John Wall dreamed of going to North Carolina to play basketball. Instead, he went to Kentucky and became a consensus All-American and a No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

But as a recruit, the Raleigh, North Carolina native was completely turned off by the Tar Heels.

Wall was a guest on the Run Your Race podcast with former Carolina guard Theo Pinson on Tuesday. In the interview, Wall said North Carolina was his top choice to attend college until the Tar Heels messed things up.

“I wanted to go to Carolina, that’s my dream school. I’ll tell you the story about that, a lot of people don’t know that. They f—d it up,” Wall said. “They was the only one that could have gotten me not to go play for Coach Cal. Because my mom had gotten sick, had an aneurysm … and I’m like, ‘I can’t leave home, I’ve got to stay close. That’s my best friend.'”

And Wall said NC State wasn’t on the table because he felt it would be so close to home that he’d never be on campus.

But why wasn’t UNC involved? Wall recalled a slight from former UNC standout Tyler Hansbrough when he was on his visit.

“So I go on the visit, Ty Lawson and them are there. Tyler Hansbrough’s got his own section,” Wall said. “I’m the recruit, I walk up and say, ‘What’s up.’ He said, ‘I don’t talk to recruits.’ I was like, ‘F—k you, I ain’t never coming here.’ That f—d it up right there.

“I really went up to him to shake his hand. He’s the national player of the year, just won a championship. I’m like, I want to talk to Tyler Hansbrough. … I’m like, ‘I need to meet Ty Lawson and Tyler Hansbrough, this is a dream come true for me.’ School I loved growing up. He did that and I’m like, ‘I got something for him.’

Wall didn’t get to meet Hansbrough on the court, but he did get to face North Carolina at Rupp Arena during his lone season with Big Blue.

On Dec. 5, 2009, Wall helped lead a 68-66 win over Carolina with 16 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.

UNC finished that 2009-10 season in the NIT at 20-17. Kentucky went 35-3 with Wall leading the way but dropped out of the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight.