When they toss the ball up to start Saturday’s semifinals, what kind of pro Hansbrough is going to be will be irrelevant. Even the people who keep reminding us of his shortcomings aren’t going to be thinking of where he’ll go in the draft and whether he’ll find a home for himself in the NBA. All that’s going to matter is what he does to — or for — your brackets.

If he rises to new heights in the Final Four and walks out with the trophy, there won’t be any more arguments against his greatness as a college basketball player. His place in the game’s pantheon will be secure.

There have been plenty of great college players who didn’t become great pros. They always end up being called disappointments, but that’s people on the outside talking. You can bet their coaches and the fans of their schools don’t share that opinion.

Christian Laettner remains one of the greatest college players ever, one who belongs up there with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton and David Robinson. That legacy isn’t diminished by the fact he wasn’t a great pro. Danny Ferry is another like him. So are Ralph Sampson and Pistol Pete Maravich.

And so what? These guys could play college ball like few others. If they weren’t Hall of Fame pros who took NBA teams to multiple titles like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, so what? The college game and the pro games are as different as college football and the NFL variety. Success in one doesn’t guarantee success at the next level up.

So lay off Hansbrough and give him the credit he’s due. And you might want to also thank him for not having the size and athleticism that would have made him a lottery pick coming out of high school. Because of the questions about his pro future, he’s stayed in college, just like the great players did in the good old days. He’s given UNC and college hoops three years of thrills, and there’s almost certainly a fourth to follow.

What’s bad about that?

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