Billy Packer Blows Call on Play that Breaks Tyler Hansbrough's Nose
Cheap Shot Ruins Big UNC Win
UNC held a double-digit lead late in the game when Carolina went to the free throw line with 14.5 seconds remaining. What shocked me is that both coaches kept big-name players in the game, even with the stoppage of play with the foul shots.
Tyler Hansbrough, perhaps the most important player for the Tar Heels, rebounded a miss and went up with a follow shot. Several Duke players went up to contest the shot. One Duke player hit Hansbrough and the ball came out of his hands. Then Gerald Henderson hit Hansbrough and ended up breaking his nose, with blood spewing all over the court.
Hansbrough got up ready to fight, but he was quickly restrained. He eventually walked straight into the locker room. After order was restored, the officials met to discuss the foul.
The game was broadcast on CBS, which had its top analyst, Billy Packer, providing color commentary. Packer played collegiate ball at Wake Forest University and has been accused of having a bias towards the Atlantic Coast Conference. Former broadcast partner Al McGuire joked that Packer spelled his name pACCer. With two high profile ACC schools involved in the contest, I was curious to see how Packer would handle what appeared to me as a flagrant foul.
Since the refs discussed the play for quite some time, we had the advantage of seeing numerous replays of the incident. After each replay, Packer confirmed that the play was not malicious and that Henderson did not mean to hurt Hansbrough.
I couldn't disagree more.
Henderson, a swing man, stands 6-foot-6. Hansbrough, a post player, checks in at 6-foot-10. Henderson leaped in the air, ostensibly to block the shot. Now, if you're going to block a shot of a player who has a good four inches of height on you, the best way to do that is to extend your arm as straight as you can up into the air.
Henderson had his arm bent at the elbow and hit Hansbrough with his forearm, which hardly qualifies as good shot-blocking technique.
Further making it unlikely that he was merely trying to block the shot is that Henderson twisted his body after his leap and had his head turned (and seemingly had his eyes closed) when he made contact with Hansbrough.
Now, I generally like Billy Packer as an analyst. But I think he missed the boat on this one. But that's okay. He's there to give his opinion and he certainly was not shy about providing his take on the incident.
When the refs broke from their conference, they ejected Henderson stating that his actions were "a combative and confrontational action" that required an ejection. Along with the dismissal comes a one-game suspension, which makes Duke's long road to the ACC Tournament title an even more difficult task.
Hopefully, UNC coach Roy Williams will learn not to keep his star players in the game when the outcome has been decided, especially when he has an easy chance to remove them like he had in this contest.
But it's probably unrealistic to expect Billy Packer to learn anything.
Packer himself has frequently poked fun at his willingness to state his mind on things. "Frequently wrong, seldom in doubt," is how Packer describes his style of broadcasting.
He was certainly both of those things in the Hansbrough incident on Sunday.
Published by Brian Joura
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9 Comments
Post a CommentGerald Henderson did'nt mean to hurt Tyler Hansbrough. He is one of his buddies now. Thank you very much. He did not mean to hurt him he said he was sorry.
Let's see - 19 seconds left, up 11 points, shooting free throws would have been a decent time. Duke needs to shoot 3 pointers to catch up - seems you would want to have guys on the floor to guard the perimeter.
Keep in mind the history of this series. UNC scores 8 points ( before the advent of the 3 pointer ) in 17 seconds to tie the game back in 1974. UNC wins in OT. At exactly which point in this game is the game no longer in doubt ? Demarcus Nelson hits a 3 with 52 seconds left to cut the lead to 13. At the 8 points in 17 seconds average ( 1/2 a point a second ) the game is not over. Paulus hits a lay-up with 25 seconds left to cut the lead to 11. Again, the game is not over. On the follwoing sequence, Paulus fouls Bobby Frasor with 19 seconds left. Frasor makes the first free throw to increase the lead to 12. That makes it a 4 possesion game ( just like 1974 ) with 19 seconds to go. 2 more seconds than UNC had in that 1974 game. Hansborough gets the offensive rebound on the second free throw by Frasor. You cannot pull him then, because he is at the line. He then misses both free throws and then gets the offensive rebound on the second miss, and then gets hammered.
Now tell me, Mr. s
I think you're inviting trouble if you keep your starters in during a blowout. Whether it's ordered by a coach, like what happened in the Knicks-Nuggets game this year or if it's something the player just decideds to do, like what I think happened with Henderson, there's just too much potential for danger. And a good coach should recognize that and get his stars out. Good line about Nifong, though.
I stand corrected on the broken nose. I disagree with you about pulling your starters. This is not football, where an ACL can go at any given time. Blaming Roy for having Hansborough in there is blaming the victim. The next time you watch the play, only watch Henderson. He makes no play at all on the ball ( the ball had already been knocked away). He accomplished what he set out to do, and that is to come down hard on Hansborough's face with either an elbow or a forearm. If this game was in Durham and the roles were reversed, I would bet that Mike Nifong would be prosecuting Hansborough for assault.
As for when you pull your starters - I would think you start doing it with two minutes to go and up big against a team you're clearly better than and under a minute versus a tougher foe. How many seniors does Carolina have? R. Terry is the only one that jumps to mind. The seniors thing really shouldn't be an issue with this team. This type of thing (while rare) is exactly why you don't have your big guns on the floor in garbage time.
Yes, his nose is broken. From an AP story printed in the News & Record: "The fracture was discovered during an X-ray Monday morning, Williams said. Shortly after the game Williams had said Hansbrough's nose was not broken.
"I gave some bad information because I had a bad source ... the source was Tyler," Williams said Monday. "It's not completely broken. ... His nose did not have to be set, straightened out or anything like that."
Actually, I don't think his nose is broken. However, Henderson tried to deliver a cheap shot. No doubt about that. As far as keeping your starters in, when do you pull them ? Hansborough was at the free throw line, so he could not be pulled. The seniors were already pulled out because it was Senior day. The simple fact is Henderson delivered a cheap shot. Don't blame Roy for having his players on the court.
Of course he meant to hurt him. Packer is an idiot. Good piece here