The White Bad Boys of Duke

If you are alive and watch sports, you inevitably have an opinion on Duke Men’s Basketball.

To the great disappointment of my friends and family, I happen to love the Blue Devils. I love their polish, their system, and the fact that they stay winning every. single. year. Being on top puts Duke in an enviable position but their fans in the slightly less enviable position where we’re rooting for Goliath.

To which I used to say: haters gonna hate.

So many haters out there, whose main criticism of Duke over the years is something like it’s so frustrating to watch the same team win all the time. 

But these days, it seems like there might be more than envy driving this Duke hatred. I used to relish being the token Duke apologist—shaking off the haters one by one—but now, I’m starting to resent it. Perhaps because there seems like there’s a lot to apologize for these days.

Grayson Allen Is Trippin’

You may have heard of Christian Laettner and J.J. Reddick, former Duke stars hated for their basketball skills and bad boy attitudes. The torch has once again been passed on, this time to shooting guard Grayson Allen. The upside of Allen is that he is a ridiculously gifted athlete who dispels the notion that white men can’t jump. He has hops, he can shoot the three, and with a team-leading 4.3 APG, he knows how to get his teammates involved with a beautifully placed pass.

But what Allen might be best known for is that he trips opponents when he gets frustrated. Not accidentally, either. And no, it didn’t happen just once. It’s happened three times over the last season and a half.

While tripping doesn’t sound as bad as, say, Laettner stomping on the chest of Ketucky’s Aminu Timberlake, there’s no room for this kind of behavior in the game of basketball. Certainly not in Coach K’s pristine, legendary system. Right?

Since last season, Allen’s tripping has become a focal point of almost every broadcast and every Duke story. His latest tripping episode (against Elon on December 21st, 2016) was by far the most intentional and most egregious. He clearly sticks his leg out to prevent the Elon player from going to the basket, and then cartoonishly pinwheels around, pretending this was just incidental contact and there weren’t cameras at every angle recording the incident itself. His reaction, throwing a dramatic tantrum on the bench, was even worse.

What Are The Consequences?

Before the ACC took any action, Coach K decided to punish Allen with an “indefinite suspension” for his repeat offense. The media and opposing fans were ruthless on Twitter.

Grayson Allen is the result of countless years of work by maniacal scientists attempting to create the most Duke Basketball Human

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger_sherman) December 22, 2016

lol I think this one wins it @bhunt757 Grayson Allen pic.twitter.com/Ky1c6hTSSs

— OBX Restin (@nikhisee8) December 22, 2016

Exhibits A, B, and C. Grayson Allen is the dirtiest player in college basketball. No question pic.twitter.com/HJ3dGSU5Ok

— Ryan Thorn (@RyanThorn) December 22, 2016

Now, the technical definition of indefinite may be “for an unknown length of time,” but as self-imposed team penalties go, they tend to be pretty severe, spanning multiple games and even impacting the all-important win-loss record for a team. And this is where it gets tricky.

The ACC is the toughest basketball conference (go ahead and @ me, Big Ten fans), where almost every game is anybody’s game, especially this year. Allen is one of Duke’s star players on a young team. And Coach K had just scheduled back surgery. So, how do we balance this equation? How much punishment should Allen receive? What is justice?

Pulling on my Duke Apologist hat, how am I supposed to explain that “indefinite suspension” means sitting just one game of conference play? That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Grayson Allen sat one game and not only played in the next, he STARTED! Did the Virginia Tech loss really cause Coach K to pull his superstar off the bench, or was this the plan all along? We will never know.

But we do know that this is a prime example of why people hate Duke. Grayson Allen learns zero lessons. Duke loses zero games without him. And Coach K maintains his glistening image as a molder of men.

Duke’s White Bad Boy Complex

I know what you’re thinking, so I’m just going to ask the questions.

How different would this be if it were a Black player with a recurring issue? Would he get away with it once, twice, three times without ACC intervention? Would Coach K even tolerate it in the first place? How much does race play into the equation? And what is with Duke’s White Bad Boy Complex?

From Laettner to Bobby Hurley to Reddick to Jon Scheyer, and now to Grayson Allen, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of athletic white boys recruited to play at Duke. Guys with an attitude and who play with a chip on their shoulder. And while there’s nothing wrong with playing with a chip on your shoulder, it’s how you use that chip that matters. You want to prove the haters wrong? I’m with you. You want to trip them and stomp them and throw tantrums on the sidelines? That’s not what I had in mind.

Time and time again it seems that Duke Men’s Basketball hands out nothing more than a slap on the wrist to its White Bad Boys. And as a fan, it’s really starting to weigh on me.

Look, I don’t know what goes on behind-the-scenes or what kinds of conversations have been had between Allen and his coaches and teammates. But the recurring offenses of Duke’s perceived White Bad Boys aren’t a good look for the Blue Devils or for fans. Everyone hates us enough, do we really need to add more fuel to the fire?