Duke Basketball: ACC needs to take action against Grayson Allen
In Duke basketball’s win over Elon, Grayson Allen once again tripped an opponent.
Enough is enough. It’s time for Grayson Allen to be suspended.
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In Duke’s final non-conference battle on Wednesday night against Elon, Allen tripped sophomore guard Steven Santa Ana, complained about the fact that he received a foul and pouted on the bench while the Duke coaching staff tried to calm him down.
This isn’t the first time that Allen has tripped an opponent. A year ago, against Louisville at the Cameron Indoor Center, Allen missed a layup and impeded Raymond Spalding’s path up the court. Nearly a month later, the then-sophomore blatantly tripped Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes with three seconds left in a 15-point game!
During the offseason, Allen sat down with ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, expressing remorse and apologizing for his actions. However, it’s clear that Allen cannot control himself, his emotions and his competitive nature.
And that’s going to cost him. It will not only continue to drown his reputation nationally, but there needs to be a suspension that is levied down against the guard.
It doesn’t look like it’s going to come from Duke though. Surprisingly, Coach K inserted Allen back into Duke’s game against Elon in the second half. He also had some interesting, highly questionable comments to the media following the game.
"I handle things the way I handle them, and I think I’ve handled this correctly, and moving forward I will continue to handle it correctly, and I don’t need to satisfy what other people think that I should do. And I’m a teacher and a coach, and I’m responsible for that kid.So I know him better than anybody. So to think that it’s the last thing said about this to him is wrong. Obviously we will do more. Doesn’t mean you have to see it, or anybody else has to see it, but what he did tonight was right. That’s what people do. They say they’re sorry. They accept responsibility. They want to make sure that the other party knows that.Anyone else who wants to take shots about anything else – about Duke and me or whatever – go for it. Go for it. Because that’s territory that I’m comfortable with."
This means that the ACC has to lay down the hammer. Is Allen going to learn that intentionally tripping an opposing player is wrong through a simple one or two game suspension?
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That’s very unlikely, which is the reason why I agree with ESPN’s Jay Williams. If Coach K doesn’t want to take matters into his own hands, the ACC should impose a five-game suspension. It will send a message to their conference and the rest of college basketball that dirty plays that could potentially injure opposing players will not be tolerated, especially when future incidents could result in a full-blown retaliation.