Roy Williams compares John Henson and Ty Lawson injuries

GREENSBORO — The comparison is a natural one. In 2009, North Carolina began the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed, and with one of its star players, Ty Lawson, attempting to recover from an injury that placed his status for the tournament in doubt.

On Friday, North Carolina will begin play in the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed, and with one of its star players, John Henson, attempting to recover from an injury that has placed his status in doubt.

For Lawson, it was a toe that ailed him. For Henson, a wrist. Different injuries, of course, and different situations, UNC coach Roy Williams said earlier today. Williams acknowledged that what happened then, with Lawson, and what’s happening now, with Henson, are similar in some respects.

But in others the scenarios don’t compare.

“I'm awfully uncomfortable talking about it because I don't know what I'm going to do,” Williams said, asked whether the experience he went through with Lawson’s uncertainty has helped him prepare amid Henson’s injury. “Ty's was a little different; Ty hurt it and then came back and played and was very successful and then it ballooned up on him again. So it was almost like a recurrence, but he didn't get it hit again.

“It's just the swelling went up there. There is the difference of that and there's also the difference of that with Bobby [Frasor] particularly I knew that we would be very solid at the point guard spot. Bobby is not Ty, but Bobby had played that position before and I had tremendous amount of confidence in him. We had so many weapons with Danny and Wayne and Tyler; we just had a lot of weapons there.

“But I also know that Ty Lawson came in in the second game against LSU and if he had not played that game, I don't think we would have won that game. His second half performance was about as good as any half I've ever seen a point guard play in any stage. So, yeah, it does, there are some similarities, but it certainly [has not] made me more comfortable in what I'm trying to decide right here.”

Lawson sat out UNC’s first NCAA tournament victory in 2009, but returned to help lead the Tar Heels to a victory against LSU in the third round. Henson’s status, meanwhile, remains in doubt for UNC’s game on Friday against Vermont.

-Andrew Carter