In hindsight, Aaron Henry had one of the craziest seasons we’ve really seen at Michigan State.
He was the fourth highest-ranked prospect of the 2018-19 recruiting class (out of five) and the 141st ranked prospect nationally. Yet, he still managed to lead the entire class in minutes at 22.1 per game. The next highest in the class was Gabe Brown with 8 per game.
He got his minutes due to his energy, great defense, and smart play. He wasn’t asked, by any means, to be a high usage offensive player. All had to do was make the right play and then go defend. He is about as versatile a wing defender as I’ve seen in NCAA basketball, and he’s already been flagged by many as a potential NBA prospect due to that versatility and ability to hit shots when asked (38.5% from three last year.)
Of course, Aaron Henry was thrust into the national spotlight during Michigan State’s matchup with Bradley in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, when Tom Izzo was caught yelling at him in what is now an infamous tirade. I really respected how Aaron Henry took that verbal lashing in stride, and he became a valuable piece for them in their run to the Final Four.
If the Tom Izzo scolding affected him, Aaron Henry never showed it, and I don’t think he would’ve posted this awesome hype video of the last year if he was bitter:
