What's Wrong At Duke?

Grayson Allen is the reason why people hate Duke. Seriously, it always seems as if Duke has a bunch of guys that are just unlikable and the men's lacrosse rape scandal 10 years ago didn't help the cause. They are just unlikable guys. It's like a curse. If you go to Duke no one's going to like you.

Allen's current assistant coach, Jon Scheyer was hated amongst other college fan bases. Every time Duke traveled, opposing school's student sections would all chant his name over and over again in taunting manner. Late in the 2009 season in a road game against ACC foe, Virginia Tech he, legit, travels with the basketball and the officials fail to call a turnover, instead he gets the foul call and goes to the line for two.

If you haven't seen the video, I highly recommend you go watch it. I've taken the liberty of embedding it in this blog. Scheyer looks like a five year old who is just learning the game and is trying to keep the other boys from taking the ball, not understanding that you have to dribble - which is a basketball fundamental that is typically covered in youth basketball.

But Scheyer was a high school phenom. As a senior in high school, he scored 21 points in 75 seconds to bring Glennbrook North back from a 13-point, 71-58, deficit in a state tournament game. Great accomplished, right?

Yes, scoring 21 points in the last 75 seconds to bring your team back in tournament game is a huge accomplishment but it wasn't a state championship game. It was a HOLIDAY tournament! A HOLIDAY tournament.

Not trying to do anything to deny how good of a player Scheyer was in high school and during his four-year career at Duke but it did not translate into a successful professional career. After graduating in 2010, he signed on with the Houston Rockets Development League team the Rio Grande Valley Vipers but never made it to the big stage. Before becoming a coach for his alma mater he played overseas in Israel and Europe. Great college player that was about it.

By accounts from coaches, professors, classmates and teammates, Scheyer was a good kid off the court who was known for being shy but got good grades. The exact profile of Duke players.

They recruit and bring in the All-American high school players who are not only great on the court but are outstanding students in the classroom and the community. Yes Duke has high academic stands but they are essentially bring in the Homecoming Kings. They guys who can do no wrong in high school. The popular ones who always get the girl. They never had to face adversity in their life.

Before Scheyer, there was J.J. Redick, who as Blue Devil from 2002-2006 and was thought to be the best college basketball player. He had a little swagger to him. When he drained a three-pointer, which he was known for, he celebrated. Everyone was swooning over him. Commentators loved him but opposing fans hated him. Their hatred for him was so great that it got personal like during his sophomore year when Duke was on the road in College Park, Md. for an ACC game against Maryland. Towards the end of the game the Maryland student-body began chanting "F-You, J.J." each time he went to the line while attacking his younger sister.

Like Scheyer, Redick was a good kid from a good family. He majored in history while minored in cultural anthropology - an odd minor for a Division I college basketball player. Redick was culturally well-rounded.

However, unlike Scheyer, Redick has had a little more success at the professional level being drafted by the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2006 NBA Draft (11th overall). After seven years with the Magic and one stint with the Milwaukee Bucks, he is in the NBA with Los Angeles Clippers but he is no where near the dominant player he was in high school.

Today is no different. Grayson Allen is one of the best college basketball players in the game the today. He, too, came from a good family that could afford to send him to a prestigious prep school. Super competitive kid growing up according to former coaches. That competitiveness is why he, too, became a high school phenom and landed him at Duke and opportunity to play for the legendary coach, Mike Krzyzewski. But that competitiveness comes with a dark side.

Allen doesn't know how to harness the competitiveness and it comes out in immature acts like in Wednesday night's game against non-conference Elon University as well as three other times last spring. He doesn't know how to respond when he is faced with a little bit of adversity so he decides to stick his leg out there and trip his opponent. Allen's never had to deal with any sense of adversity in his life. He was always the best. He was the best player in youth basketball, middle school, high school and through the first two years of college.

No one was better than him. Now he's competing against players who are equally as talented and tough and he doesn't know how to respond. It was clearly evident in his reaction when the official hit him with a technical foul. He acted a like a four-year-old throw a temper-tantrum after being told he can't have desert because he didn't finish his broccoli. It's like he didn't expect there was going to be consequences for his actions and was surprised there was. He is a perpetual child with his immature actions.

This is no excuse for Allen's poor decisions because he is also a junior and is supposed to be a leader for the younger players.

Coach K admitted that he did not see the full incident on the bench until the next morning and that if he had, he never would have put Allen back in the game in second half. But after fully seeing what happened on the court and on the bench as well as Allen's history Coach K announced that he was suspending Allen indefinitely.

With all the media attention this has generated in the last 24 hours, there is no doubt that Coach K's decision to suspend Allen indefinitely was made not just by him. This a was directive from Duke's administration team. There was no other way around it. It had to be done.

Allen needs to learn how to control him emotions on the court and turn adversity into an advantage like his predecessors: Redick and, assistant coach, Scheyer, have done. It's about maturity. It's time for Allen to grow up and be the man and leader he can be.