I am absolutely not finished reacting to this one. It's been a very interesting day. Mark Packer (Primetime with the Packman) says he doesn't know what his dad Billy is smoking, Greg Doyel asking K about the infamous Laettner stomp, Jim Rome all over Henderson, four Around the Horn guys denouncing the act (with three calling for longer suspensions), two PTI guys denouncing (with at least one calling for a longer suspension). Bill Simmons hates Duke. It's been a weird day.

The nose is broken, which infuriates me even more. Gerald Henderson, if you're going to ruin your own season, punt the ball into the stands. Don't take out somebody else. This is inexcusable.

But I think the worm is starting to turn. The national media is waking up to what K is really made of, what makes Duke 'dook.' You don't play that way? You just did!

I'm interested to hear Wayne Ellington's thoughts on the incident. High school teammate and friend hits current teammate and friend. Hard.

What exactly are they teaching them in Durham? They hand-check every play on defense. They slap away defenders and hook on offense. It's risk/reward. K knows they won't call it every time, so they get away with it. The occasional foul call is fine because you've already gotten away with it nine times. Ugh. I'm all over the place today.

Obviously, Adam Lucas has the access that the rest of us don't, and he captures the essence of the Tar Heel emotions in yesterday's piece.

Billy Packer is a psychic. A clairvoyant. A mind-reader. I didn't get to hear him (sad, I know) on television because I was at the game, but I've had several opportunities to listen to his thoughts on the Henderson-Hansbrough incident. Let's review them:


"It was not a nasty, I mean obviously, the contact was strong, but Henderson was not looking for a cheap shot there."

Oh really, Billy? So you've got Bonnie Bernstein reporting live from inside Gerald Henderson's head, neurons firing neurotransmitters across synapses, and you know what's going on?

"I don't think it was a dirty shot at all by Henderson, just one of those deals, you're going after the ball."

Right. The ball that had left Tyler's hand and was away from his face.

"Here's something you can say, 14.5 seconds to go, North Carolina 12 up, what's Hansbrough on the floor?"

Well, he's #50 in white, but I think you meant why is he on the floor. Well, a) there was a sub for Tyler at the scorer's table, but Tyler was shooting free throws, and Mike Copeland couldn't come into the game yet. Hansbrough did not come out with Miller or Terry so those two could get their own curtain calls on Senior Day.

If we're using that logic, why is Henderson on the floor? He was Duke's best player that day, and before Tyler hit the free throw line, all of Duke's starters save the fouled-out Greg Paulus were in the game. If their best player is in the game, why can't we have our best player in the game?

If Duke believes it can come back (and with K's fouling and time out strategy, they sure acted like they were trying to win), why can't Carolina believe it can still be beaten? We've had a history of giving up late leads this season. I don't see any problem with Carolina competing to ensure victory until the buzzer.

"The fans are booing something that was not an intentional foul at all. You can see there, Henderson's coming across the lane, and it was elbow on nose."

Thanks for the brilliant insight.

The worst part of this whole incident is that it overshadowed a brilliant Hansbrough performance. A classic Tar Heel performance in this rivalry. He was unstoppable Sunday. Well, you had to draw blood to stop him, and even then he still wanted a piece of you. Tyler was pushed and hit all game long, and the Blue Devils got away with it. Not anymore.

Don't forget to read Pat Forde.

"This was not a premeditated knockout.

However, Henderson appeared to be going in with the intent to deliver
an enthusiastically hard foul. There is a place in the game for hard
fouls, for forcefully preventing easy baskets, for occasionally
planting an opponent on his rear end.

But when the hard foul goes wrong, for whatever reason, you run the
risk of it accidentally turning into assault and battery. Like this."

I'm late on the ladies' third in a row ACC tournament championship. Congrats to them.

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