CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Before Kyrie Irving sent the media into a frenzy by announcing he will play tomorrow, most of the conversation about Duke was centered on an event that happened 19 years ago.
Former Michigan player Jalen Rose sparked controversy with his comments about Duke's recruiting tactics in ESPN's Fab Five documentary, which revisited the Michigan team that lost to Duke in the 1992 NCAA championship game. In the documentary that aired Sunday night, Rose called black people who played for Duke "Uncle Toms," a term that historically has been used to describe black people who make themselves subservient to whites. While he made the comment when he was 18, he has defended it this week.
Not surprisingly, many did not appreciate Rose's comments, including Grant Hill, Duke '94, who penned an excellent column in the New York Times defending Duke and criticizing Rose for suggesting a black person coming from a two-parent household that received a good education had "sold out their race." Today, current Michigan players were left to explain Rose's comments.
"You know, I just felt like Jalen was being honest and he didn't mean to offend anybody at this current time, " sophomore Darius Morris said. "He was just saying how he felt as a young man coming up and what he felt Duke represented. Just probably because they didn't recruit him, he probably wanted to go to Duke because it's such a great program."
Michigan head coach John Beilein said he knew "very little" about the situation and the he had only heard bits and pieces. He was aware of Grant Hill's statement but said he hasn't "read it in depth."
On the Duke side, there was a constant "no comment" refrain. Kyrie Irving said he had "no reaction" to Rose's comments, and head coach Mike Krzyzewski refused to comment twice when asked about Rose. Nolan Smith also had no comment, but said, "I enjoyed watching the Fab Five movie that they did."
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