Where is Evansville?

 

Tonight I went to see the Evansville Aces vs. UNC Tar Heels in men's basketball at the Dean Dome. I've grown up about 10 minutes from the arena, so I'd gotten the chance to see a lot of basketball games there. I've never been to a Duke-UNC game though, that's on my list of things to do eventually, but I have been lucky enough to see a good amount of games there.

I went with a few of my friends, and on the ride to the game we got to talking about where exactly is Evansville? I said Indiana, my three friends said Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky. It turns out that it is in Indiana. One point for me.

We got to the game roughly three hours before tip off. We were going to sit in the student section and we had to get there early to get prime seats. I've got a student ID there because I took a summer school class, but it has since expired. I gave it to the guy so he could scan my the ID so I could get a ticket, and it definitely did not work. He looked, saw that it had it expired, smiled, and handed me a ticket.

Thanks bud.

We got to our seats (around two hours before tip off) which were about 10 rows up from the court. Definitely worth the wait. I started looking around and sometimes the history of that place gets lost on me.

Looking in the rafters is a spectacle. Countless ACC championships, 5 NCAA championships, even more NCAA tournament appereances. 15 Final Fours. It's pretty amazing the history there. Seeing UCLA's gym must be pretty awesome too. What always gets me are the names in the rafters. Jordan. Worthy. Ford. Jamison. Rosenbluth. McAdoo. Daugherety. Davis. Stackhouse. Wallace. Carter. And more recent guys like; Forte. McCants. May. Felton.

One more name will be joining all those soon. Tyler Hansbrough - 50. Put him next to 33 (Jamison), who is next to 52 (Worthy), who is next to 23 (The Greatest) as some of the only players to have their number actually retired. All you have to do for that to happen is win National Player of the Year.

That's some elite company.

The reason I bring all this up is because tonight was the night I watched Tyler Hansbrough break Phil Ford's record for the most points in a career at UNC. 2290. Out of all of those great players, his name now sits at the top of the list. That's incredible.

You can argue that his isn't nearly the talent of the 20 guys below him on the list, that he flops, his game is ugly, he wont be a good pro and countless other things. But what you can't argue is his production. Tyler will go down as the most prolific scorer in UNC history, and depending on his numbers for the rest of the season he may also be the most prolific scorer in ACC history.

Think about that. The most points. Ever. More than all the greats that came before him.

Being the best scorer at one of the most storied basketball institutions in the nation is extraordinary, no matter what you think of Tyler. Simply put, he is one hell of a player.

And when you look at his numbers, the stats don't lie.