Chuck Helpingstine was at his desk Friday when the news came.

Rex Johnson, his web technician, was at the next desk, hunting for Carolina basketball news.

“He’s checking all the time,” Helpingstine said.

Both are huge Tar Heel basketball fans who let out a whoop of joy when they found out Tyler Hansbrough will return to Chapel Hill. But they have more than just a fan’s interest in the team. Helpingstine owns Johnny T-shirt, located in downtown Chapel Hill on Franklin Street, and so their business fortunes are tied to UNC’s success.

And the biggest seller they have – Hansbrough's No. 50 jersey.

“Tyler Hansbrough’s number is our best-selling jersey,” Helpingstine said Friday afternoon from his headquarters, which are actually in Hillsbrough. “And it’s nice to know we’ll get to keep selling it for another year.”

Helpingstine opened his business in 1983, and Hansbrough’s

Decision Day 2008, the day Carolina Tar Heel lovers and haters have been eagerly anticipating, has finally come and gone.

The result?

One more year of Tyler Hansbrough’s hustle, rebounding, last-second shots, free throw shooting and Greg Paulus-esque flopping, and a possible end to the careers of Wayne Ellington and Ty Lawson.

For the record, Ellington and Lawson will not hire agents, leaving open the possibility that they will return to Chapel Hill for their junior campaigns.

If we assume for the sake of this blog that the two sophomores forgo the remainder of their college eligibility and take their game to the NBA, or NBDL…or Europe, as the case may be, then there will be a changing of the guard, so to speak, at the Smith Center.

With Lawson gone and Quentin Thomas graduating (who would have thought we’d be talking about that as a real loss for the Heels a year ago?) the point guard duties fall to Bobby Frasor

It’s spring again in North Carolina, which means dogwoods, azaleas and – to many of you – golf.

And that’s why WRAL.com is launching a new site today aimed at the thousands of people here who follow golf and care passionately about the sport.

You’ll find plenty of stories to keep you up to speed on what’s happening at the professional level. But what has been missing in the Triangle – until now – is coverage focused on the local scene.

What courses can you play? What are they like? What golf gear do you need to know about? What junior players are on their way up? And what are some courses within an easy drive you want to know about?

We want this site to be your guide to golf in the Triangle and beyond. Whether you’re new to the area or a longtime North Carolinian, we believe this site will appeal to you.

Stuart Hall will lead WRAL’s effort, and you couldn’t have a

HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE FINAL FOUR

OK, so I'm sitting here in the middle of a three-hour layover in the generic Nashville airport hating myself for a late night on the San Antonio River Walk. My iPod battery died, I'm tried of reading about the Canes' late-season demise and the television is inexplicably broadcasting an ESPN "special" with Dick Vitale and Dan Schulman sitting on a contrived barbershop set.

You know what that means?
Blog time!

(Let it be known that "blog time" ranks slightly above "tax time" and way below "nap time" on my personal rankings of times with a title. Others receiving votes: Daylight Saving Time, Tournament Time and Hammer Time.)

It's only appropriate to cap off a week long of Final Four coverage by documenting the highs and lows of the event. My totem pole status prevents me from witnessing much basketball in person on these trips, so this

Carolina’s first- and second-round NCAA Tournament wins were eye-catching, to say the least. But the Tar Heels’ Sweet Sixteen victory over Washington State may be the most impressive of them all.

Why? Because Carolina didn’t score one hundred points…

Everyone knows Roy Williams’ team can run -- and when they’re allowed to run, they will run your team off the court. But you couldn’t turn on a TV, dial in a radio, log on to the Internet or thumb through a newspaper this week without seeing/hearing/or reading this question: Will Carolina struggle if Washington State controls the tempo?

To steal a line from comedian Dennis Miller: Consider those tea leaves read, my friends…

In any kind of competition – be it checkers, chess, debating, basketball (or even warfare, but I’ll leave that to Sun Tzu) – the party that dictates terms normally wins.

Let’s face it, if you’re