Hillary Clinton may have received the endorsement of North Carolina’s governor for next week’s primary, but her rival Barack Obama may have done her one better by getting the implied support of University of North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams and his Final Four Tar Heel team. Yesterday, while Clinton was hobnobbing with Gov. Mike Easley, Obama scrimmaged with the Heels, at one point missing a layup after driving by consensus National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough. When Obama wasn’t getting enough passes his way, Williams yelled out from the sidelines : “You’ve got the future president of the United States wide open.”

In being present at such a pick-up game involving his players during the off-season, Williams was technically in violation of NCAA rules. The NCAA, however, made an exception in this case. “This was a unique situation and not an NCAA issue,” NCAA Media Relations Director Erik Christianson told The News & Observer. “It certainly was a great opportunity for the student-athletes to interact with a presidential candidate.”

It may not have concerned the NCAA, but rumors are now circulating that many of the Tar Heel faithful who are either Clinton or McCain supporters have gone over to the dark side and have become Duke fans.

After their team was drubbed by eventual national champion Kansas in the Final Four, University of North Carolina basketball fans needed some good news, and yesterday they got some when everybody’s player of the year, Tyler Hansbrough, announced he would return to play as a senior. Rising juniors Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington, however, have declared for the NBA draft to pursue their dreams of playing the pro game.

When I was growing up in North Carolina, my dream was to play for the Tar Heels, setting up driveway dramas where I was the star hitting the last-second shot to win the game. Because I was vertically challenged with only the teeniest bit of talent, I had to settle for living in the players’ dorm and cheering them on from the stands while I was in Chapel Hill.

So for me, I identify more with the Hansbroughs and Tim Duncans of this world, guys who value the college experience, realizing that they only get one chance at these four years. Of course, many would say, “Hey, I bet if some magazine had thrown millions of bucks at you while you were in Journalism school, you’d taken the cash and left college far behind.” Probably, but if I had been a part of something special while in Chapel Hill, something I had aspired to be a part of while growing up, something that afforded me challenges and opportunities unique to college, and the promise of money would’ve still been waiting for me after my senior year, I would’ve wanted to stay through graduation.

That doesn’t mean I look down on players like Lawson and Ellington. They have different dreams and aspirations than I did and they have to do what’s best for themselves and their families. And the Tar Heel faithful should wish them well as they seek out a successful career on the hardwoods of the NBA.