BUFFALO, N.Y. - Duke freshman Gerald Henderson has been the subject of some bad press during the last 12 days, and so has Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski. While Henderson isn't used to it, Krzyzewski well, he's been around.
So when Henderson received a flagrant foul and one-game suspension for tomahawking North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough, Krzyzewski offered a defense of his kid that some considered over the top. In addition to saying that Henderson didn't have evil intentions (which few believed he did in the first place), Krzyzewski questioned why Hansbrough was still in the game.
Wednesday afternoon at HSBC Arena, Krzyzewski hinted that was all part of his plan.
"He's gotten attention that you wouldn't want to have for a player," Krzyzewski said. "What I tried to do is make sure that I would be the one getting more attention of that sort than him. I've been in situations when I know that's going to happen, and that's the first thing I tried do to do to make sure I was there for him."
Krzyzewski said Henderson, who will play in tonight's game, the West Region opener against VCU, called Hansbrough to apologize.
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Favorite? Us?
A few minutes into his press conference, Old Dominion coach Blaine Taylor was asked about the notion that "everybody" is favoring the 12th-seeded Monarchs over No. 5 Butler today.
"Who's the everybody who's picking us?" Taylor said, his voice rising in disbelief. "My mom's the only one I know of who says we have a chance."
The official line is Butler by a point. But given that ODU won 12 of its last 13 games while the Bulldogs lost four of their last eight, more people are jumping on the Monarchs bandwagon. So does that make them the favorite?
"We don't want to look at it that way," point guard Drew Williamson said. "We're an at-large team, and a lot of people weren't picking us to be in the tournament. So we don't want to get into that game."
