NEW MASK FOR HANSBROUGH

CHAPEL HILL — Why all the 'coachspeak'? You know we love Ol’ Roy, and he typically has his heart on his sleeve and he’s too honest. But what up with his comments at the ACC Championship post-game press conference when, regarding Psycho T’s masks, he said, “Leave us alone, people are calling us with suggestions, we have it under control and we have good people working on it.” (or something like that)

No, you don’t. The mask was crap and it was giving your leading scorer fits, so why be defensive about it?

Lo and behold, 48 hours later, they are trying something new. The eye-holes of the clear thermoplastic mask he wore during the ACC Tournament have been adjusted, “so hopefully it doesn’t interfere as much” with his vision,’’ head basketball trainer Marc Davis said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the team has sent a mold of Hansbrough’s face to Detroit, where a specialist will make a different hard plastic facemask for Hansbrough to try (now you’re talking! What, no more Keebler elves, Smurfs or cavemen?). The new mask should arrive in Winston-Salem by the time the team arrives Wednesday, Davis said, and Hansbrough “will try both and see which he likes best.”

Asked how much longer Hansbrough will have to wear a mask, Davis said: “We’re going to evaluate it game-by-game now. If nothing happens, it won’t be much longer.”

(Actual facts courtesy of Raleigh News-Observer: ACC NOW)