By Jared TrexlerThe Phanatic Magazine
In the rights of full disclosure -- my family and friends are firmly engulfed in the Duke-UNC saga, many bleeding royal and Carolina blue.
Apparently, Tyler Hansbrough just bleeds red like the rest of humanity.
The heavyweight bout bantered about throughout (look at that tongue twister) college basketball since Sunday has monumental significance on a national, and personal level.
As Pat Forde of ESPN.com and The Phanatic Magazine's Greg Wiley have already aptly stated, Gerald Henderson's flying elbow into Hansbrough's kisser may not have been VICIOUS, but it was sure vicious.
Meaning, there wasn't any harmful intent from the Episcopal Academy product, who played high school ball with current Tar Heel Wayne Ellington. The players and their families are very close.
But, that isn't to say Henderson's body blow didn't have any intent at all -- send a message to my hated rival about the fourth butt whoppin' in the last six games between the two schools separated by "eight miles and a shade of blue."
To fully grasp the flagrant foul and its ramifications, you must know the surrounding setting and a conveniently forgotten back story.
Mike Krzyzewski doesn't like losing. Not an earth-shattering statement since most high-profile coaches detest losing's by-products (lack of heart, hustle, execution) and its effects (loss of stature, funds, big-time high school blue chippers).
None of the latter will ever happen to Coach K, who built college basketball's Rome in what seemed like a day. He has a court named in his honor, a program well respected by his peers and a winning product built under the foundation of school and family.
But, Krzyzewski's family has never played nice with others. And that stems from his distaste for losing and his uncanny spin-like ability to blame the L's on everybody but himself. He'll belittle officials to he is blue in the face.
At a charity golf tournament last summer, I asked ACC official Frank Scagliotta what he felt the difference was between former North Carolina head coach Dean Smith and Coach K.
Granted Scagliotta has a special place in his heart for Smith, who put in a good word for the high school teacher and football coach when he was first breaking into the referee ranks. Yet, the answer was telling.
"Dean is polite. He'll tell you he disagrees, but is usually respectful doing it. Mike, well Mike lets you know how he is feeling in rather unrepeatable words."
Krzyzewski doesn't have to resort to such sewer language often, because he normally has a team far superior to its competition.
Not this year. This Duke team stinks, obviously strong language used as a comparison to Blue Devil squads of the past. It can't score -- eighth in points per game during conference play -- and it can't create a seamless flow on offense -- more turnovers than assists for the season.
The 2007 Blue Devils have won with defense -- first in points allowed conference-wide -- and heart, veracity and passion. The last three descriptive words all of which can pass the breaking point when the emotion of a rivalry sets in.
That's what Duke was facing. North Carolina was a lot better on the floor Sunday at every position, and Krzyzewski knew it. Knowing full well his club couldn't outplay the Tar Heels, he hoped to be physical, dive for loose balls, outwork the men in powder blue.
It was succesful to an extent, especially during a second-half comeback, but over 40 minutes the thoroughbreds started galloping as the fatigued horses walked back to the barn.
"Carolina is better than we are," Krzyzewski blankly stated after the game. When is the last time you've heard THAT said in a UNC-Duke post-game presser. Even if true during Wallace-Stackhouse or Jamison-Carter, never has Coach K been so candid about his team's deficiency in, gasp, TALENT, compared to North Carolina.
Maybe the anger started building. Getting thumped by double figures as the game wore down, it's undoubtedly true that both coaches may have been better served emptying their benches.
The operative phrase being, both coaches.
In typical Krzyzewski fashion, he failed to point that out...at first.
"The game was over before that," he said of the foul. "I mean the outcome of the game, let's put it that way. That's unfortunate, too, that those people were in the game in that play. Maybe this wouldn't have happened."
So, because Hansbrough was in the game with 14 ticks on the clock -- at the free-throw line with Michael Copeland at the scorer's desk ready to sub him out -- he deserved a bloodied nose. Henderson was "allowed" to go all WWF on his a%$.
Makes perfect sense in Krzyzewski's warped little world.
He did conclude later that, "We should have probably both had our walk-ons in."
Probably a wise statement in this VCR, game-taped age, especially considering Duke's group on the floor with 18.7 seconds left included Henderson, Josh McRoberts, DeMarcus Nelson and Jon Scheyer with Greg Paulus just fouling out.
In typical Tyler fashion, he followed a missed free throw, went up strong and drew initial contact before Henderson put on the Blue Devil cape and landed an elbow sure to be heard around the Triangle for years to come.
Physicality is fine. It adds a sense of toughness, speaking volumes to your opponent that nothing is coming easy over the next 40 minutes.
But there is a time, place and approach for such actions.
Time -- 14 seconds left -- place -- a rout at the Smith Center -- and approach -- elbow to the kisser -- were not correct in any regard.
Unless of course you are Krzyzewski's Blue Devils and you hate losing. So much so, that the anger boils over and frustration sets in.
Reality set in as well. Duke is no where near North Carolina's equal this season, and someone had to play for such "injustice."
Meet Hansbrough's schnoz.
The blood on the Smith Center floor was eventually wiped clean, but the lasting effects of its cause and the telling attitudes Henderson's hit brought into the limelight will not go away so easily.
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Jared Trexler can be reached at jtrexler@phanaticmag.com
29 comments:
What is a VCR?
Here's the thing. It was an extremely aggressive foul, although I truly believe that Henderson was aiming for the ball, and had no time to react when the Duke sub fouled Hansbrough and knocked the ball away. And the call was probably a good one, as intent is not an element of the crime, so to speak. BUT, if a Duke starter had rebounded that ball, he would have kicked it out. Duke was getting their butts kicked, and no way was Henderson going to let Hansblabla dunk yet another time.
Players take harder hits in practice. There was no intent to injure another player. Next play.
I think you should take your victory and be gracious about it. I mean you guys won, but there is always something to whine about.
If I were a coach preparing my team to make a run in the NCAA Tournamemt why would I risk injurying one of my best players when the game was already won? Why?
It was to try to humilate a rival, no other reason. That is pathetic.
You Carolina girls should be mad at Williams for even risking your players for no reason.
Stop your pathetic crying and making an issue where there is no issue to be made.
I have issue with the credibility of your article seeing that you forgot to mention that Duke had a walk on in the game when Hansbrough was fouled hard. S. Johnson is a walk on and the one who fouled Hansbrough before Henderson, and Roy and Gerald Henderson were the unsportsmanlike people in this game. UNC fans should realize that Hansbrough, quite possibly their best player should not have been in the game at the time. Stop crying Carolina.
I think you and others have misimterpreted K's initial statement about having "those guys" in the game - "That's unfortunate, too, that THOSE people were in the game in THAT play. He meant Gerald AND Tyler - because of the injury to Hansbrough and the loss of Henderson for the first tourney game.
Here's the deal. Why is Tyler trying to score 1 on 3 with 14 seconds left up by 12. Any smart classy player would back that out and run time off the clock and not try and run up the score. Wayne Ellington tried to get fancy with 30 seconds left up by 14. He lost the ball going up for a "showtime" dunk. Carolina was trying to run up the score not because there classless, but because they just don't know any better. There young and stupid, and coached by a hillbilly that will never win with his own recruits. So taking it one on three up 12 with 14 seconds left, Tyler had a hard foul coming, he got it (intentional or unintentional) maybe he'll think twice next time being up 14 points with 12 seconds left trying to take on the whole world. Way to go IDIOT!!!
Talk about blaming the victim?!!!!
I am sincerely amazed at the number of people that are defending the violent late game foul just because Tyler was still in the game and trying to put the rebound back up. It honestly seems that the victim is getting more criticism than the perpetrators. Un-freakin’-believable!
First, consider the following ACC related comebacks:
• Rodney Rodgers former ACC rookie of the year and selected to the All-ACC 1st Team in 1991-92 and 1992-93 scored 9 points in 9 seconds to win a game during his rookie season with the Denver Nuggets.
• UNC came back and beat Duke when down by 8 points with 17 seconds left (and this was before the three point line was in effect)
• Duke’s Jon Scheyer once scored 21 points in 75 seconds during a high school basketball game.
With 50 seconds left in the game Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout to discuss his strategy.
In addition to the starting 3 point ace Scheyer, the other Duke players still in the game during the final minute were Gerald Henderson (who had a game high 16 pts.), and starter Demarcus Nelson. The final two Duke players in the game were brought in after Duke’s starting point guard Greg Paulus fouled out with 19 seconds left, and starting center Josh McRoberts fouled out with 18 seconds left in the game.
UNC had in the game Hansbrough who was shooting free throws after being fouled by McRoberts (with Mike Copeland waiting at the scores table to come in the game), and bench players Danny Green, Deon Thompson, Bobby Frasor, and senior walk-on Dewey Burke.
What Tyler Hansbrough lacks in talent he makes up for in effort. He does not have an off switch. Giving all out effort is what makes him the player he is, and is why he was still trying to score so late in the game. Not because we was trying to embarrass Duke. Coach K can do that all by himself. Any comments other than a sincere concern for the welfare of Tyler Hansbrough were inappropriate at that juncture. His audacious comments were as distasteful as the hard foul. Henderson’s intentions are unimportant. If you kill someone while driving drunk it doesn’t matter if you intended to or not. I personally do not feel that a one game suspension is sufficient for such a violent foul, regardless of the intent. This was the most egregious thing I have seen on a basketball court since “The Punch” involving Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington.
These KIDS are on scholarship true, but they are not getting paid to play this game. They are STUDENT ATHLETES. This level of physical play should be reserved for the thug league aka the NBA.
So before everyone starts blaming the victim, how about taking a look at the facts.
To: Anonymous
Talk about blaming the victim?!!!!
Do you expect anyone to believe that Duke was going to make a comeback down double digits with 14 seconds and Carolina ball?
The fact that you think Carolina is the innocent victim is amazing. Carolina is just as guilty as Henderson was for the hard foul.
Do you honestly think that a team with pride is just going to let you keep running up the score? What type of team would roll over and just let your rival run up the score?
Was it a hard foul...you bet it was! Should it have been a hard foul...yes it should have!
I would have expected the same move from Carolina if the roles were reversed. Would I have been upset? Yes, but then after thinking about it for awhile I would have realized that my best players shouldn't have been on the floor trying to run up the score and risking injury before the ACC and NCAA tournament.
Its a matter of respect and in my opinion Carolina showed no respect for Duke. A respectful team would have won with dignity and class and realize that there is no reason to run up the score any more...nothing good can come from it.
The game should be played hard between these two great programs. Mutual respect for each others program is important and so is pride.
Carolina showed neither!
If you suit up to play the game and disrespect the other team when the outcome is clear, then expect something bad to happen...intentional or not!
To Danny Says:
Yes Duke got beat...an "ass-whooping" there is no denying that. I never deny that fact, but the fact that you used the word "ass-whooping" is rather ironic since that implies fighting words.
I've played competitive sports, which I doubt you have, and the right thing to do is be a gracious winner and don't try to run up the score and/or add insult to injury. There is no denying that Carolina wasn't/isn't a gracious winner and neither are you judging from your language.
You can't deny the fact that there wouldn't had been a hard foul if Hansbrough had just pulled the ball out like he should have.
I'm going to agree with the one game suspension because the hard foul resulted in a player getting hurt and that is unfortunate, but it all could have been avoided if Carolina had just shown some respect and not try to run up the score or padded Tyler's numbers.
If Tyler had not gotten hurt then I would say that a suspension would have been unwarranted.
By the way Danny, I like how you misrepresent my statements as saying hard fouls are acceptable. I think it is part of the game and I don't particularly like it, but under certain situations it is acceptable and this is clearly one of them. When the intention is to run up the score and disrespect a program that has certainly earned it.
Obviously you probably have never played competitive sports or been on a respected winning team or program to realize the rules of respect in sports (especially amongst rivals), so I don't expect you to understand what I'm saying.
I really do not see what the big deal about all of this is. Tyler is a big physical player who has thrown plenty of illegal elbow to other player's noses. I'm not saying that he deserved to get his nose bloodied, but when you play as physical as he does, incidents such as the one which occurred late in Sunday's game are bound to happen. You should be able to handle what he dishes out.
I think that UNC was acting very unsportsmanlike. There was no need to keep running up the score or having your starters in the game. Roy should have taken his players out and instructed them to just hold the ball.
I can agree that Henderson's foul was a hard foul. Obviously he was fustrated. Yet, I do not think it was intentional or malicious. Roy and Mike didn't think it was intentional. either I do not think you should suspend a player if the foul was not intentional. I think there must be an intent element to warrant a suspension. Otherwise, the standard is subjective and will be applied unfairly. If everyone agrees that it was not malicious or intentional, why suspend henderson. If he had intentionally grabbed a player's arm, would he be suspended? Proabably not. The reason he was suspended was because Tyler ended up with blood on his face and the Referees gave into the vocal UNC home crowd. This is not right. The punishment must be measured by the guilty player's behavior, not by the outcome.
The original article is extremely biased. The author claims Duke stinks, but they are still in the top-25, unlike FF participants LSU and George Masom who won't even make the tourney, or elite-8 Uconn of a year ago.
The author paints Dean as a saint and coach-K as evil, even though K has done a hell of a lot more for charity than Dean did e.g. Yes K uses foul language, but he is not a boozer like Dean.
With 19 secs left, when paulus fouled out, UNC had a 11 point lead and Frasor was shooting 2. At that time the game was over and Tyler should have come out. Roy is lying when he says the game was not over.
Henderson committed a hard foul, which unfortunately turned out much worst. No way he should have been suspended. The author is full of it if he says K instructed him to do so. If he did why wouldn't he use a seldom used player like a wlakon, or Zoubek instead?
Tomaris
Henderson's play was CLEARLY unintentional. We have the ability to watch the game in super slow motion and i think that distorts the actual speed at which this play happened.
Granted, if i am Henderson and see him going up to try to dunk on a walk on with 14 seconds left...i am gonna go up hard and make sure that doesn't happen.
With that being said, once he doesn't leave the ground and the ball squirts out, you can see Henderson's body react and turn to go toward the ball. Anyone who is hung out to dry in mid air like that will have a reflex reaction to bring your arm down to brace for the unavoidable fall. It just so happened that his face was in the way (and has anyone else noticed that Hansbrough looks like he is pouting ALL the time). To think that Henderson went up in the air to block a ball, changed his bodies direction, and while beginning to fall to the ground, had enough time to say to himself "hey, i could really whack this guy with my elbow while looking the other way." Please tell me that the American public is not that blinded by their hatred for Duke to see this.
Two other points:
--All of these articles that say how duke is "dethroned" or falling from grace...this team is the result of their dominance and big recruiting classes that found them in consecutive years bringing in 1 recruit each year (Loul Deng who left early, Shaun Livingston who never made it to Duke, and Demarcus Nelson the only one of the three that was not a transcending type athelete)
--and did anyone else notice how Hansblabla (as another post-er put it) laid on the floor till Henderson and the Duke team had cleared the area and then got up and tried to be hard like he wanted to retaliate but never made any real move toward action...there is a term for this type of behavior and it starts with a "p" and ends with a "y"
and PS: Henderson was Duke's player of the game...i am glad he was playing hard up until the last seconds...i have seen too much quit in the Duke team this year...i like his future with us
WHY did Carolina even have players on the foul line attemping to get the rebound? Almost always in that situation you pull your players back (to avoid getting a foul called on you stopping the clock).You really do not care if you get the rebound because more points mean nothing. So if Roy does what 95% of coaches would have done, then Hansbrough misses, Duke gets the meaningless rebound and the clock runs out. Carolina still wins big. Maybe someone needs to ask ol Roy what his intent was.
No crap Hansbrough was in the game! #1 it was SENIOR NIGHT, so every senior got to walk off alone to their own cheer. #2 Copeland was at the scorers table comming in for Hansbrough but he missed the free throw and got his own rebound. #3 DOOK had the same amount of starters in the game as UNC. #4 Carolina did have a walk-on in the game. Did you see who was restraining him after the foul? D. Burke -- a senior WALK ON!
The blame is not on Roy, it's on the player who made an unnecessarily hard hit on Hansbrough with 14 seconds left in the game.
UNC tried to run out the clock with 20 seconds left, but Duke intentinoally fouled Bobby Frasor. Then when Tyler rebounded his missed free throw he was immediately fouled by McUseless. If the game was over why didn't Duke let Bobby dribble out the clock? Also, has Duke fallen so low that they have to beg for mercy from UNC? If they didn't want UNC to score, they should have gotten a damn rebound.
Also lost in all this is how Roy starts his seniors (walk-ons included) in their last home game, no matter who they are playing. He is a class act. K wouldn't dream of starting a walk-on during a Carolina game, because he's more worried about his W-L record than his players.
tyler shot the free throw and got his own rebound. nice try though.
Dean is a saint. K is evil. And Tomaris is a mouth-breathing Clemson grad.
Since when did anyone wearing Duke or Carolina blue quit trying to win a basketball game? When did a 12 point lead in a game between two teams that have a long history on BOTH sides of miracle comebacks become a blow-out? All of these comments about who was in the game are patently ridiculous. Both of these coaches demand that their players play hard for every second they are on the floor. BOTH also have a VERY LONG history of leaving their starters in long after a game has been decided. You don't even need to go back to the 1970's to find miracle comebacks involving these teams. Just go back to the UVa-Duke or Duke-Clemson games this year.
Anyone blaming Roy for leaving anyone in the game has obviously never been on a winning team. I know it is a cliche but winners truly never quit. Losers quit and it is the responsibility of the losing coach to concede the game by pulling his starters. You can say a lot of things about the Duke program and Coach K but losers is not one of them. That is why the key eligible long ball threats were still in the game as Hansbrough went to the line. K had clearly NOT conceded the game at that point.
Finally, one comment to the person who thinks Hansbrough has some feline traits - the "kid" has ABUSED every player Duke has thrown at him. He's made particularly easy work of First Team All-American, National Defensive POY, and ACC Defensive POY Shelden "The Landlord" Williams and Defensive First Team All-ACC Josh McRoberts. Maybe Josh and the boys would have a little better luck with the Carolina women's team. On second thought, Ivory Latta would just leave Paulus' jock around his ankles at the top of the key.
You dookies and ABCers are the biggest hypocrites ever. Talking about someone else running up the score.
When JJ Reddick played at dook, K would keep him on floor until late in the game, every game. Even 40 point blowouts against some nobody.
Was it intentional? Hell yes it was, you block shots with your hands. Not you're elbows and forearms. Henderson knew what he was doing, and got what he deserved.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but go NC State!
I believe all the below quotes show why dook is considered the premiere snobby, cocky, uppity, and most hated college in America.
They can say they're hated for "winning" all they want. But theres 3 other more winning programs in college basketball, and none of them are close to dook in hatred factor.
But congrats to Coach K, he did his part. He somehow, someway, found a way to put some of the blame on UNC. Kudos to every sportswriter in America for seeing past him.
As for dook fans, keep crying that it was innocent, 99% of the country could care less, and the other 1% are probably doing a tag-team ESPN broadcast sometime soon, and will be voicing the pro-dook opinions. Enjoy your buttwhoopings, dookies.
It's really simple.
The team that's losing has the responsibility to run up the white flag.
dook did not.
They had their starters in (minus the ones that had fouled out). They called a time-out with less than a minute to go. dook initiated that entire final sequence by commiting an intentional foul on Frasier.
Again, it's up to the team that's losing to signal garbage time by putting in their scrubs.
koach k chose not to do so. As the result, he has once again been exposed to the masses as the hypocritical tool that he really is.
People getting so upset about this is hillarious. Was it a hard foul? Yes. Did he intend to foul him hard? Yes. Are hard fouls a part of basketball? Of course. Would anyone, including TH, have thought twice about it if his elbow had landed on his chest instead of his nose? No way.
As for the K/Smith comparison, the profanity at the refs is a laughable point to make. First off, and most important, you've seriously undermined your credibility as a philly sports expert/fan. Second, for all of his yelling at refs DURING a game (and there is a lot), coach k NEVER blames the refs AFTER a game. In the 2002 regional finals, there was no call as the entire indiana team fouled boozer under the basket with duke down by 1 and time expiring. Asked after the game about it, the indiana players said of course we were trying to foul him. It makes more sense to make him win it from the line than an easy lay-up under the basket. Asked if he was pissed about the no call, coach k didn't blame the refs and said, "We shouldn't have been in that position in the first place."
As for Smith, legend has it that when Jimmy V was in the hospital, every ACC coach visited him except Dean. All coach k does is serve on the board of directors of the V foundation.
This is just another example of why there is such disdain for Duke's men's basketball program nationwide.
Coach K has coached dirty play since he's been there with the attitude that the refs can't call everything. I find his response to this incident the same as I find his response to most things coming out of that program, disgusting.
It's a shame because Duke is good enough to not have to pull these kinds of stunts. It amazes me for a man that has seen the success K has to have such an inferiorty complex.
You Dook idiots are making our case for us. You are the willing minions of K the Tool, who is the biggest hypocrite in college hoops. There has been no concern for Tyler, and K keeps making an a$$ of himself every time he opens his mouth. Much like the Dook supporters who keep trying to blame the victim. Carolina had 4 subs in- K can't say that. K had them foul Frasor as he was trying to run out the clock. Seriously weak arguments, but that's about what I expect. Just more classless acts by a classless coach and program.
What a load of horse-dookie. Frasor (a sub!) pulls the ball out with :20 seconds to go and Paulus (a starter!) fouls him. Who is responsible for that? A team doesn't let up on an opponent that is still battling. Too many crazy things can happen. K was pressing to the bitter end. THAT'S why Carolina is hitting lay-ups and attempting dunks - they were beating the press.
Henderson hit exactly what he was going for. Trying to block the ball? That's simply untrue. He never even looks at the ball as it is batted away. He comes in with his eyes on Tyler then swings his forearm DOWN into Tyler's face. There are plenty of replays to watch though I doubt the dook apologists will concede what they can see with their own eyes.
To suggest that dook would never have attempted the put-back is laughable. K is infamous for leaving his starters in to the end of a game...he gets berated annually for burning his starters out (can you say "J.J Redick"). You might also be asked to explain what Henderson (yes, THAT Henderson) is doing dunking the ball with :13 to go in a 65-48 destruction of St. John's. Did he really think SJ was coming back from 17 down?
And I haven't even mentioned the total lack of class exhibited in the aftermath. Henderson is the player for whom this is "most unfortunate"? Really, K? Are ya' sure about that?
Andy,
"As for the K/Smith comparison, the profanity at the refs is a laughable point to make"
It makes a difference if you are trying to raise kids that use the English language properly.
I have trouble keeping my son's mouth completely clean because of fools like you that allow any lax behavior.
To try and put the blame on Carolina and Tyler, well lets condone drive by shooting of innocent bystanders and say, well, they shouldn't have been standing there so they got what they deserve.
How would you feel if it was your child.
This reminds me of the Monica Lewinsky ordeal. Whether you think this is a big deal largely comes down to which side of the "aisle" you're on. Smart people can argue either side with equal fervor. If you're a Duke hater, it was a huge deal. If you're a Duke supporter, it was much ado about nothing. If McRobert's was hit by Ginyard, you can bet the Duke supporters would be complaining just as loud and the UNC fans would be calling them whining elitists. This I'm sure of.
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