Free-falling Duke's problems extend well beyond Grayson Allen's status as most hated man in basketball
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – These are the pertinent Duke basketball statistics of the moment:
• Just two players have appeared in all 18 Blue Devils games.
• The Hall of Fame coach has missed the last three games, and his return date is unknown.
• Duke has lost its first three Atlantic Coast Conference road games for the first time since 1995, which was the last time Mike Krzyzewski turned over the team to an assistant coach for an extended duration after back surgery. The most recent was a 78-69 loss here to Louisville – which actually marked the first time Duke has come within single digits of an ACC opponent on the road.
• If you could quantify boos, the star guard would lead the nation by light years.
“You hate to say it,” said Grayson Allen, an afternoon of fan abuse still ringing in his ears, “but you ultimately learn the most from losing.”
If so, Duke is learning at a PhD level lately, as a season where it began as the strong national championship favorite has steadily splintered. The Blue Devils are 14-4 and still have time to regroup, but it will be an arduous journey that could get worse before it gets better – if it gets better. The self-styled ivory tower of college basketball is verging on dumpster-fire status.
Too many injuries and lineup churn, too little production from the consensus No. 1 freshman class in the country, too much controversy dogging Allen. Combine the crises and a potential powerhouse is on the brink of blowing the season.
“We have to change this,” said assistant coach Jeff Capel, now 1-2 replacing Krzyzewski as the game’s winningest coach convalesces at home in Durham. “That has to be our attitude. Being close isn’t good enough. Merely fighting isn’t good enough.”
That’s never good enough at Duke, and this year is no exception. “No excuses” was the constant refrain in the Blue Devils locker room Saturday, even though they could make a few.
They could point at senior power forward Amile Jefferson, who watched this game in sweats and a walking boot, sidelined for an indefinite period. A guy who had produced double-doubles in eight of Duke’s first 16 games and served as a viable rim protector was a glaring absence in a game where Louisville center Anas Mahmoud had a career performance with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
“Huge loss,” Capel said of Jefferson.
They could point to the injury-delayed progress of freshmen five-stars Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, Marques Bolden and Frank Jackson. They were ranked Nos. 2, 3, 11 and 12 nationally in the class of 2016 by Rivals.com, yet only Tatum is starting to make a significant impact this season. Three of the four have been slowed by physical maladies: Giles missed the first 11 games; Tatum and Bolden the first eight.
“They’re still not up to speed,” Capel said. “I’m not sure (Giles) will be up to speed for us this year.”
Giles, who has been dogged for years by knee injuries, showed a couple of athletic flashes in producing seven points, six rebounds and two blocks Saturday – but he wasn’t great defensively and showed rusty offensive skills. Tatum is a tough matchup who scored 11 points – but he was just 3-of-11 from the floor against Louisville’s athletic frontcourt and at times seemed more interested in debating calls with the officials. Bolden was in way over his head – his inability to earn major minutes with Jefferson shows how far behind he is.
And then there is Jackson. His struggles – he’s produced 12 points, 11 fouls and one assist in the ACC road losses – have foisted the point-guard role upon Allen. As if the tripping bandit needed more on his plate.
The junior guard was suspended for the Virginia Tech game earlier this month after his third incident tripping an opponent in the last two seasons. The first of those incidents was against Louisville forward Ray Spalding, something Cardinals fans did not forget.
The crowd of 22,686 wasn’t overly hostile toward Allen during pregame warmups, but it did commit to two hours of vigilant booing every time he touched the ball once the game began. When Allen went to the foul line, the Louisville student section chanted, “Sweep the leg!” And when the game was in the bag with 10.7 seconds left, they serenaded him with chants of “Grayson sucks!”
When it was over, Louisville coach Rick Pitino offered Allen some words of encouragement. So did Cardinals assistant Kenny Johnson. Duke athletic director Kevin White even came onto the court to pat him on the back as Allen made his way to the locker room.
“You can bury a young man,” Pitino said in defense of Allen. “So this is all about preserving a young man. I happen to think – I happen to know – he’s a terrific young man who keeps making these mistakes when he does something wrong. He’ll cure it.
“Believe me, that kid’s paying the price in different ways. You hear the crowds everywhere he goes. He’s the modern-day Christian Laettner right now.”
The modern-day Laettner sat in the Duke locker room Saturday afternoon twisting a Gatorade bottle in his hands and answering all questions. After a traumatic afternoon that also featured some excellent basketball – Allen scored 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds to keep Duke in it – he did not duck anything.
“That’s going to happen,” Allen said of the boos and insults. “I have to just keep playing and focus on the team, and not who I’m playing.”
Fortunately for Allen, he did not appear to do anything that added to the nation’s ongoing Grayson Cheap Shot Watch. In two of his first three games post-suspension, everyone was studying tape of potential chippy play.
There was close inspection of Allen’s leg jutting out when coming in contact with a Boston College screener – another kick?!?. Then there was intense video scrutiny of Allen coming into contact with Florida State assistant coach Dennis Gates after chasing a ball toward the Seminoles’ bench – a purposeful shove?!?
Neither incident stuck. Allen very clearly did shove Gates, but the assistant coach let him off the hook by saying he should have gotten out of the way and that the play was not a cheap shot.
But everyone is watching, waiting to pounce on the next dirty play.
This is Allen’s new reality, a crucible of his own making. There’s no need to feel sorry for him. He brought this on himself and simply will have to try and outlive it with months (or years) of incident-free basketball.
Funny thing, though. As of today, Grayson Allen is far from Duke’s biggest worry. That tells you how severely a potentially special season has slid off the rails.
