Tyler Hansbrough wants to retire the nickname “Psycho T,” given to him his freshman year by North Carolina’s strength coach during one of their grueling weightlifting sessions.

Hansbrough’s alter ego wasn’t confined to the weight room, of course, though his screams and stares did make younger teammates jumpy. It became the source of Internet fame and created somewhat of a cult following around Chapel Hill. Bookstores printed T-shirts with his face and moniker, until lawyers politely asked them to stop.

Want crazy? Psycho T won four times at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium. One Halloween, he donned the mask he wore after Duke’s Gerald Henderson broke his nose with an elbow. In the players’ lounge, he and teammates engaged in a game that can only be described as part ping-pong, part torture.

“Tyler’s a little wacko, and Psycho T is about his drive and everything,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, chuckling during a recent phone interview. “But he’s wacko because he likes to have fun. It’s a very good wacko.”

No matter. Hansbrough said he’s ready to put it all behind him.

“That was something in college,” the Indiana Pacers’ first-round pick said Friday. “I’m trying to let that go.”

Psycho T might be retired, but the legend lives on . . .

Hansbrough had Tar Heels fans holding their breath when he amused a large group of students by jumping off the balcony into a pool at a fraternity house. This, apparently, is how he passed the time while deciding each summer whether to return to school or jump early to the NBA.

The picture, which showed Hansbrough making the leap in a T-shirt and khaki shorts with his shoes on, made its way around the Internet.

The above-ground pool appeared to be about 3 feet deep. Hansbrough is 6-9. You do the math. Williams did.

“I wasn’t too happy with the jumping off the balcony,” Williams said, laughing. “I love him playing tricks on his teammates and laughing at himself. He’s just a big goofy kid.”

Playing ping-pong wasn’t good enough.

Too gentlemanly. So he ‘T’-ed it up a notch.

Hansbrough played Texas-style ping-pong with his high school friends in Poplar Bluff, Mo. Scoring two consecutive points meant the loser had to lift his shirt, and the winner got to blast the ball at his bare chest.

He brought the tradition with him to Chapel Hill.

Hansbrough and teammate Bobby Frasor demonstrated the game on Williams’ show. YouTube made it famous.

“I love the Texas ping-pong,” Williams said. “He’s a fun-loving young man who doesn’t let that humor show until he becomes more confident in his situation.”

The Pacers say they want toughness.

Hansbrough provides that.

Duke’s Henderson came flying in like a professional wrestler on Hansbrough’s nose late in a game in 2007.

Hansbrough was floored, face down. After several seconds, he popped up and went looking for Henderson as blood spilled all over the court. There are photos of officials and teammates standing in his path.

The blood. The stare. It was all there.

Psycho T was in full force afterward when he asked to have a picture taken of his face and jersey so he could use it as motivation in the weight room.

“I was like, ‘Get a picture of this so people will believe how bloody it really was,’ " Hansbrough told SI.com “It was gushing. It was crazy.”

Hansbrough later wore his protective mask when he dressed up as Jason from the “Friday the 13th” movies for Halloween.

Hansbrough is a large gym rat, but he did more than work on his game as a kid growing up in Poplar Bluff.

Hansbrough, along with brothers Greg and Ben, used to go around the neighborhood shooting up houses with BB guns.

“Those kids used to run around the neighborhood terrorizing everybody,” said Hansbrough’s coach at Poplar Bluff High School, John David Pattillo. “They used to go down to the neighborhood pool and half the people would get up and leave because they were coming down to be rowdy. It was a good kind of fun. There was no harm done and Tyler was the most innocent of the three.”

Mischievous, too.

Once after seeing the movie “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” Hansbrough turned off all the lights at home and waited for Ben to return with his date.

When Ben arrived home, Tyler turned the blender on full blast, causing his younger brother to run away.

“Ben didn’t know anybody was home,” Hansbrough’s father, Gene, said. “That blender came on and Ben jumped across the room about 50 feet and dove underneath the couch, leaving the young lady just standing there. It was hilarious and a sight you had to see.”

Hansbrough works hard. Maybe you’ve heard.

His game days began with an early morning visit to Whole Foods to load up on organic meals. There was also the protein shake.

Hansbrough had a Reggie Miller-like pregame shooting routine. Five hundred shots, from various positions on the court. Mid-range jumpers. Three-pointers. Turnaround jumpers. Various low-post moves. Five straight makes in some spots, eight in others. Miss, start over.

He usually followed 20 points, 10 rebounds and a victory with an assortment of stretching exercises and an ice bath to help quicken his body’s recovery time before calling it a night.

“I’ve had a routine I’ve done for four years,” Hansbrough said. “I’m kind of superstitious.”

Just not Psycho.

Not anymore.