young of Pittsburgh are deserving. UCLA's Darren Collison was a second-team pick as a sophomore and a third-teamer as a junior, and his numbers as a senior are comparable. Oh, and Jodie Meeks of Kentucky has averaged nearly 25 ppg with highs of 54, 46 and 45.

There have been 13 players mentioned in this story alone. Any of them, in a weaker year for college basketball, would be a legitimate first-team pick. But only five can make it, so most of them will be left out. I'm understanding. Up to a point.

That point being Griffin and Hansbrough. They're All-Americans. Period.