​Duke Basketball player suspended right before Coach Krzyzewski is due for back surgery

Madeline Rudd
Staff Writer

              After earning The Iron Devil for all of his hard work over the 2016 off-season, junior Grayson Allen has been officially stripped of his Duke Basketball captain position because of his misconduct during Duke’s game against Elon on Dec. 21. Only sixteen minutes into the game, Elon guard, Steven Santa Ana, tried to get around Allen, but Allen was not having it. He stuck his foot out to trip Santa Ana and an immediate technical foul was thrown on him. This is not the first time Allen has done this, he tripped two other players in February last season, and this seems to be strike three. On top of the technical foul, Allen threw a full-blown tantrum on the bench after he was pulled from the rest of the first half. In the post-game conference Coach Krzyzewski said, “what Grayson did was unacceptable,” and continued to say that Allen apologized to Santa Ana and, he got his punishment, never mentioning any suspension time.
                Later Allen was suspended “indefinitely” because of his actions. This “indefinite” suspension did not last long though; Allen only sat for one game and played against Georgia Tech only fourteen days after the Elon game. There is some speculation about Coach K’s reasoning for lifting this suspension, but he has said no comments about it.
                        This controversy around Allen could not have come at a worse time in Coach K’s career. Only a few days before the Allen incident, Duke announced that Coach K will be taking  a leave of absence to undergo surgery to remove a fragment of a herniated disk in his back. He is expected to be in recovery for about a month. During this time associate head coach, Jeff Capel, will be leading the team and his first game will be Saturday the 7, against Boston College. The team is currently 1-1 in ACC play, so hopefully Grayson Allen keeps his feet to himself, and Capel can hold down the fort.

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