PHP to ASP.NET Scalar Query Port

Lets pretend for a moment that you are writing a bit of PHP code that determines if a value is present in your database. Such code might look something like the following:

<?php
function UserExists($username, $db) {
  $sql = "SELECT * FROM Accounts WHERE UserName = '" . $username . "'";
  $result = mysql_query($sql, $db);
  if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
    return true;
  }
  else {
    return false;
  }
}
?>

Now suppose you've been asked to switch this application to ASP.NET 2.0/C#. What would you do? One possible port of this scalar query is listed below:

protected bool UserExists(string userName)
{
  int results = 0;
  SqlConnection conn = new     SqlConnection(WebConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["Sample ConnectionString"].ConnectionString);
  SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
  cmd.Connection = conn;
  cmd.CommandText = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Account WHERE UserName = @username";

  try
  {
    SqlParameter paraUserName = new SqlParameter("@username", SqlDbType.NChar, 40);
    paraUserName.Value = userName;
    conn.Open();
    cmd.Parameters.Add(paraUserName);
    results = (int)cmd.ExecuteScalar();
  }
  catch (Exception ex)
  {
    Console.Write(ex.Message);
  }
  finally
  {
    conn.Close();
  }

  //Return true if userName was found in the database
  if (results > 0)
  {
    return true;
  }
  else
  {
    return false;
  } 
}