Hero? Villain? 'He's a warrior'

Throughout his two seasons at Duke, Grayson Allen has worn many hats.

The almost-forgotten fourth member of a stacked No. 1 recruiting class. The postseason hero who made a name for himself at the Final Four. A prolific scorer lauded by fans, teammates and coaches alike for his efforts on the court. And, most recently, the recipient of national ire for the way he has treated some opponents.

The initial transgression came in Duke’s 72-65 win against then-No. 13 Louisville Feb. 8—the first of the Blue Devils’ three straight victories against ranked foes. Allen drove to the hoop through contact midway through the second half and fell to the floor after his layup missed the mark. As Cardinals forward Raymond Spalding snagged the rebound and looked to start a fast break, he found himself tripping over Allen’s outstretched leg, which the Duke guard had extended while lying on the floor.

The referees deemed the offense worthy of a flagrant one foul, but the court of public opinion viewed it as a far more malicious act. The Internet flooded with videos of the trip and criticisms of Allen’s conduct, quick to anoint him as the next “Duke villain” in a succession of small, white and—to the nation at large—generally unlikable guards to come through Durham.

When the Blue Devils tipped off at Louisville less than two weeks later, the tensions intensified even further. Allen was involved in a scrum for a loose ball in the second half and emerged with a visibly bloody lip after receiving a direct elbow blow from Cardinal forward Jaylen Johnson, who was given a technical foul.

“We both dove for the ball and in a scrum there’s a lot of arms and hands going everywhere,” Allen said. “I caught a stray elbow, I don’t know from who, in the lip and just came down on my tooth.”

That confrontation proved to be a critical juncture in the game—what was a 10-point Duke lead quickly vanished as Louisville stormed back in the final 13 minutes to claim a seven-point win. With four minutes left to play, the frustrations finally boiled over for Allen, who was whistled for his fifth foul on a charge and let loose an angry string of expletives captured on national television.

This added another layer to the villain narrative. Now the public had not only the tripping incident as ammunition to fire at him, but also a documented instance of him complaining loudly at the referees. Many already viewed Allen as whiny due to his penchant for initiating contact and drawing fouls, but after the game Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski went out of his way to defend his most scrutinized star.

“You take a look at the play, it’s not close. Whatever close means, it’s not close,” Krzyzewski said. “Look, he’s been beat up the whole season. He’s a warrior, and he’s one of the great warriors in college basketball. But he doesn’t get what he’s a warrior for, at times.... Would we like him not to have that reaction? Yes. Do I understand why he had it? Yes.”

But the most blatant offense was still yet to come. As the clock ticked down on Duke’s 80-65 victory against Florida State Feb. 25, Allen—in plain sight of the officials—swung his leg behind him and tripped Seminole guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes in an action that could hardly be construed as incidental contact but did not result in a foul.

If the anti-Allen crowd enjoyed the previous incidents, it feasted on this one. The national media was quick to pick up yet another questionable play involving the Duke guard, and there were rumors he could be suspended by either Krzyzewski or the ACC. But the conference ultimately decided to issue a public reprimand of Allen, which amounted to an allegedly stern finger-wagging with no consequences in terms of playing time on the court.

“I called the ACC the morning after the game and told them that I had talked to [Florida State head coach] Leonard Hamilton. After I saw the thing, I brought Grayson in that night and talked to him. I told the ACC, ‘This is what we’ve done. You tell us what to do,’” Krzyzewski said after a Feb. 28 loss at Pittsburgh. “If anything was called, it would be a flagrant one. So all this suspension thing and that, look, I would not suspend any player for what would be a flagrant one…. What he got was the stiffest reprimand a player has gotten in our conference this year. There have been other guys who’ve hit people and whatever, and there have been no reprimands.”

Now, it seemed, Allen had gotten away with highway robbery, and no villain is easier to hate than one who gets to play by his own rules. As Duke hit the road for its contest in the Steel City, the home crowd held nothing back. Even during pre-game warmups, Allen was bombarded with hordes of taunts and accusations from Pittsburgh’s Oakland Zoo, not to mention several signs directing insults at him.

With all that weighing on their shoulders, the Blue Devils turned in arguably their worst performance of the season, a 76-62 dud in which the Panthers jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back. The normally aggressive Allen picked up just one personal foul—only his second ACC game with less than two after, ironically, accruing zero during the Florida State game—and turned the ball over four times as Duke never really got its act together.

“There’s no question that had an impact on our team at Pitt, because we were all distracted by that level of attention to that level of activity,” Krzyzewski said heading into the regular-season finale. “In some ways, I was amazed—totally amazed—and I’m sure Grayson was too. And so then you are not focused, you’re not you. We weren’t us.”

The Blue Devils have yet to return to top form in their two games following the Pittsburgh loss, but Allen certainly has, with a combined 59 points and eight 3-pointers against Wake Forest and North Carolina. Amid all the negativity, the Jacksonville, Fla., native has been Duke’s most consistent performer on the court and carried the team for much of ACC play with a relentless motor and unmatched effort. He scored at least 15 points in each of the team’s 18 conference games and is on pace to set an ACC record after boosting his scoring average by 17.1 points per game in one year.

Allen finally received some positive press this week, garnering second team All-American recognition from USA Today and a spot on the All-ACC first team. As the Blue Devils head into the ACC tournament this week in Washington, there is little doubt that he will be one of the most important, and polarizing, players on the court—regardless of the opponent.

And, as always, all eyes will be on Allen—for better or for worse.

“Nobody wants to be hated. But in this game, it happens. As teammates, we just have to do a better job making sure he doesn’t feel alone, that he knows that he has guys that love him and have his back,” junior captain Matt Jones said. “I just told him I’d have his back through the ups and the downs. We would always be teammates, we’d always be brothers—simple as that. I can’t really say anything to make people not hate him. It’s just more like reassurance to make sure that he knew that he had people on his side and in his corner.”