To be clear, I'm pretty sure neither Grayson nor anyone associated with Duke is staying up at nights because there is a segment of fans (& online sports media desperate for clicks) that are going to now pounce on every little thing he does -- after he legitimately reacted poorly to some physical play earlier in the year. We have a disagreement about those plays against Yale. But in the end of the day -- this is all noise that doesn't really matter. The kid's an AA on the court, he's an Academic All-ACC off the court, he's never had an issue with the law (which makes this talk about him being "guilty" a little silly), he's going to be a first round pick whenever he declares, and he's a national champion. In the grand scheme of things, while he needs to learn from his mistakes, the positives about this kid far outweigh any perceived negatives.
As for things that are far worse in the past 15 months of college b-ball, off the top of my head, I can think of the Diamond Stone head slam of a Wisconsin player on the hardwood, the Oregon State player intentionally tripping a ref., and Adam Woodbury poking like 3-4 eyes out. I mean -- even involving Grayson Allen -- I think this elbow by a Louisville player was far more dangerous than anything Grayson has done this year.
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This was basically the Singler v. Hansbrough play -- but involving a far more violent swing and post-play behavior suggesting a far greater degree of malicious intent. And I know what you guys all think about that play. And that's just the stuff I am aware of from following Duke closely and casually following college basketball. Yet, everyone is aware of Allen's trip of a Louisville player-- and barely anyone other than Duke fans watching that game have any idea about Allen taking a pretty vicious elbow right in the mouth from that same Louisville team. Certainly there was no movement out there calling for that Louisvillle player to be suspended; or to have his every move on the basketball court analyzed on a frame-by-frame basis for malicious intent. The Louisvillle kid did something wrong. He was called for a flagrant. And everyone moved on. ESPN didn't lead sportscenter with that elbow, didn't have every talking head on TV chime in on the play, and the internet wasn't saturated with feigned outrage about that play. Any discussion of that play basically ended when Grayson finished shooting the flagrant FTs.
I'm also sure there are far more controversial stuff in college b-ball that none of us have even heard about. For instance, I had no idea that Yale's captain had been expelled from school based on a finding of sexual assault until we played them on Saturday; nor, until this morning, did I know that Oregon's athletic department was currently the defendant in a lawsuit accusing the school of sweeping rape allegations under the rug. The notion that Grayson Allen's trip of a player is the most pernicious thing happening in college b-ball these days is a bit much.
