P.J. Hairston chose UNC over Duke because Blue Devils couldn’t spell his name

P.J. Hairston, a 6-foot-4, 216 wing from Greensboro, N.C., is expected to make an impact for North Carolina this coming season, especially after leaving his home town high school to play his senior year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. After graduating on Saturday, he was interviewed by the Greensboro News & Record, where he revealed why he chose the Tar Heels over Duke, another school which recruited him heavily. Basically it was a test, and spelling counts.

“The thing about Duke was, every time they sent me a letter, they wouldn’t spell my name right,” Hairston said. “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.”

“Don’t get me wrong. Duke is a great school,” Hairston said. “It wasn’t just because they couldn’t spell my name right why I didn’t go there. I don’t feel that I’m a Duke-type player, because they have a crazy system. It’s like mechanical.”

Yeah, God forbid you should get involved in a crazy, mechanical system. Like, oh, the military.

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P.J. Hairston Signed with North Carolina After Duke Kept Misspelling His Name [Larry Brown Sports]
UNC basketball signee P.J. Hairston: Duke ‘couldn’t spell my name right’ [Greensboro News & Record]