You Won’t Believe What Tyler Hansbrough Had to Say About Coach K

As if the North Carolina-Duke rivalry wasn't heated enough, now Tyler Hansbrough has weighed in on the Coach K "look at me" party.

Hansbrough, who was known to ruffle a few feathers against the Blue Devils, when he starred at UNC from 2005-2009, said he thought maybe Mike Krzyzewski's farewell was a bit overdone.

"The only thing I can really compare it to, and I know I'll take some heat for this, is the Larry David Show. This season they have a guy that goes to his funeral while he's still alive so people can tell him how good he is," Hansbrough said in an appearance on the Packer and Durham Show on ACC Network. "I kinda thought it was one of those situations. I thought it was funny."

Hansbrough was notably celebrating after his former team knocked off Duke, 94-81 in the final home game for Coach K, Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham. The Tar Heels have had a notably off 2022 season, as they break in new coach Hubert Davis, after their own legend - Roy Williams - retired last year.

But Hansbrough did have a bit of praise for the legendary Coach K in parting.

"Coach K deserves a lot of respect," Hansbrough said. "Tar Heel fans... we love that."

Duke fans can get their own digs in on Hansbrough if they'd like, though. The college basketball player of the year in 2008 has his number retired by UNC. He was selected in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. But after bouncing around for a few years, his NBA career never took off. He later went on to play in the NBA G League, and a couple of years in the Chinese Basketball Association, before the pandemic put an end to a couple of seasons.

With the NCAA Tournament almost here, it's time to figure out what North Carolina city might be the best for college basketball fans.

Thanks to our good friends at WalletHub.com, we learned that not only do we know which city is tops in the state, but that city happens to be the best in the COUNTRY.

But before we tell you which one that is, it's important to understand what we're ranking here.

"To find 2022’s top spots for NCAA hoops, WalletHub crunched the numbers on more than 290 cities using nine key metrics," WalletHub said in their rankings release. "They range from the number of teams per city and the winning percentage of each to stadium capacity and social-media engagement."

So not only are we talking about success on the court, but we're talking about stadium environments, social media, and so much more.

"Passion is what makes a good college basketball fan. Enough passion to follow for the team, whether the team is winning or losing," said Rhema Fuller, Ph.D., Associated Professor, The University of Memphis. "And the thing about passion is that it does not cost much money. Sure, it costs time and emotion – but not a lot of money. A fan who has never attended a college basketball game can be just as passionate, or more than a season-ticket holder."

College basketball drives a lot of passion. SO much so that businesses lose an estimated $13.8 BILLION due to unproductive workers during the NCAA Tournament. People also wager almost $10 BILLION on the NCAA Tournament. That's roughly 30 percent more than bets made on the Super Bowl.

One more thing before we get into the rankings: It's important to note that most of these cities are on here because of their proximity to college basketball. That's why you won't find Fayetteville mentioned.

But here we go: The top North Carolina and United States cities for college basketball fans. We'll do the national Top 10 first, followed by all the North Carolina cities on the list.

Was there much doubt that the home of the Duke Blue Devils would be the top spot in the country? No, not really. Unless you're a UNC fan, in which case you might not like how far down you're gonna have to go here to find Chapel Hill.

The UConn women's team have been a power for so long, it's hard to ever imagine a time where they weren't the class of the sport.

The University of Kentucky Wildcats are about the only thing Lexington is known for.

(So if you saw this list earlier...we may have forgotten to put the Jayhawks on here. Oops.)

With both UCLA and USC in the mix, it's hard to argue that L.A. wouldn't be this high on the rankings. Even with some less than stellar years from them in recent times.

Michigan State fans are loud and proud of ol' Sparty.

This one kind of sneaks up on you. But when you look at the combined college basketball power of Temple, Drexel, La Salle, Saint Joseph's and Penn, there's a lot to be said here.

Maybe this is a product of a couple down years for the Tar Heels. But that win over Duke last weekend certainly makes up for the loss in these rankings.

We are struggling to understand this one. We've reached out to WalletHub for an explanation. Because uhhhhh....

UPDATE: Our friends at WalletHub gave us a little more info on this decision. Fayette, Mississippi is right down the road from Alcorn State University. The Braves are the proud champions of the SWAC and are well noted for their basketball passion.

We're stumped on this one too. Rhode Island isn't exactly a power.

Surprise! The Camels coming in with a surprise Top 25 ranking. We love us some Roll Humps. The Camels get a huge boost in the ratings thanks to their large arena size, and some strong fan engagement.

The home of Gardner-Webb, a solid hoops community all around.

Western Carolina has long been a successful program with great fans.

Wonder what made those little guys from Davidson so successful...hmmm...

UNCG is forever making lives miserable for opponents on the court.

Never underestimate the fan base of those crazy kids from up in the mountains.

Where you at NC State fans? Hopefully, you're doing better than the Pack is on the court.

Raleigh can't be feeling too great about nearly being beat out by Elon.

The Panthers of High Point haven't been great recently, but their fans are always vocal.

Well, at least East Carolina has football going for it. Oh...wait.

We're actually surprised the home of Wake Forest isn't MUCH higher on this.

You'd think as the largest city in our state the basketball would be more important. Apparently not.

There's apparently other things going on in this mountain town.

UNCW is better than this ranking is giving it credit for. Maybe the kids are more focused on the beach.

As previously mentioned.

There are way more important things going on in Daytona.