And the ramp up has already started.
Via Charlotte Observer:
With the teams meeting Feb. 6 at North Carolina, Henderson's foul will make headlines again over the next few days. Krzyzewski and North Carolina coach Roy Williams both were asked about the incident Monday during the ACC's weekly coaches' teleconference with reporters.
"We've had a lot of hard fouls in our league and people forget about them," Krzyzewski said. "But they won't forget about (Henderson-Hansbrough) because of that rivalry. The people who are cheering for Carolina don't want to forget about it. And that's their prerogative. To me, Gerald ... got a lot of punishment, and he handled it great."
Krzyzewski said it was obvious Henderson was trying to block Hansbrough's shot, not hurt him.
"Tyler's a great kid and a great player, and he got hurt on it," Krzyzewski said. "The blood made it look like somebody was shot, and I think people overreacted, but that's the way it is."
Williams said he likes Henderson and tried to recruit him, but was upset when some in the media portrayed the player as the victim after he was suspended. Meanwhile, Hansbrough was playing with a protective mask.
"Look at (Hansbrough's) stats (10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game) during the ACC tournament, he's never had a three-game stretch like that," Williams said. "So he ... was the victim, there's no question about it. And I wanted to make sure that people remembered that."
Wow, can Krzyzewski dig the hole any deeper on this subject? I can think of only two individuals who believe people overreacted to The Foul and that is Krzyzewski and [UNNAMED ANALYST]. Everyone else is pretty much on the same page that while Henderson did not intend to injure Hansbrough he was still pretty danged reckless in what he did and committed a brutal looking foul which would still have been a brutal looking foul without the blood. And the real shame in all of this is Roy still has to remind people that Hansbrough was the victim and not poor little Gerald Henderson who somehow got portrayed as getting the short end of the stick despite the fact he was duly punished for an act he is solely responsible for.
At any rate this game is going to be boiling with storylines such as control of the ACC standings, inside track for the #1 seed in the East Regional, the fact both teams are top 5, Dick Vitale's return, the media hyping the payback angle for The Foul and, yeah, it's UNC-Duke.
Seven days and counting....