College Basketball Keeps Its Villain, Again – Grayson Allen Returning to Duke

I’m usually firmly in the camp of go get your money because you may never have that chance again. I’m also firmly in the camp of blogging about college basketball so when news that Grayson Allen decided to return to Duke I got pretty jazzed up. Allen is one of the more intriguing players out there because he is extremely talented but he’s also a lunatic. Kmarko absolutely loves him. The guy who sits next to you probably hates him.

What he is though, is a guy who could have been a first round pick last year and possibly even this year passing up two times in a row to come back to Duke. Coming into the season he was picked as the preseason National Player of the Year by almost every major publication and was a unanimous preseason All-American. The combination of injuries, tripping people and just generally losing his mind made him fail when it came to expectations. He’ll be a preseason All-ACC team this year and likely pop up on a couple All-American teams, but the key is going to be between the ears. Allen is a great basketball player when healthy. He can shoot the shit out of the ball, he’s athletic and can go get his own bucket. We saw what he can do against teams like UNC when he hit seven threes.

However, when he gets in his own head he becomes rather worthless and a detriment on the court. It’s the reason he’s still at Duke honestly. He could have been easily a first round pick (while graduating still). For Duke, it’s a huge win to get Allen back as they have already lost every rotation player besides Bolden, Allen and likely Frank Jackson (he’s expected to announce his return to Duke). Man, I’m giddy for him to do something crazy early next year. Just about six months to go.