So we’ve finally found it. We all heard the story yesterday about Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson giving the double-finger salute to the Kansas City crowd following a loss to La Salle in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Now, we have video proof.
After the game, Henderson told reporters that a fan (or multiple fans, it wasn’t clear) called his sister “a whore” and “said something about cocaine”, prompting the redshirt junior to tell the fans sitting above the Ole Miss tunnel exactly what he thought, with his digits.
It’s not like we haven’t come to expect this from Henderson. He’s passionate. He’s volatile. He’s brash. He’s crazy. He’s everything some of us love and hate at the same time about college basketball. He’s definitely the most polarizing player in college hoops.
Personally, I like the guy and everything that he comes him. He’s insane and makes a ton of enemies -- and he has some issues with taking losses as well as he takes wins, obviously -- but he’s so much more fun to watch. Especially compared to all the half-court-centric teams that enjoys games in the 50s and the players that repeat an unending trail of coach-speak. Basketball needs dudes like Henderson every once in awhile. He’s got demons to work out, like all of us. The difference is, he’s forced to display and work through his own in the public eye.
But these 16 seconds don’t look good on the guy. He’s definitely not ready mentally, emotionally or physically (he’s a 6-2 gunner, which are a dime a dozen in the pro ranks) for any type of professional basketball. And this is an example on why he needs to come back for his fifth year.
Follow David Harten on Twitter at @David_Harten