Is Grayson Allen the Face of Duke's Possible Downfall?
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
Duke Basketball: You love 'em or hate 'em.
Over the last 25-30 years of college basketball we've seen programs come and go (UNLV, Arkansas, Memphis) and others have remained at the very worst, "consistent" (North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky). Of course, even those programs save Kansas have had their moments of mediocrity. But Duke, save for a year or two, has been at the forefront of college basketball. 5 national championships in 25 years (91, 92, 01, 10, 15), numerous conference titles, and just some of the best and greatest players have gone there.
Of course, Coach K has something to do with it. If anything, he is pretty much college basketball's god right now. Everybody loves him, even if you have hated Duke, you loved him. That said, if you were to poll on who is probably the most hated team in college basketball, bar none it would be Duke.
We can go down the list of why: rich school with rich snobby kids, players who come off as rich snobby kids, Christian Laettner, JJ Redick, constantly winning over & over, Dick Vitale gushing over them even when he is calling a game not involving Duke (hence, Duke Vitale), and now Grayson Allen. Ah yes, the new Duke Villain.
Allen's antics have really infuriated the fans who have despised Duke over the years.
In the last calendar year, Allen has been at the forefront of issues. He has tripped players (one from Louisville, one from Florida State, and recently, one from Elon). He has been yelling at referees for fouls, losing his temper, blowing off handshakes in games, etc. While many fans who have despised Duke because of the likes of Christian Laettner and JJ Redick, Allen might be in a class all by himself, even over those guys.
However, what makes it worse is that until the Elon incident, Coach K has been allowing Allen to stay and been given "reprimands." No key punishments were given out for Allen. Until Elon, nobody questioned Coach K's decisions. Whatever he says, goes for the media. "Coach K knows these kids well enough to make the right decisions for them" is the mentality. Has been for a while. Now if you flip the script and this was a guy like John Calipari, who has been ripped in the past for bringing players with questionable character issues in UMass, Memphis, and now Kentucky, he would be thrown to the lions. But no, not Coach K.
Whether or not what Brooks did was right or wrong, Allen should have been the bigger man, but chose not to. And his coach was fine with that.
But we are seeing something that really hasn't happened, and this can go back to last March in the tournament with Coach K, Allen, and Duke itself. When Oregon blew out Duke (well, blowing out Duke means you win by 10 or more points now), Allen blew off Dillon Brooks to which he believed was a "rub-it-in" 3 with seconds left to which Coach K more or less defended Allen by saying Brooks should be better than that. It wasn't that Allen displayed a lack of sportsmanship or anything else. It was Brooks' undoing. Some in the media blindly sided with Coach K. Others started to go "you know what? Coach K needs to shut up and think about all of the other teams he's blown out and doing a similar thing like that too, not to mention the players Allen has tripped still shook hands."
Allen's behavior has put Coach K in an odd spot in his coaching career: on the defensive.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
And then the Elon game happened. Allen tripped another player again. This time, the refs caught it and gave him a technical foul for his actions. Instead of going "well, they got me! Oh well....." it was something reminiscent of my children would have done when they were 3 years old. He threw a major temper tantrum on the bench, yelling, screaming, crying, hitting chairs, etc. Duke was rolling in that game until Allen's antics came up and Elon made it a game after that whole mess. Yes, Duke won and pulled away, but damage was done. Or so we thought.
After the game, Coach K came out and said while what Allen did was unacceptable, he stopped short of saying he would be suspended. To add on top, he pretty much ridiculed the media when they asked why he wasn't going to suspend him/punish him. Afterward, it was Coach K that got lambasted by everybody that wasn't a color commentator on ESPN. It really marked the first time Mike Krzyzewski was grilled by the media, and rightfully so. Coach K didn't necessarily "defend" Allen, but somewhat "played it down" whether to take heat off of his star or not wanting any more controversy with him. Of course the latter happened and now the media, who once praised and applauded Coach K for everything is now barking at him for not doing the right thing.
Coach K is now in an odd position for really the first time in his college coaching career.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The next morning of course, Krzyzewski "came to his senses" and suspended Allen "indefinitely." Now whether he had a genuine change of heart/mind or it was rare pressure from the University itself is not the major point here. It is the fact that Coach K finally had some major backlash from his presser and his constant defending of Allen and keeping him in punishment-free. It now puts him as somewhat of a "bad guy" in the sense of the media's eyes and a guy who is out to win win win as opposed to get these players to grow up. But right now for all the garbage that the likes of John Calipari, Bob Huggins, and Steve Alford get to "win at any cost," now falls on Krzyzewski.
So this is uncharted territory for Coach K. He hasn't been in a spot where he is now more or less under a microscope. Do I think he was pressured by the University to suspend Allen for this act? Honestly, yes (again, not really the point). But it could also mean that the university didn't like how it was handled originally and they are putting their foot down (if that was the case). Most of the times if a move is forced, whether by the university or somebody else, the coach starts to lose a grip. I'm not saying Duke is keeping a close eye on Coach K for this, because I don't think one move is warranted for the university to jump after, but if you're a coach and you do get pressured, things change.
Adding on, Coach K is almost 70 years old (turns 70 on February 13-that said, I'd love to look that way when I am 70) so you wonder how many years are left coaching basketball (my guess is 2022 somebody else will be on the bench calling the plays for Duke). Obviously the job is his until whenever he doesn't want to do it anymore. But sometimes the age gets you and you let certain things go by that you probably wouldn't have back 20 years before and it might be the case here. Not saying it is (just "might be"), but it is that one issue, big or small (pending on what you take the Allen incidents) that could spiral a program out of control and looking like nobody is in control.
Yes, Duke will probably be a top 10 team the rest of the season. Yes, they probably will notch a seed #3 or higher in the tournament and probably be in the Sweet Sixteen and will have a top 5 class in recruiting next year and will be a threat in 2017-18. But if he is starting to lose some command, whether from the university or the players are starting to go "well, he'll defend us through & through and we can do what we want to do," Duke will continue to slip in Coach K's final years at Durham. And this could be the first step of the beginning of the end.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
