SAN ANTONIO — Darnell Jackson reminded anybody who would listen yesterday of his high school days as a defensive end in football.

It may take that kind of gridiron mentality for Jackson and the Kansas Jayhawks against North Carolina tonight in the second game of the Final Four at the Alamodome. After all, KU will be face-to-face with basketball's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy winner.

North Carolina junior Tyler Hansbrough, who yesterday was chosen as the recipient of the Oscar Robertson Trophy for national player of the year presented by the United States Basketball Writers Association, stands in the way of the Jayhawks' march to a shot at the national championship.

Less than an hour later, Hansbrough was selected The Associated Press' college basketball player of the year.

And don't think for a second KU doesn't get it.

"I really haven't played anybody like that," said KU's Sasha Kaun, who probably will get plenty of opportunities to try and slow Hansbrough. "It will be tough to match his energy. He's definitely a problem, one of the hardest workers I've seen. He never takes off a possession, goes after loose balls. He plays at a whole different level."

It's hard then to believe that a guy with a reputation for possessing a motor that Ford would love enjoys sitting around watching the Weather Channel. Talk about watching paint dry.

Jackson, a defensive end until he made basketball his main sport, will try to make it anything but boring for Hansbrough.

"It's a big challenge," Jackson said. "He's a great player. You can't do anything about that. He's an offensive presence, so you just have to play your principles against him."

Others have tried. Most failed. Miserably. Hansbrough, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior, is a horse. He knows how to play the angles, and his ability to lower his shoulder and get position makes him a load.

"He's done such a good job putting his body between you and the ball," Kaun said. "What you've got to do is stay in front of him, raise your hand, make it tough for him to see the basket."

That hasn't worked a whole lot for the Dukes and Louisville of the world.

Hansbrough, who averages 22.8 points and 10.3 rebounds, shares elite company. Only he, North Carolina's Lennie Rosenbluth (1957), Duke's Christian Laettner (1992) and North Carolina's Antawn Jamison (1998) have been chosen national player of the year, Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, ACC tournament MVP and NCAA regional MVP the same season.

KU coach Bill Self faced a national player-of-the-year candidate in Kansas State's Michael Beasley but isn't certain that was the perfect dress rehearsal to prepare for Hansbrough.

"Michael was eight for 11 from three against us. If Tyler goes eight for 11 against us, we've got some serious issues," Self said of Hansbrough, who is zero of six from 3-point range. "I do think Michael scores in more ways. I do think Tyler's more relentless in going after balls. He's getting 80 percent of the 50-50 balls. He doesn't allow himself to be blocked off. He just has a mind-set to him that few people have."

Kaun insists the Jayhawks are being realistic about what Hansbrough brings. They aren't going around predicting they'll shut him out, even shut him completely down. But they do want to make him miserable, if at all possible.

"I don't think we should focus on taking him out of the game," Kaun said, "but we will focus on containing and limiting him. We just have to try our hardest."

Hansbrough received 56 votes from the 72-member national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25. Freshman Michael Beasley of Kansas State had 15 votes, and junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts of Memphis got one in the voting conducted before the NCAA tournament.

Drake's Keno Davis was selected coach of the year by the AP. He and his father, Dr. Tom Davis, who won the award in 1987 at Iowa, became the first father and son to win the award.