What should happen to Duke's Gerald Henderson?

[BYH]

He is a ****ing thug.

Maybe he can hang out with Tony Skinn. Learn how to surreptiously punch a guy in the nuts.

he is not a thug. quit throwing the term around. and thats coming from a tar heel alumnus. he made a bad play. i believe that there was a "no easy buckets" command given by saruman and he was a little too zealous. i will not believe that he meant to hurt him. but i do believe that it was supposed to be a message. he got suspended for a game, justice was served. and i am as giddy as a school girl to see the media (finally) question the tactics of coach k......

C'mon. Down by 8 or 10 or whatever it was with less than 20 seconds left and he commits a foul like that? Completely intentional. When you're playing that "hard" (re: dirty) in such a hopeless situation, you're trying to hurt someone who has just beaten you. It's ****ty sportsmanship.

He deserves to be out for the whole damn tournament. Thug.

 

[spnited]

Despite BYH's "Starman justice" impersonation, Henderson got what he deserved, 1-game suspension for flagrant foul/ejection.

 

[MavRick]

C'mon. Down by 8 or 10 or whatever it was with less than 20 seconds left and he commits a foul like that? Completely intentional. When you're playing that "hard" (re: dirty) in such a hopeless situation, you're trying to hurt someone who has just beaten you. It's ****ty sportsmanship.

He deserves to be out for the whole damn tournament. Thug.

you dont get it. he isnt a thug. his actions were questionable, to say the least. but lets look at his body of work, before we are so quick to label. the kid grew up priviledged in the burbs. he's a good golfer, for chrissakes. im not excusing what he did. but c'mon. this rush to judgement is a farce. it was a combative, intentional foul. he is suspended for a game. lets let it go.

or rather focus on K. who is the real snake in all of this.....

 

[KYSportsWriter]

What the **** does Henderson being a good golfer or any of that other **** you mentioned have to do with what he did to TH? And this is all coming from a UNC alum? Jeez.

Just how, exactly, is Coach K the "snake" in all this mess?

 

[Guy_Incognito]

I think he's worth a first rounder. Oldham too.

 

[Breakyoself]

look at how he went up. His elbowed was braced the whole time as if to strike someone. if you go to block a shot, your arm is usually straight, unless you plan to block it with your elbow. I could understand it more if his arm was in a blocking motion and his elbow hit hansbrough on the way down, but that is not how it happened. he went in with his bow ready to hit..maybe not in the nose, but it was going to be a hard foul. he got what he deserved.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

So a guy should get suspended for trying to block a shot and accidentally elbowing someone in the face?

The only difference between this play and thousands of plays that are similar in nature is that Hansborough was bloodied.

That's a pretty big difference. There's lots of stuff you can do a 100 times, do it without harm and get by with. When you f- it up that 101st time, you pay. I don't think that's hypocritical. Dude tried to deliver a hard foul and messed up a guy's beak. Sit a game. Done.

 

[Twoback]

So a guy should get suspended for trying to block a shot and accidentally elbowing someone in the face?

The only difference between this play and thousands of plays that are similar in nature is that Hansborough was bloodied.

Not sure how they do it in hockey, but in college basketball players don't usually try to block shots with their elbows. See, by reaching up with their hands, they can get higher -- up where the ball might be, instead of the opposing player's nose.

 

[ondeadline]

He should be suspended for the ACC Tournament...

Well, if N.C. State has its way, he will be.

 

[andyouare?]

They should stand him up like Michael Corleone in the first Godfather and have Tyler Hansbrough take a smack at him.

 

[Pete]

So a guy should get suspended for trying to block a shot and accidentally elbowing someone in the face?

The only difference between this play and thousands of plays that are similar in nature is that Hansborough was bloodied.

Not sure how they do it in hockey, but in college basketball players don't usually try to block shots with their elbows. See, by reaching up with their hands, they can get higher -- up where the ball might be, instead of the opposing player's nose.

In the replay, though, one can see that as Hansbrough went up for the shot, the ball was stripped from his hands by another Duke player. Thus as Henderson sailed in for the attempted swat, he brought his upraised arm down in a futile swipe in the direction of the ball, which was then at roughly the height of Hansbrough's shoulder -- and quite near his noggin.

That swing, obviously, did not end well. But from checking the replay several times it doesn't appear to me anyway that Henderson steamed into the play with the intention of dropping an atomic elbow. Rather it was a somewhat wild and out-of-control attempt at a physical shot-block that went wrong. I don't have a big problem with the one-game suspension considering the carnage that resulted, but I don't think there was any intent to lay the hammer.

 

[Double Down]

Either way, right or wrong, I think this brief transcript of the ACC teleconference shows that Gregg Doyel and Coach K deserve one another:

http://www.850thebuzz.com/blog/?p=2517

For the second time this season, Mike Krzyzewski had to revisit issues long thought dead in the mainstream but still floating around in bars, cubicles and messageboards. When Duke was on a 4-game losing streak, Coach K had answer 10 year old questions about Pete Gaudet and the “lost season” thanks to Billy Packer. Yesterday, Krzyzewski got a dose of the G-R-E-double-G during the ACC conference call. CBS Sportline’s, and Triangle fav, Gregg Doyel set the flux capacitor to 1992 and brought up Christian Laettner’s infamous “stomp” on Kentucky’s Aminu Timberlake. In the famous game, Laettner hit all 10 field-goal attempts and all 10 free throws, which he topped off with last second buzzer beater that advanced the Blue Devils. What everyone (except Duke Fan) remembers from that game was Laettner planting his foot on the chest of Timberlake to send a signal because “he was submarining me.” To this day people are convinced that Laettner should have been on the bench instead of the floor for that final shot, but he was only given a technical for his supposed attempt to balance himself. Even Laettner’s own teamate Cherokee Parks didn’t buy the innocent act, being quoted in Art Chansky’s Blue Blood as saying, “It’s so Laettner.”

So what does this have to do with Gerald Henderson? Coach K has maintained that if one of his players did something with the intent to harm, he would have no problems adding his own suspension because he “would hope that [they] would have even higher standards than that.” Cue Doyel, as he hits 88 miles-an-hour and takes us back to 1992 (audio):

Doyel: I’m just wondering, how many games did you suspend Christian Laettner when he stomped on Aminu Timberlake?

K: First off, would you call that a stomp?

Doyel: Absolutely. I’ve seen it over and over.

K: Well my judgement and yours differ.

Doyel: I got some glasses, are you serious?

K: I’m not going to get into it with you because you would always want something controversial.

Doyel: I just like the truth, that’s all.

K: Believe me, nobody likes the truth more than me. After the season we’ll talk about 1992. I’d rather talk about 2007 right now.

 

[ondeadline]

I guess the high Duke standards didn't happen until after 1992, huh?

Is Krzyzewski doing his best Mark McGwire impression by not being there to "talk about the past."
<a href="http://850thebuzz.com/podcasts/doyelvsk.mp3">
Here's the audio link containing the exchange.</a>