Tyler's Turn

UNC hoops is one of the benchmark programs in all of college basketball. Led by the dominating interior presence of Tyler Hansbrough, the Tar Heels are early favorites to secure a #1 seed come tournament time. Hansbrough, who's good for 22 points and 10 boards a game this season, recently sat down with MF to talk about his workout routine, his nickname, and what pumps him up before a game.

MF: So what it's like training with the grind of playing 3 to 4 games a week?
Hansbrough: During the season, we're not trying to crank out a max squat or bench or anything like that. We're more focused on, you know, playing a lot of games, and you're always running, so you're more focused on maintaining your weight and your health. During the off-season, you're always trying to hit the big weights and keep building your strength. During the season it's hard to do that because your body will just get worn out. You're just trying to maintain your strength. We lift a lot during the season. It's just not, let's say, seven sets of chain squats.

MF: That's off-season, right?
Hansbrough: Yeah, definitely.

MF: UNC basketball is a little different—most programs don't expect to go to the Final Four and win a National Championship every year. How has the culture of UNC affected you and your game?
Hansbrough: There is pressure here because it's a big-time basketball school with all the tradition. You feel like you have to win every game, no matter which team you're facing. No one's satisfied unless you go to the National Championship game or the Final Four.

MF: Looking back as a freshman, what did you want to improve upon to be able to dominate at the D-1 level?
Hansbrough: I would say, strengthwise, explosiveness was definitely a big key for me. Once I got into the weight room and trained a lot and worked on getting explosive in those first two steps, I think I really improved. I also think I needed to work on my jump shot a lot, though.

MF: Do you think your work with Jonas Sahratian, strength and conditioning coach for UNC Men's Basketball, has gotten you to where you want to be?
Hansbrough: Oh yeah, definitely.

MF: I'm going to ask you to look back in history a bit. Do you compare yourself to former UNC big men like Rasheed Wallace and Sean May?
Hansbrough: I'm not really comfortable comparing myself, but I'm confident in what I do. You know, those guys are great. Sean's done a lot of great things here. He won a National Championship and a Final Four MVP. That's really good. He's one of those guys I look up to.

MF: What's the biggest area you want to improve upon in your game now?
Hansbrough: A lot of people look at me and think I'm a banger, kind of a bruiser, but I think I do have a finesse game. It's just a matter of me using it.

MF: Do you take pride in that banger, bruiser mode, or do you kind of not think about yourself like that?
Hansbrough: You know, it's not a bad thing. I do think I have some finesse in me, too, but a lot of people think that I'm a banger.

MF: Is the weightlifting that you do all sports-specific?
Hansbrough: Yeah, definitely. We work a lot on our explosive lifts, like power cleans and chain squats. We do a lot of chain squats and chain bench presses.

MF: And that's all to build explosion?
Hansbrough: Yeah, we do the Olympic lifts for that as well.

MF: What do you do to work on your lateral quickness?
Hansbrough: We do some slides where you have bands attached to your ankles. Your left ankle is attached to your right ankle by a band and you have to keep your feet wide. We'll do slides on a mat, where we put socks on and we slide one side and slide back. We do a lot of stuff like that.