Revisiting Hansbrough-gate

March 5th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

At the risk of posting yet another video on this already pixel-bloated front page, here’s the somewhat brutal footage of Tyler Hansbrough taking a major facial from Gerald Henderson in the closing minutes of yesterday’s UNC win, courtesy of Loser with Socks.

Besides Billy Packer’s denialist nonsense, what most impressed me about the whole thing is how much Hansbrough would have destroyed three or four Duke players given the chance. I know that seems childish, but that dude is a haus, and he looked about as mad as anyone’s ever seen him.

Anyway, as for the “intentional or not question,” I think it’s pretty clear Henderson didn’t try to do exactly what he did. That’s convoluted; what I mean is that the guy didn’t necessarily intend to clock Psycho T in the nose, but he did try to foul the guy really hard, probably harder than he needed to, and this is what happened. In that case, the ejection is probably fair.

My favorite part of the whole last few minutes, though, was this: Roy Williams and Mike Kryzewski huddled by the sideline, both waiting to hear the referee’s verdict. It seemed clear that Williams was doing all of the talking, and Coach K was just standing there, looking furious, thinking he should say something but not wanting to escalate a shouting match with a guy in a tweed suit. Funny stuff. Anyway, he fired his shot after the game:

“The game was over before that,” he said. “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.”

The rivalry game slogan on ESPN should now read: Duke-UNC - Even more fun when Duke’s losing!

UPDATE: Apparently Hansbrough’s nose is broken. Considering the Carrie-esque fountain of blood, that seems about right.