It’s not the size of the Tar Heel in the fight…
…it’s the size Tyler Hansbrough’s nose will be in the morning.
by Ben Collins
I’m not a bloodsport theorist or anything like it, so get that notion well out of mind before continuing. Fights in sports, usually, are impulsive and most-of-the-time failing excuses to do something, anything, that ends in you looking very cool popping your jersey.
But Sunday’s Duke-UNC skirmish was not about cool. It was not an excuse for much of anything. It wasn’t even in the name of a rivalry that was so one-sided this year that it was more like light hazing than a couple of basketball games.
It was a kid — a kid in the truest sense, a 21-year-old one — who took a shot to the nose and wasn’t afraid of it. And, because of it, Tyler Hansbrough showed that this North Carolina team isn’t too young for these sort of games.
This shouldn’t make any sense, really. In hoops, the ones who fight are the headcases whose shot selection is just as big of an issue on-court as it is at-nightclub. Or it’s the young kids, slightly less talented than the rest, with something to prove to the other team and an allegiance to build with benchmates at practice.
This, as discovered by Dr. Isiah Thomas MD, is known as Don’tgointhepaint Syndrome. Hansbrough does not have this. If the UNC sophomore did anything medically-related to the Tar Heels with 14 seconds left on Sunday afternoon, other than wipe away the flowing blood off of his lips, then he took this UNC team off of life support.
After a game where the 6-9 forward got anything he wanted in the paint — with 17 rebounds, that includes on the Blue Devils’ paint — there was still no definite kick into an ACC tournament that will undoubtedly be the most talent-laden and hotly contested in the country. Despite his 26 points, Hansborough’s Tar Heels simply looked more polished than Duke as basketball players, but not any more focused as a team.
Focus and toughness, anyway, had been the problem in the last two games. An 84-77 loss to Georgia Tech where they were outright outmuscled by Ra’Sean Dickey and Thaddeus Young. Before that, another conference loss, 89-87, to a Maryland team full of guards who beat them to loose balls and fought for boards.
For this UNC team, an amalgam of unbelievably talented and just-as unbelievably young underclassmen, this looked to be an inevitable wall. This team without a junior or senior rotation player was on pace to go one-and-done in the field of 64 for the second straight year.
“This is very frustrating,” Hansbrough told the AP after the loss to Maryland. “We have to be tough.”
And with a Gerald Henderson elbow to his face, this veritable old guardsman of a sophomore didn’t look overzealous or foolish when he fought off both tears and a crowd of people in front of him in an effort to show some grit. He didn’t even look young.
He looked like he cared. He looked like a leader. And, for the first time this season, he made it look like this North Carolina basketball team is tough enough and mature enough to match its talent and make a real run at a National Championship.
19 Responses to “It’s not the size of the Tar Heel in the fight…”
Mar.5 at 5:17 pm
Ben Collins says:
Oh, and it had to be intentional.
Mar.5 at 5:21 pm
J says:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2cqrNQCe6l8
Mar.5 at 5:35 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
Call me a Coach K hater if you will, but his post-game comments were very Isiah.
“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.”
Mar.5 at 5:43 pm
KMG says:
Nothing against either Coach K or Gerald Henderson, but damn, at least make it look like you’re going for the block.
Mar.5 at 5:53 pm
Ben Collins says:
Then there’s the Billy Packer side of this, too. That guy makes Tommy Heinsohn sound like he doesn’t have a central nervous system. He’s perennially awful, but he sounded like Henderson’s grandmother yesterday.
Mar.5 at 6:12 pm
Derms says:
I would put money on the fact that Coach K, questioned the testicular fortitude of his crappy team and challenged them to be tough and this was the result. I have never like UNC or Duke for that matter, but I always rout for the heels when they plays Coach K’s hypocritical ass.
Mar.5 at 6:28 pm
DBlizzy! says:
Yeah I fully expected Coach K to step up and say his player was wrong and that it would be dealt with accordingly. For him to say “Henderson was trying to move out of the way” was… well it was disgusting. That was one of the dirtiest plays in basketball I’ve seen in a while (Reggie Evans notwithstanding) and Coach K should have stepped up and took responsibilty. I do think with the score already settled, Hansborough should have been trying to pass the ball back out instead of going back up with it, But the kid is young and he’s a beast so I can’t blame him for playing hard all the time.
Mar.5 at 9:17 pm
Ben Couch says:
Reyshawn Terry’s a senior … and starts. Don’t mean to hate, but I’m an alum, ha. Reyshawn’s good people.
Mar.6 at 12:57 am
Semo says:
This will make Tyler just a bit tougher next year. He has elbows also.
Mar.6 at 5:58 am
slickdots says:
flying bastard threw his elbow at his freaking face. Billy Packer whut game was he watching. you can hear from his old farts voice that play was dirty
Mar.6 at 11:41 am
1hush D says:
Hey, spring is springing. Maybe Coach K can take his Isiah style blame the victim comments and plant them in his colon. While he is at it, he can stick his “pimp the crippled troops for the USA team” idea up there for fertilizer. Kyle Singler, I hope you are reading this because I live right down the road from you and have watched you lead the Medford Panthers. Coach K’s recent comment is another reason many of us hate Coach K and Duke. I am looking forward to the Duke backcourt getting worked in the tourney. Singler, you should have gone to Eugene. The women look better there anyway and their Coach K isn’t a militarist piece of shit.
Mar.6 at 5:43 pm
true says:
You guys are disturbed. He hardly touched that white boy with the glass face. Yeah, Duke is really known for having “THUG” style players. A little ole guard against a big corn fed center, LIFE IS SO UNFAIR.
Mar.6 at 7:27 pm
Ben says:
We over here in Germany say: “Das war aber nicht die feine Art, Herr Henderson!”
Mar.7 at 12:40 pm
G~baby says:
i agree with you true….hes a pussy…he got hit in the nose and broke it but when your on national tv you shouldnt be cryin…PUSSY!!!i broke my nose a while back and one tear didnt fall….hes a d1 collage player who cryed on tv…wow…that cant get any worse
Mar.7 at 11:55 pm
Drew Chi-town says:
hey there G~baby, how bout that time when when good ‘ol McRoberts started cryin on the sidelines in the middle of a game for absolutely no reason! I dont wont to hear it anymore….Go Tarheels!
Mar.7 at 11:57 pm
Drew Chi-town says:
Ger-elbow Henderson is the dumbass in all this. He could have a least made it look classy and help him up or sumthin
Mar.9 at 4:12 pm
sl balla says:
not intentional(but damn wat a hit)
Mar.11 at 9:53 pm
Daniel Patmalnee says:
That was a hard hit, stinks that you had to where that mask, but atleast you guys won the
A.C.C or known as
A.Another
C.Carolina
C.Champion Chip
Mar.11 at 9:59 pm
Daniel Patmalnee says:
That was a hard hit, that stinks that you have to where that, but I’m so glade that you guys won the A.C.C or known as
A.Another
C.Carolina
C.Champion Chip