Ole Miss suspends Marshall Henderson indefinitely for team rules violation

Jeff Eisenberg
·Senior writer

Marshall Henderson's most recent tweet Wednesday afternoon promised "This will be an interesting #whitegirlwednesday."

Turns out he was right.

In perhaps the least surprising news of the college hoops offseason, Ole Miss suspended its star guard indefinitely for an undisclosed team rules violation. A team spokesman said via email that the school will not provide any further information about the reason for Henderson's suspension, but CBSSports.com reported a failed drug test was the cause of the punishment.

“Since the season ended, we have talked a lot about Marshall taking a greater leadership role with our team," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said in a statement. "With that comes greater responsibility, and he must do a better job of living up to the high standard we expect from him and he desires from himself."

Henderson's suspensions comes only a few months after he penned a letter to Ole Miss fans apologizing for his behavior last season and promising to be a better leader as a senior. He became college basketball's most polarizing player last season because of his habit of taunting opposing fans, whether it was gator-chomping down the court at Florida, thumping his chest in front of the Auburn student section or flipping off the entire arena after an NCAA tournament loss to LaSalle.

The obvious question now is whether Ole Miss will have the gumption to make Henderson sit out games or dismiss him entirely if his behavior doesn't improve.

For all his flaws, Henderson still averaged 20.1 points per game last season and is clearly the most critical player returning for a Rebels program that lost much of its frontcourt to graduation. Ole Miss needs Marshall Henderson next season to have any chance of getting back to the NCAA tournament, but he is putting his status with the team in jeopardy by not representing the program the way that is expected from him.