Just a week ago, it seemed as if the race for ACC Player of the Year teetered between North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson and Duke forward Gerald Henderson, with the individual laurel presumably going to the player whose team won in Chapel Hill Sunday. The Tar Heels beat Duke 79-71, and as expected, Lawson was named the league's Player of the Year Tuesday, garnering 31 of 76 votes to beat out Toney Douglas, who took 27, and Tyler Hansbrough, who had 13.
But Henderson--who may well have been in Lawson's place had Duke split the ACC title with a victory Sunday--only earned two votes.
Granted, Henderson's statistics aren't the best in the league. His 16.6 points per game and 19.8 points per ACC game were both among the top-10 marks in the conference. Some of the players who scored more than Henderson were Hansbrough, Douglas, Jack McClinton and Jeff Teague, all of whom earned votes for Player of the Year.
Still, Lawson's numbers weren't the best in the ACC, either. Although he led the ACC in assists per game, Lawson only averaged 15.9 points per game, 12th in the league.
He won the award because he, not Hansbrough, was the catalyst of the league's best team, and because he, not Hansbrough, was the one who salvaged an ACC title after the Tar Heels lost their first two games of the conference slate.
Lawson swished a 3-pointer in the game's waning seconds to beat Florida State 80-77 Jan. 28. He personally pounded the Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium, dropping 21 of his season-high 25 points in the second half to help North Carolina break the 100-point barrier. He canned a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left to help beat Miami 69-65 the next game. And then Sunday, with sole possession of the ACC championship on the line, Lawson almost tallied a triple-double with 13 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, all while battling a toe injury that almost kept him off the court.
No question, Lawson deserved the honor.
But for the same reasons Lawson won the individual crown, it's surprising that Henderson didn't get more votes.
If Lawson was the player who saved North Carolina's season, it could be said that Elliot Williams might have given Duke a new direction. But Duke wouldn't have been in a position to contend for the conference championship if Henderson hadn't developed into Duke's best player, and one of the best in the country, after the beginning of December. In so many games when the Blue Devils could not score, they looked to Henderson, and he delivered. He scored 25 points at Florida State Jan. 10, when Duke had only 19 points at halftime. He posted 23 against Georgetown in Duke's climb to the top of the polls. He helped the Blue Devils open up a 40-15 first-half lead against Maryland by scoring 17 points in 23 minutes. In what might have been the Blue Devils' biggest win of the season--a 101-91 home win over Wake Forest that snapped a two-game conference slide--Henderson dropped a career-high 35 points. Even in an 84-81 win over Florida State that guaranteed Duke a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament, Henderson notched his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Was Henderson better than Lawson this season? No. The point guard was the most important, if not the best, player in the conference. Was he more important than Douglas, whose Seminoles finished fourth in the conference? Maybe not. Was he more important than Hansbrough, who led the league in scoring but had the most talent surrounding him? Again, maybe not.
It's hard to overstate the importance of Henderson to this year's Duke squad. Without him, the Blue Devils would have been solely reliant on the scoring of Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer, and in the dog days of the ACC season, when Henderson broke out to become a legitimate star, that duo wouldn't have been sufficient. Duke is better than almost everyone in the conference, not to mention the country, and it would not be without Henderson.
The 76 voters, 59 of whom are from North Carolina, were correct in singling out Lawson. But perhaps the two who tabbed Henderson should have had more company, too.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.