Hansbrough's critics remain at arms' length

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Tyler Hansbrough, a leading Naismith Player of the Year candidate, is confronted with a series of charges that ignores his robust production.

He is either too soft or hard-nosed in his approach, one criticism contradicting the other. He is overly reliant on the exchanges that occur around the basket, which underlines his limitations. His 6-foot-9 list height is a stretch as well, possibly by as many as two inches. And he has short arms, basically two hands protruding from his shoulders.

So Hansbrough is essentially the Eddie Gaedel of college basketball and has the additional handicap of severely compromised arms.

Those who lurk on the NBA mock draft Web sites come up with all kinds of dark fantasies, some of them possibly accurate.

At least one of the contentions involving Hansbrough is misguided.

Hansbrough, a junior, always has insisted he would play all four years at North Carolina. And, as usual, he has not said one thing that would indicate he will be leaving Chapel Hill after this season.

The urge to find fault with Hansbrough is partly connected to the ascent of the Internet and those ever in a rush to expedite the news cycle.

They have had Hansbrough going to the NBA since his freshman season. All he has done since then is improve each season, confound his critics and put himself in player of the year contention.

There is really nothing to dislike about how he plays the game, if you can appreciate hard work, a rugged spirit and leave the NBA out of it until he either declares to enter the draft or completes his senior season.

This is college basketball, after all, and no one ever confuses it with the NBA.