updated 6:04 p.m. ET April 2, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Tyler Hansbrough closed his eyes, hoping for a good night of rest. Instead, his mind kept racing, turning over and over the thought of finally getting North Carolina to the Final Four.

“I couldn’t really fall asleep,” he said. “I kept thinking about this game coming up.”

It’s somehow fitting that Hansbrough — a relentless All-American and a star from his first college game — doesn’t even take a break even when he should be sleeping.

That he’s feeling anxious these days is no surprise. After all, he has worked with every play of his career to win a national championship, a goal now two wins away.

It’s why Hansbrough can’t talk about his first trip to the Final Four without immediately adding that he wants more.

“It means a lot,” said Hansbrough, whose team plays Kansas on Saturday night in San Antonio. “It’s a goal we set out. Obviously, we beat some good teams to get here and we feel like we’re playing really well. We want to keep on moving.”

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Few players have embodied that approach better than the 6-foot-9 junior. He has spent seemingly the entire year earning a personal accolade for every victory the Tar Heels (36-2) managed in what has become the winningest season in the storied program’s history. He was a unanimous All-America choice by The Associated Press this week.

Hansbrough, averaging 22.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, will be just the eighth Tar Heel to have his jersey retired. In last weekend’s win over Louisville, he scored 28 points to move past Sam Perkins for second on the school’s career scoring list with 2,151 points, trailing only Phil Ford (2,290) for a record he’ll easily set if he returns next year.

“I didn’t make Tyler that hard worker. I’ve just been a guy who benefited from it,” coach Roy Williams said. “That boy is self-driven and self-motivated.”

He’s done it with an unyielding will that has him chase every rebound and loose ball while scoring despite constant contact. It’s an approach that as a freshman earned him the nickname “Psycho T” — he screamed to motivate himself to keep going during a grueling conditioning drill. Aron Baynes, Washington State’s Australian forward, called him a “thrashing croc in the paint” before the team’s matchup in the round of 16 last week.

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