Tyler wins Rupp Award

The awards keep coming for Poplar Bluff's Tyler Hansbrough. He picked up another Player of the Year Award. More information here.

There are many Player of the Year awards including the really big ones — Wooden Award (handed out in L.A. on April 11-12), the Naismith Trophy (April 6) and the AP national player of the year (which I think is named during the off-day at the Final Four).

Also, our friends at the Post in St. Louis have finally caught Tylermania. The DAR did something like this during the summer between his junior and senior years where Tyler would send in a few words on his travels around the country and what schools he was looking to attend.

 And then there was this question from an UNC fan (from Adam Lucas): 

I'm sure I wasn't the only one annoyed Friday night by CBS deciding to skip nearly all of the second half of the Carolina game in favor of the closer games... I ended up watching a large portion of the Mississippi State game, who the other Hansbrough plays for. Which got me thinking -- if both guys are playing at the same time -- what do Tyler and Ben's parents do? And I saw all the flooding in the Midwest... in particular, shots from network correspondents in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Obviously, the flooding has been disastrous in the area with more than dozen deaths so far. How is the Hansbrough family doing?

Jane Young Choi

Northern Virginia

Not many other families in NCAA history have had to negotiate this predicament. Gene Hansbrough, the current First Father of NCAA hoops, divided it this way: during conference tournament weekend, he prioritized Ben. Dr. Hansbrough watched Tyler's game in Charlotte at noon and then hopped a plane for Atlanta, where he saw Ben play Friday night. His plan was simple: stay with Ben as long as the Bulldogs were winning.

This weekend, the plan was reversed. Dr. Hansbrough prioritized Tyler and saw both games in Raleigh in person. Tyler and Ben playing at the same time on Friday night was tricky, but their dad was able to watch the final minutes of Mississippi State's win on an arena television that had been commandeered by some friendly Tar Heel fans. Meanwhile, Ben and Tyler's mother was in Birmingham watching the Bulldogs nearly pull the upset of top-seeded Memphis.

Tyler and the Tar Heels play at 6 p.m. Thursday against Washington State.