The Duke Blue Devils are known as one of the greatest college basketball teams. Most of the reason for that is their head coach, Mike Krzyzewski. Krzyzewski has brought the school five Championships since starting in 1980 and is also the coach of the USA Men’s Basketball team. To say he’s accomplished would be an understatement but his actions this season have left people scratching their heads. Is Coach K using the right tactic for change or should he try something else?
Before I get into other issues, let’s break down this situation first. ESPN broke the story about Coach K, holding a meeting to discipline his players. According to the report, “…he informed players that they were temporarily kicked out of the locker room and also forbidden from wearing Blue Devils apparel.” The punishment came due to the team’s record, 2-3 since Krzyzewski’s departure for back surgery. ESPN also noted he has used this tactic to punish his player before, but will it actually work this time?
Looking at the roster, there’s a lot of younger guys there. That small taste of freedom is something that no one really thinks about. When you’re finally allowed to make your own decision and do what you want, freshmen tend to run wild and I can only imagine how bad it is with student athletes playing at one of the biggest schools in the country. However, that only goes so far because playing on a college-level team requires a certain level of maturity. If the basketball team is going to represent the school, then they should act like it.
Krzyzewski’s punishment can only go so far. The players have to be able to step up and if they don’t, then the punishment was pointless. They either didn’t learn anything or they didn’t care enough about the team to fix their problems. However, the biggest issue this season has been with Grayson Allen.
Allen has been at Duke since 2014, making him 21 years old and this year, Allen has been making headlines for all of his antics rather than his work on the court. He got in trouble for tripping multiple players last year and this year and unfortunately, the trend has continued. In December, he was given a technical for tripping an opponent and proceeded to have a complete meltdown on the bench, showing that he is obviously a perpetual man-child.
In response to the tripping incidents and his meltdown, Duke suspended him indefinitely. Before his suspension could even really start, Coach K released him after one day. One argument people have made is that he was trying to ease the burden off of replacement coach Jeff Capel III. It could be that, or it could be that Coach K didn’t really take the tripping incident seriously. If that’s true, then why would he make such a huge fuss about the record, then?
If you want my personal opinion, I believe that Coach K didn’t think the tripping was a big deal. He thought it was just Allen being frustrated but he shouldn’t be able to get away with it. He acted immaturely and should be punished as such. Giving him a slap on the wrist only opened it up for him to do it again and again.
I don’t blame teams for not wanting to play against Allen and giving him dirty looks. These guys know that they earned a right to be on their team. They don’t want to play against someone who is immature, makes dirty plays and isn’t reprimanded properly. Hopefully, Coach K realizes the same thing and actually punishes him the way he deserved in the first place. If Duke continues to fall even further, then there will only be one person to blame.
