Over at the Duke Chronicle, Ben Curtis makes an interesting argument: should Grayson Allen have his jersey retired?
It’s a great question.
Allen, as Curtis points out, had an outstanding career at Duke. He was as responsible as anyone for Duke’s 2015 national championship win over Wisconsin. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called his diving play against the Badgers the greatest play in Duke Basketball history.
That’s saying a lot. Consider Christian Laettner’s two buzzer beaters over UConn and Kentucky.
Consider Shane Battier’s epic block against Arizona’s Jason Gardner in 2001, or Nate James’s tip-in against Maryland in the same years.
That’s a huge compliment.
Curtis also touches on the tripping controversies that Allen brought on himself. It was a bizarre chapter in a brilliant career. What we remember about that was when Coach K was asked about it and he said, quite carefully we thought that “I’m responsible for that kid.”
The exact words might be off, but it’s essentially correct, and we’ve always wondered what exactly he meant by that.
We also remember on the second kicking occasion, seeing Allen go to the bench and being very concerned about his reaction. There’s a lot we don’t know about it and there’s a good chance we’ll never know, but at that moment, he didn’t seem like he was fully in control of himself.
But that’s from a very great distance, so take it for what it’s worth.
Is that disqualifying?
It might have been when Allen graduated in 2018, but today? Probably not.
It’s a really interesting question. What do you think?
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