NCAA Basketball Duke Blue Devils

Grayson Allen Will Have To Step Up In Wake Of Rasheed Sulaimon Dismissal

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By @Bigwoolf5

Duke, Rasheed Sulaimon, Grayson Allen

Mark Dolejs-USA Today Sports

The Duke Blue Devils are coming off a heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame and will take on undefeated Virginia next, so you would think they need everyone on the roster to pull off that upset.

That’s not what Mike Krzyzewski was thinking as he dismissed Rasheed Sulaimon from the team for “not meeting expectations.” Sulaimon was the team’s best scorer off the bench. In his absence, freshman Grayson Allen is going to have to step up.

Duke has the reputation of a high-powered offensive team. Rightfully so when you consider its starting lineup features possible player of the year Jahlil Okafor, along with Tyus Jones, Quinn Cook and Justise Winslow. The problem is it isn’t a particularly deep team.

Coach K has only been playing an eight-man rotation for most of this year. Two of the three guys coming off the bench, Marshall Plumlee and Matt Jones, are defensive guys. Sulaimon was the team’s sixth man and was really the only guy who brought scoring punch off the bench for the Blue Devils.

Sulaimon wasn’t having a great scoring season, averaging only seven points per game, but he was a threat, and he was shooting over 40 percent from three. With Sulaimon now gone, the scoring from the bench will have to come from the least heralded player of Duke’s freshman class, Allen.

Okafor, Jones and Winslow get all of the attention and rightfully so, but Allen is no scrub. He was a McDonald’s All-American and a top 20 recruit. He has the reputation as an extremely good athlete who can shoot the three well and score, and that is exactly what Duke will need from him.

So far this season Allen has only played in 16 games and is averaging six minutes per contest, so there is not nearly a big enough sample size to judge his statistics from this year. However, he is shooting 42 percent from the field and 33 percent from three.

Allen is certainly capable and that is a luxury to have for Duke, but he is going to have to step up immediately as he will be essential for Duke on Saturday at Virginia. The Blue Devils will miss Sulaimon’s scoring and it will hurt losing a junior who has been through everything, but there aren’t many teams that can say their next man up is a top 20 recruit. Allen will now have a chance to show what he’s got because he steps in as the top scorer off the bench by default.

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