Grayson Allen Needs Help

Well this kind of seems like a recurring theme here now doesn't it. I wrote an article last year about how Grayson Allen of Duke was quickly becoming one of the most hated players in College Basketball. Well not only has that not changed, this latest incident may have made that case even worse.

Wednesday night, Duke was playing Elon. During the ballgame, Elon guard Steven Santa Ana was tripped up by Allen when attempting to coral a loose ball. Allen received a technical foul in the first half after he extended his right leg to deliberately trip Santa Ana. Then, to make matters seem almost worse for himself, Allen was seen throwing a small temper tantrum on the bench! Here's what the foul and tantrum looked like:


If this had been just a one time thing, then it would have died off right then and there. But because this isn't the first such incident for Allen, it has been made a story. There's that and the fact that the next day, Thursday, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced Thursday that junior guard Grayson Allen has been suspended indefinitely.

This leaves two questions asked. One what does this do for Duke? Two, what is this going to do for Grayson Allen?

Lets start with Duke as a team. They sit at 12-1 going into Christmas weekend. They were considered one of the clear favorites to win the National Title this season, and Allen has been a solid contributor to this team. Allen averaged (16 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists a game. He is one of five Duke players to average double figures in scoring this year. Duke has been getting contributions from Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum, and Marques Bolden, so I don't really think this is going to end up hurting Duke really long term.

Now for the big story here, and that's Grayson Allen and his attitude. Coach K even went to say that Allen's actions were "unacceptable and inexcusable” and that couldn't be more accurate. Allen has an attitude and an edge to his game, which is what makes him so effective and such a good basketball player. But there are times where that edge can go a little too far. Allen has all the tools, but he needs to work on controlling his emotions better during games. As much as it hurts him to be sitting out of games, it really is his own undoing.

He has all the talent in the world but needs to get his attitude under control if he's going to have any success!