What will Grayson Allen learn from his suspension? Here’s some advice
Grayson Allen is going to get some unexpected time to sit and think. That’s one more thing he and I now share in common.
Having both played basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, we have heard and felt it all along the way — from criticism and hate to adulation and praise. And boy, do I know the pressure he feels, being that high profile Duke guard likely bound for the NBA in just a few months. We could both tell you, in no uncertain terms, from the moment you received a recruiting visit from Coach K, you knew the expectations associated with his program. You understood very quickly that it was your inherent responsibility to be the best version of yourself from that moment forward. But clearly that doesn’t guarantee momentary lapses in judgment along the way, especially when you are a young man still in the process of discovering who you really are.
It’s public knowledge that I felt strongly that Grayson needed much more accountability than just a required apology after his third tripping transgression, this latest one coming Wednesday night in the first half against Elon. His inability to suppress his need to trip an opponent at times of on-court frustration — not once or twice, but three times in the span of a calendar year — demanded serious discipline. On Thursday morning, that “much more” arrived. Coach K has suspended him indefinitely for what were totally unacceptable on-court antics.
When I was at Duke, Coach K relentlessly reminded us that we could never hide from our…
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