Lost in the midst, perhaps, of North Carolina getting revenge at the expense of their hated rivals, Duke, on Saturday in Durham was the continued evolution of a sure-fire lottery pick and, to me, the most improved offensive player in the nation.
No, I’m not talking about Harrison Barnes.
I’m talking about John Henson, who has quietly polished his short and mid range face-up offensive game, which has made him one of the most complete and NBA-ready big men in college basketball.
Prior to this year, Henson did a decent job of establishing his post position, but his slight base and frame often caused him to get pushed further away from the basket. This would force a bevy of jump hooks and fade-away shots from the basket, which would limit his effectiveness offensively. This was exploited in the tournament last year and was a major reason he returned to Chapel Hill for more seasoning.
If you look at his stat sheet compared to last year, you will notice that his scoring is up, but his field goal percentage is the same. But if you look closer, you will notice that he’s attempting three more shots per game. This tells me that he is consistently making more shots per game from the field, obviously.
The question becomes where are the coming from? Let’s use the Duke game as a prime example. When talking about match ups, Duke’s front line featuring Mason and Miles Plumlee, you expected that they would make Henson earn position on the block and would be very physical, which they were. This made Henson have to establish his face up game. On several occasions, Henson made elbow and wing face up jump shots, and even made a one foot fade-away on the weak side.
Defensively, Henson isn’t as explosive as Kentucky’s Anthony Davis but he’s as good as any weak side help defender in the nation. He’s an NBA-ready defender in terms of blocked shots. Despite his slight frame, he defends the block in one-on-one situations and can extend to the perimeter, laterally. He defends the pick and roll with length on “hard shows” as well as anyone. His defensive abilities were never an issue.
On the season Henson has 16 total double-doubles and eight games of 15 or more points and 10 or more rebounds. As the ACC and NCAA tournaments approaches, it’s clear that if the Heels are going to travel the road all the way to New Orleans, Henson is going to have to continue to display his improved offensive game, which includes creating space from 10-15 feet consistently.
Tommy Dee is the founder of theknicksblog.com; regional scout for Marty Blake and Associates and editor of CHARGED Magazine. He will be keeping an eye on NBA draft prospects during March Madness for sheridanhoops.