Tyler up for Sullivan Award, is SN's All-American

Tyler Hansbrough has been nominated for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, given to the top U.S. amateur athlete.

You can vote here.

The winner will be announced on April 15 in New York.

Hansbrough was named to Sporting News' All-American team for the fourth time. He's the first player to do that but he wasn't named player of the year for a second time. That went to Oklahoma's Blake Griffin.

You can read the story here.

This season Tyler became North Carolina's all-time leading scorer and has 2,717 points while needing just 14 more rebounds to break the school record. He also broke the NCAA record for career free throws made (919) and needs just 53 points to become the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Tar Heels open the ACC Tournament on Friday.

In this week's edition of Sports Illustrated, there's a story by Thomas Lake about last year's SEC Tournament which was hit by a tornado and how a last-second 3 to force overtime may have saved lives:

[Mississippi State coach Rick] Stansbury knows Mykal [Riley] will get the ball. He tells [Ben] Hansbrough to foul him as soon as Mykal catches the inbounds pass. A foul before the shot would put Mykal on the line, where he would get no more than two free throws. That would leave Alabama one point short.

The referee gives Alabama forward Demetrius Jemison the ball on the left sideline, just beyond half-court. He sees Mykal coming off the screen and hits him with a pass on the left wing. Mississippi State fans bellow.

Hansbrough swipes at Mykal, but no foul is called. His own parents, Gene and Tami Hansbrough of Poplar Bluff, Mo., are here tonight, and they will soon conclude it was a mercy that their son could not do what his coach commanded. The shot goes up. It's 9:30.

"Riley for threeeee," says Brando. "Ohhh! Got it! The iron was kind! We're going to overtime!"

About eight minutes later, with 2:11 left in overtime, a roaring sound is heard inside the Georgia Dome. The white Teflon roof ripples. A small hole is torn in the wall near the west end of the building. Insulation floats down toward the floor, reminding some people of snowflakes, and loose metal washers fall from high catwalks to the court. There are 14,825 people in attendance. No injuries are reported inside the stadium.

Outside, the tornado passes just north of the Dome and screams through Centennial Olympic Park with winds of 120 mph. Glass rains down from hundreds of broken windows. Siding is ripped from the Dome's exterior. Potted plants go flying. Metal is driven into the side of a covered walkway. Cars flip over. Two 65-foot light towers topple in the park.

To the east, near a neighborhood called Cabbagetown, a homeless man is killed by a collapsing brick wall. But no serious injuries are reported downtown because the thunderstorm that came before the tornado has driven almost everyone off the streets, and 14,825 are safe inside the Dome, watching the overtime forced by Mykal Riley.