Duke's Gerald Henderson blossoming

Anybody who knew Duke guard Gerald Henderson's quick-twitch game - featuring all-over-YouTube dunks, even from Episcopal Academy days - had expectations. G's better than all those Duke guys. Why isn't he taking over? He's had injuries. But isn't he supposed to be Grant Hill?

"It was like, we're waiting on you," said Henderson's father, Gerald Sr., talking about all the expectations, which his son was well aware of. "Everybody was waiting."

No more.

The last month has been the coming-out for Gerald Henderson, college hoops star. The Duke Blue Devils rose to No. 1 and have fallen back with a couple of recent losses. They got trounced last Wednesday at Clemson. Tonight, they host North Carolina in another litmus test. But in recent weeks, Henderson's role has changed, from key part of the mix to clear go-to guy, although the explosiveness and over-40-inch vertical leap were there all along.

"He's almost become unguardable," said Mike Gminski, television analyst for Atlantic Coast Conference games and a former Blue Devils and 76ers center. "The expansion of his game - you know what you're going to get when he gets to the rim. I think the book on him was to make him take jump shots. He's now making teams pay for that philosophy."

His 15.2-point scoring average is a bit misleading. In ACC games, the 6-foot-4 junior averages 18.9 points a game, up from 10.7 through Duke's first 10 nonconference games. In ACC play, Henderson easily leads the league in field-goal percentage, at 55.2.

He's getting questions a lot lately about why the light is on.

"I think a lot had to do with my health," Henderson said in a telephone interview last week, referring to a series of injuries and ailments, including a wrist injury that required surgery right after last season.

But a lot didn't have to do with his health, he said.

"I think a lot had to do with me maturing as a player, me being able to take on a bigger load, more responsibility," Henderson said. "I think that's worked really well for me."

Henderson says he plays best angry.

"G has the best attitude on our team that he's good, that he belongs, that he wants to be in the moment," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his team beat Georgetown last month, after Henderson made his first seven shots on the way to 23 points. "Not that other kids are afraid, but he really wants to be there. He has a good ego for the game, a tremendous ego for the game."