Take a deep breath, summon all your hatred for Tyler Hansbrough and place it to the side. Cover it up with a napkin or blanket. Done? Now, ponder just a handful of his accomplishments:

* 4 time All-American, 2nd team in 2006, 1st team in 2007-2009
* Only player in ACC history to be All-ACC 1st team four times
* Made more FTs than anyone in college basketball history (953)
* ACC career points leader (2,789)
* NCAA Tournament progression: 2nd round, Elite 8, Final Four, title.

Ready to compare Hansbrough to Duke’s Christian Laettner for the honor of best college basketball career in the last 20 years?

Laettner: He was an All-American only twice (2nd team as a junior). His strength: a 21-2 NCAA tournament record with four trips to the Final Four and two titles. As a freshman, he lost to Seton Hall in the Final Four (scored 13 points; Danny Ferry led Duke with 34) and as a sophomore the Blue Devils were famously routed in Denver in the title game by UNLV (Laettner scored 15 points). [Edit: It's been noted Laettner is the leading scorer in NCAA tournament history.]

Too bad Laettner never did for Angola, New York what Hansbrough did for Pop Bluff, Missouri! (Odd fact: Julie McCullough – Mike Seaver’s girlfriend on Growing Pains; Playmate – is also from Pop Bluff.)

The reasons for loving to hate Laettner are many – he played for Duke, he rocked a haircut straight out of 90210, the “stomp;” can you imagine if Laettner had a cell phone back in his prime? – but the slowly mounting ire toward Hansbrough – mostly for being a dominant college player – reached a crescendo during UNC’s regional final win over Louisville in the 2008 tournament (wish the video still existed). Hansbrough was excellent, but Jay Bilas and Dick Enberg professed their love for him over and over and over and at that point, UNC’s best player seemed to drift from “man, that guy’s a really good player” to “man, I’m sick of that guy.”

When the national media fawns – especially over a kid who has seemingly been in school forever; he has one more year, right? – the fans tend to turn away in disgust. (See Jeter, Derek.)

We previously thought that Laettner’s career easily trumped Hansbrough’s … but now that Tyler’s got a title, and his individual accomplishments far exceed Laettner’s, we’d rule it a toss-up.

Hansbrough adds final entry to his college resume — ‘national champ’ (SI)
North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough stayed in college for this moment (Star Ledger)
Hansbrough completes remarkable career in style (Fox Sports)