Duke Basketball: Grayson Allen ready for big season

A positive report on his ankle surgery means star guard Grayson Allen has one less concern entering his senior season for Duke basketball.

Duke basketball and Grayson Allen are entering a key season. They have a young roster, and it is very young roster at that. Six freshmen are due to arrive on campus for the season to join four sophomores that barely saw the light of day. That’s ten players that are essentially playing their first season of college basketball. Of the four sophomores, only Marques Bolden is expected to contribute in a major way.

In the old days of college basketball when the one-and-done players like Bob McAdoo were fairly uncommon, this would be the recipe for a national championship team in three years. These days, this team will be expected to contend for the title this year just like the team before it. Trevon Duval, Wendell Carter, and Gary Trent, Jr. are possible one-and-done players. Therefore, Duke needs to win now.

This need aligns with the needs of the only Duke senior on the roster. Allen also needs to win now. He needs to repair his reputation and stabilize his draft stock for next year. One of those things can only be accomplished if Allen is healthy.

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According to reports from Scott Gleeson at USA Today, Allen has undergone successful surgery on his ankle. Now Coach Mike Krzyzewski claims Allen is fine physically. In fact, Coach K was willing to go further and say that he liked where Allen was emotionally as well.

The two things can be linked. While Allen’s mental health is not dependent on his physical health entirely, Allen did collect some intentional fouls during the period of time when he was injured. An injury could lead to frustration and frustration to fouls. Injuries certainly prevented Allen from convincing NBA scouts, but Duke was unstoppable when Allen, Luke Kennard, and Jayson Tatum were all firing as they did in the 2017 ACC Tournament.

This will be a big adjustment year for Allen in two other ways. Allen was team captain last year, but his tripping incidents got that role taken from him. His injuries then put him on the bench toward the end of the year. This team will need more of a leadership role from Allen from the get go. There will be intense pressure for him to put his stamp on the team and carry it down the road. We have yet to see how he will handle it.

Another adjustment is a move back to the wing. Allen may not have seen his last point guard minutes yet, but he will be decidedly playing off the ball with newcomer Duval now manning the point. Allen has not played with a real point guard since his freshman season with Tyus Jones. Duke won the national title that year.

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This is a year for Allen to prove himself. He will have to do it under the weight of great expectations and people closely examining his every move. However, Allen has been in a situation like this one before. Allen was expected to contribute as a sophomore on a team missing its big guns. He responded with an All-American year and averaged more than 20 points per game. If he does that again, Duke will not have to worry much about a return to the Final Four.