By late Thursday night or early Friday morning, Duke or Villanova is going to be just one of 12 teams with that chance. Without Henderson, Duke would have no chance. With Henderson, Villanova might be the favorite.
Young "G" might be the most explosive player in college basketball. His dunks are quickly becoming legendary. The throwdown at Maryland was actually scary.
Henderson averaged 6.8 points his first season, 12.7 points his second season. This season, after a summer spent dribbling with his left hand, following surgery on his right wrist, he was sort of muddling along until early January. Then, "G" blew up.
"He just decided, 'Hey, it's my time,' " his father said. "When ACC play started, he took off."
He was putting up high teens or 20s every game. He had 35 against Wake Forest. Over his last 22 games, he has averaged 19.6 points. He has become a force.
"To be a really good player, you have to be a student of the game, you have to know that you're good," his father said. "Let the cards fall where they were. Once you decide that, it's like getting over a big threshold.
"In the past, he wasn't the guy. Now, he is the guy. And he understands that. He feels that. He knows that he can put a team on his back. When you understand that, now you're confident."
Henderson is playing confident and unafraid. On a team with very few great athletes, he stands out. And when Duke was in trouble on Saturday against Texas, Henderson got the ball.
"Well, he's had a really good year," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the game. "And down the stretch I just rode him. We were going to sink or swim with him, and we're swimming. Not only that, but he can make a play. He had that open three. I thought he was going to knock down that three. But he's the guy that we go to, because he can get his own shot."
And he can get shots for all those Duke shooters.
