Freshman Tyler Hansbrough, who led the Tar Heels to a surprising second-place finish in the ACC and a berth in the NCAA tournament, will return to the team for the 2006-07 season, coach Roy Williams said Wednesday.

"I never really considered leaving for the NBA after this season," Hansbrough, a 6-foot-9 forward who was the ACC's rookie of the year and a first-team all-conference choice, said in a statement.

Hansbrough's rapid rise as an impact player -- he averaged 18.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and shot 57.0 percent from the field -- made him a potential candidate for early entry into the NBA draft. Four underclassmen on the Tar Heels' 2005 national championship team -- Sean May, Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Marvin Williams -- were taken in the first round of last summer's NBA draft.

Roy Williams said he talked to contacts in the NBA and learned Hansbrough would also likely have gone in the first round of this year's draft.

"I asked Tyler what he wanted to do," Roy Williams said in a statement. "He stated he easily wanted to stay in school. I agreed with that, but at the same time I wanted him to know he would definitely be a No. 1 draft choice this year and I wanted him to do what he wanted to do."

There still might be several underclassmen available in this summer's draft. Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, Connecticut's Rudy Gay and Texas' LaMarcus Aldridge could be among them.

49ers assistant among candidates

Charlotte 49ers assistant coach Bobby Kummer is among several candidates under consideration for the head coaching position at the University of Texas-San Antonio.Through a Charlotte team spokesman Wednesday, Kummer denied, however, that he has interviewed for the position.

UTSA athletics director Lynn Hickey told the San Antonio Express-News on Tuesday that she had spoken with Kummer about the Roadrunners' position.

Kummer, 31, is a former Charlotte player and an assistant with the 49ers this season. He was an assistant under former Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins from 1998 to 2004 and from 1996 to 1998 when Watkins coached at Charlotte. Hickey has worked with Kummer before. She was a senior associate athletics director/senior women's administrator at Texas A&M from 1994 to 1999.