Henderson's gone, Utes looking for replacement

Well, I’ve been on vacation for a week and of course it didn’t turn out to be a quiet week in the Ute basketball program as I’d hoped. In fact, the announcement that Marshall Henderson is leaving the program is causing a lot of angst among the Ute faithful who wonder if the Ute program is unraveling with five underclassmen announcing they’re leaving.
In the case of Henderson, I believe it’s similar to the Carlon Brown situation in that the move is by mutual consent. Henderson wasn’t happy with some of team rules, on and off the court and the Utes weren’t happy with some of Henderson’s actions off the court and his individual play on the court.
I certainly don’t want to downplay the fact that five players are leaving the U. program, including the two leading scorers. However the Utes might be better off without Brown and Henderson if they can get a couple of talented juco players, who are more team-oriented, into the program in the next couple of weeks.
I know the Utes hosted a couple of players this past weekend and have a couple of more coming in this coming weekend. On Wednesday the Utes will sign Antonio DiMaria, a 6-foot-6 forward originally from Pittsburgh who played for Casper Community College in Wyoming this year.
As for guard Chris Hines, his status is still in limbo. A couple of weeks ago, he said he wouldn’t be returning, only to waver and say he might be coming back. My guess is that he saw a new opportunity with Henderson leaving and since he hasn’t gone home yet — he’s finishing up his schoolwork this semester — he thought about sticking around. From the Utes’ standpoint, they’re recruiting a couple of guards and if they decide the recruits are better than Hines, they may let Hines go because there won’t be much playing time for him next year.
Coach Jim Boylen returned to Utah Monday afternoon but won’t be doing active recruiting because this is a “dead” week for recruiting as per NCAA rules.