A Tribute To One Of The True All-Time Villains of College Basketball: Grayson Allen
Last night we saw the end of an era, as one of the all-time villains in recent college basketball history played in his final game. Grayson Allen, the man with maybe the most punchable face these two eyes have ever seen sang his final swan song. He actually almost hit the game-winner in regulation, but this country has been through enough lately that there’s just no way we could’ve survived such a cataclysmic event. Thankfully it rimmed out and Kansas went on to beat the Blue Devils in overtime to eliminate Duke.
Villains are what help give sports an extra element of being the best thing ever. Yes we hate them but they’re must watch because of it. Doing what Grayson did during his four years at Durham would’ve made him hated across the country regardless of where he played, but then you factor in that he did it at Duke University and this man might as well have been a terrorist the way we perceived him. He burst onto the scene as a freshman during the national championship against Wisconsin. He averaged only 9 minutes a game leading up to it, but went on to carry Duke in the second half to victory. All we saw back then was a super athletic white kid with a punchable face, but we had no idea what was about to unfold over the next three seasons. Let’s look back at his most evil moments as a Blue Devil as we say good bye.
February 8, 2016 Louisville: The Creation of a Psychopath
Unranked Duke is hosting 13th overall Louisville. Allen drives to the hole on the right side and comes up short as he crashes to the ground. Louisville’s Ray Spalding grabs the rebound and begins to churn up court. With Allen still on the floor he does what he does best and purposely extends his leg to trip Spalding. At first glance it seems incidental until you rewind the tape and see it was completely intentional. America was introduced to the villain Grayson Allen. A goddamn maniac who would go to all limits to be as dirty as can be to get any edge possible. This was only the beginning.
FSU Feb 25th, 2016: Woe is Me
His next incident came against FSU a few weeks later as Duke was dribbling out the final seconds of the clock. The Seminoles go for a late steal and as Xavier Rathan-Mayes heads up court Allen, clear as day, trips him with his leg. Of course right after the play he does his usual “woe his me” act as if Rathan-Mayes slipped on a wet spot. Nope, Allen just couldn’t head to the locker room with an easy victory, he had to be Grayson Allen.
Elon Dec 21, 2016: The Bitch Fit
His next incident came against harmless Elon. You could make a case most of his craziness came in the heat of the moment against tough ACC teams, but this was against ELON. You play them as a non-conference tune up to get ready for ACC play there’s just no need for this. As an Elon player drove on Allen in the first half, he was called for a reach in foul, but as the player moved passed him Grayson decided to blatantly swing his leg out and trip the guy on his way by. This is where everyone started to think Grayson Allen had a mental issue. After he was assessed a technical foul for the clear trip Allen was shown on the bench throwing a bitch fit, screaming uncontrollably as assistant coaches tried to console him. It was a bizarre scene and caused a lot of people to question if he was a true psychopath.
Following this game Coach K came out and suspended Allen “indefinitely”
But how long would indefinitely be? 5 games? The rest of the season? Only time would tell.
“indefinite”
Boston College January 7, 2017: Kick in the Balls
Back with a new mindset to be a clean player Grayson really showed some strides. Against BC he encountered a simple screen at the top of the three point line. Did he trip this player? No, he learned from his brutal one game suspension to be a better man. No, instead he decided to kick the screener in the balls with a sneaky back kick. He was a changed man.
FSU January 10, 2017: Coach Shove
As Grayson tried to save a ball going into the FSU bench he ran into players and coaches as he was going full speed. Once again he chose not trip them which you have to give him credit for. Instead Allen decided to shove the shit out of one of the coaches who was trying to brace his fall because what else would you expect? Wasn’t enough for him to trip every player in sight, but now he had moved onto coaches.
UNC March 9, 2018: Butt Check
The 2017-2018 season saw Grayson “mature” a bit as he was the only senior on the team and the only captain. He took on a leadership role trying to make this group of young stars mesh together. For the most part his senior season came with minimal controversy until the ACC Tournament. As the final seconds ticked down in the first half of the semifinals, UNC broke out on a fast break so what did Grayson do? Did he try and run down the court to help his teammates and stop the break? Heavens no. Allen noticed forward Garrison Brooks running down the court, basically out of the play, and decided to give him a dirty hip/butt check sending Brooks flying to the floor. It was Picasso painting his master piece.
He was one of a kind and will go up in the rafters of all-time villains we’ve seen in college basketball. He was the perfect Duke star right up there with J.J. Redick, Shane Battier, and Christian Laettner. Sports needs villains to really make it all the better and I’m going to miss Grayson Allen in a Duke uniform because he was so fucking hate-able. Luckily, we’re going to see more of him in the NBA because he’s actually a helluva player who is super athletic and can shoot, drive, and pass at a high level. He could easily be a role player off the bench for a good team, but his antics will tell the real story. I for one cannot wait for when he tries to trip a Russell Westbrook or a Boogie Cousins and incites an all-out brawl because it’s definitely going to happen.