Since arriving at Kentucky, John Calipari’s teams have always been centered on one-and-done stars. His first Wildcats team back in the 2009-10 season was no different, and no freshman phenom was a bigger get than point guard John Wall.
But were it not for one fateful interaction on a visit to North Carolina, Wall might have been a Tar Heel.
The 32-year-old NBA veteran recalled an eyebrow-raising story while speaking as a guest on the Run Your Race podcast on Tuesday. In the interview, Wall—who attended high school in Raleigh—said North Carolina was actually his top choice to attend college, and revealed an interesting reason why he didn’t end up there.
“I wanted to go to Carolina, that’s my dream school. I’ll tell you the story about that, a lot of people don’t know that. They f—d it up,” Wall said. “They was the only one that could have gotten me not to go play for Coach Cal.”
Wall explained how, at the time, his mother had recently undergone health issues, which made him reconsider going away for college. The closest option was N.C. State, which Wall thought would be too close to the point that he would never leave home.
When the five-star prospect took a visit to Chapel Hill, he wasn’t greeted with the warmest of welcomes from on notable Tar Heels star.
“So I go on the visit, Ty Lawson and them are there. Tyler Hansbrough’s got his own section … I’m the recruit, I walk up and say, ‘What’s up.’ He said, ‘I don’t talk to recruits.’ I was like, ‘F—k you, I ain’t coming here.’ That f—d it up right there.”
Hansbrough was a senior the year before Wall’s freshman season, and turned in a performance for the ages. He led the Tar Heels to the national championship, capping a career in which he was the consensus National Player of the Year the season prior. He went on to become a first-round pick in the 2009 draft and spent seven years in the NBA.
Hansbrough caught wind of Wall’s story later on Tuesday and flatly denied Wall’s version of events. He jabbed back at Wall by insinuating that the point guard chose Kentucky for financial reasons—years before the onset of the NIL era.
In the end, Wall went to Kentucky, and actually got the chance at some revenge against North Carolina with a 68–66 victory during the regular season of his freshman year. The Wildcats ended up going 35–3 and advancing to the Elite Eight, while Wall was a first-team All-American.
While everything worked out well for Wall in Lexington, it’s still quite the “What if?” hypothetical all these years later.
“I really went up to shake his hand. He’s the National Player of the Year, just won a championship … I get to meet Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough, this is a dream come true for me. Dream school I loved growing up. He did that, and I was like, ‘I got something for him.’”
