Tobacco Road Report

At Tuesday night's awards banquet, both Tyler Hansbrough and Ty Lawson announced their intent to return to North Carolina next season. Their joint announcement comes on the heels of Wayne Ellington's decision to return to campus, pleasing Tar Heel fans across the nation. The only remaining holdout at this point is Brandon Wright, who figures to be a lottery pick should he choose to announce by the early-entry deadline on April 29.

That Hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington have decided to return for another year in Chapel Hill should come as no surprise, but Tar Heel fans are certainly happy to hear it with their ears, see it with their eyes, and read it in print. Whatever Wright's decision may be, the return of these three will make Carolina prohibitive favorites in the ACC again next season.

Hansbrough is a classic college player that figures to struggle at the next level unless he develops an effective outside jump shot. We love his intensity, but he struggles at times to get his game going in the paint against equal-sized opponents. All indications are that he also enjoys college life, wants to receive a degree, and wants to go out on top. TRR can't fault him for that.

Ellington's strength is supposed to be his outside shooting, but his jumper failed him during long stretches this year. He'll have to prove to the scouts that he's a 40-plus percent three point shooter before he climbs to the top of anyone's two-guard list. "Potential" is still the word that best categorizes Ellington, not "dominant". We'd like to see more "dominant" and less "potential" next season.

Finally, Lawson could use another year of seasoning as well, despite having a better freshman campaign than most expected. His 10 points per game and 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio are excellent numbers for a freshman running a high octane offense. But he's small at 5'-11" (if he's even that), and he needs to show more long range efficiency. His minutes should climb next season and will get every opportunity to lead the team buzzer to buzzer.

Overall, TRR thinks this is the right decision for these gentlemen. We're fairly confident Wright will go, and some team sitting in the 3-7 spot in the NBA draft will be happy to have him. He still has plenty of room for development, so expect to continue to hear the standard draft vocabulary of "upside potential", "raw", "athletic". That's not surprising since big men always develop slower. Wright's body won't catch up to his game for another two to three seasons. When it does, and if he brings mental intensity, watch out.

More on this announcement can be found here.