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Former Big EastPlayer of the Year and professional basketball player Ben Hansbrough has been added to the Western Kentucky staff as Coordinator of Player Development. In the role, Hansbrough will assist with academics, mentoring and film study, among other tasks.

“I am excited to join a winning tradition like the Hilltopper Basketball program,” Hansbrough said. “Coach Harper and his staff are well established in college basketball, and I am really looking forward to this learning experience.”

“Ben has experience playing at a high level both in the NBA and overseas, and those experiences will benefit our current players from a mentoring standpoint,” Harper said. “He is young enough to still be able to play but wants to get into coaching at this time, and he could be a star in this business. We are happy he chose to be a Hilltopper.”

Hansbrough played two seasons at Mississippi State in 2006-07 and 2007-08 before transferring and finishing his career at Notre Dame in 2009-10 and 2010-11. At Mississippi State, he averaged 8.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game over 65 career outings.

After averaging 12.0 points per game in his first season at Notre Dame, Hansbrough exploded as a fifth-year senior and averaged 18.4 points per game en route to Big East Player of the Year and second-team All-American honors. For his collegiate career, Hansbrough averaged 12.0 points per game, scored 1,613 career points, made 263 three-pointers while shooting 40.5 percent from distances and played in 134 games.

Hansbrough played professionally overseas and for the Indiana Pacers, where he appeared in 28 games in 2012-13 and averaged 7.1 minutes per contest.

Hansbrough is the younger brother of Charlotte Hornets standout Tyler Hansbrough, who played college basketball at North Carolina.

http://www.wkusports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/082415aaa.html