This is like deja vu all over again.
The last time UNC played in Greensboro for the NCAA Tournament all eyes were on Ty Lawson's injured big toe. Lawson did not play in the first round game versus Radford but returned to lead the Heels to a hard fought win in the second round versus LSU. The situation with John Henson is shaping up to be much the same scenario. The notable difference is there seems to be far less mystery surrounding Henson's wrist injury as opposed to Lawson's toe. The Lawson injury happened in practice and the exact nature of the injury was never quite explained. Everyone knows what happened to Henson's wrist and that it is a sprain which needs some time to heal.
After the Thursday press conference and open practice, Henson has placed the injured wrist 60%. According to him, he needs to feel like it is 80% before he plays although Henson raised the possibility he could have played on Thursday had their been a game. Roy Williams was not so convinced probably because he sees Henson favoring the wrist and not doing certain things which his junior forward may not himself realize he is doing or not doing. One encouraging note from the press conference is Henson saying he was not experiencing much pain and his feeling there was great improvement from Wednesday to Thursday.
Based on the information at hand, if beating Vermont is completely doable without Henson, then that probably makes the most sense. Vermont probably should not be taken for granted despite their #16 seed however it would be hard to imagine UNC having a lot of trouble especially since Vermont already played in Dayton two nights before then had to travel. If two more days gets Henson closer to 100% versus playing on Friday slowing the process down I say hold Henson until Sunday. The last thing UNC and Henson needs is for this sort of thing to linger as the tournament wears on.
Whatever the decision, we will all be waiting with bated breath on Friday afternoon in another rousing game of "Will he or won't he?"