Second thoughts

Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson has received plenty of attention in the NCAA Tournament, from interviews with CBS to tweets from LeBron James about his performance against Wisconsin.
Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson has received plenty of attention in the NCAA Tournament, from interviews with CBS to tweets from LeBron James about his performance against Wisconsin.

On TruTV: It’s Marshall and the Rebs

It seems somewhat appropriate that Marshall Henderson and the Mississippi Rebels will be appearing on TruTV today.

TruTV, the network that started out as Court TV more than 20 years ago, has gone from one court to another, branching out into coverage of the men’s NCAA Tournament, which Mississippi will be participating in again today against LaSalle at 6:30 p.m.

No one is insinuating that Henderson, who is attending his fourth college in three years, has had any run-ins with the law. The assertion is more about Henderson’s on-court behavior, which would spike the ratings of the most successful reality, or as TruTV likes to call it, “actuality” series.

Henderson, without trying, turned Coach Andy Kennedy into a reluctant straight man for his post game monologue after Mississippi’s 57-46 victory over Wisconsin on Friday in Kansas City.

Henderson started out 1 for 13 from the field before scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second half, leading the Rebels to victory after trailing by three at halftime.

When asked to explain how he could keep shooting when he had missed so many, Henderson looked out at the media assembled in the room, some of whom have followed the Rebels all season.

“Y’all know I told you all along Coach Kennedy has told me I’ve got to be, what is it?” Henderson said, turning toward his coach.

“Serial killer,” Kennedy said, looking as if he wanted to crawl under the table. “But we won’t say that in this environment.”

Sweet tweets

Miami Heat forward Lebron James, the best player on the NBA’s best team, felt compelled to comment on Marshall Henderson after watching his erratic performance in Mississippi’s victory over Wisconsin, posting this on his Twitter account:

“Man that dude Henderson from Ole Miss got the greenest light in basketball history!!

Hahaha.”

Some might have taken it as an insult, as in Henderson doesn’t know when to stop shooting, but Henderson didn’t see it that way.

“I suck and get a Lebron Tweet!!! Hahahaha I dont wanna hear nobody say nothin, Ive made it!!!”

Charles Barkley, the former NBA star who has found a second career as an NBA and NCAA Tournament analyst, offered his appraisal.

“Some guys fold under the spotlight when things aren’t going good,” Barkley said. “I agree with Lebron, too. He’s got the greenest light in the world, but he has to back it up. He didn’t back it up in the first half, backed it up in the second half.”

Role model?

Marshall Henderson and Andy Kennedy took questions from analysts Gregg Gumbel, Kenny Smith, Greg Anthony and Charles Barkley at halftime of Saturday’s game between Michigan and Virginia Commonwealth.

All four took turns stirring the sauce, then Gumbel asked Henderson about his on-court antics, the most outrageous of which occurred in the SEC Tournament championship game against Florida, when Henderson started doing the Gator chomp with Ole Miss up five points with about five minutes to play.

Henderson: “It’s spur of the moment. The Gator chomp thing, though, I actually dreamed about it the night before - except I was standing on top of the scorer’s table in my dream.”

Kennedy: “Thank goodness that didn’t happen.”

Henderson: “I think I watched Charles too much when I was a youngster.”

No wonder Barkley has always said he didn’t want to be a role model.

Quote of the day

“I think focusing on the numbers and the stats of the game can only get you behind.” Arkansas guard Calli Berna, who could set the school’s single-season record for assists in today’s WNIT game against Tulane

Sports, Pages 24 on 03/24/2013

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