Dook Loses Elite Recruit After Repeatedly Misspelling His Name

P.J. Hairston, the No. 13 senior in the country, according to people who believe in the mostly arbitrary rankings of high school students, announced over the weekend that he would attend the University of North Carolina. The 6'4" swingman, who finished up his prep career at the Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va., told the Greensboro News-Record that he'd chosen UNC over Dook in part because they'd often misspelled or simply improvised his name in their literature:

The thing about Duke was, every time they sent me a letter, they wouldn't spell my name right. They would have ‘T.J. Harrison' or something like that. And I'm like, ‘OK. How can I go here? You can't even spell my name right.' It's only two letters and HAIR and STON. I'm trying to figure out how that's so hard.

Win won for the Heels and proofreaders everywhere. Hairston allowed that "Duke is a great school," and that his decision didn't rest in the typos. But he added that he doesn't feel he's "a Duke-type player, because they have a crazy system. It's like mechanical." We thought that might damage the Dookies' sense of self, but then we remembered that none of them really have one — so look for this to inspire some signs and chants at Cameron next season.

Photo via the News & Observer. UNC basketball signee P.J. Hairston: Duke 'couldn't spell my name right' [News-Record]