The Duke Blue Devils have dismissed junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon after he was unable to live up to team standards.
Rasheed Sulaimon is no longer a member of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team after he was dismissed on Thursday afternoon.
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A bad week for Duke got worse on Thursday, one day after losing to Notre Dame, the Blue Devils lost the junior guard who was in the midst of his worst season at Duke.
Sulaimon has played in all 20 games for Duke this season and is averaging 7.5 points, two rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, all career lows for the 6-5 guard from Houston. He was one of the team’s best on-ball defenders and appeared to buy into his role off the bench, but this is a stunning development from one of college basketball’s top teams.
He has not been involved in any transgressions that would threaten his place with the team, at least not publicly, but perhaps head coach Mike Krzyzewski was just successful in keeping things in house and didn’t disclose any disciplinary measures publicly.
Based on comments from Krzyzewski in a statement following the dismissal it would appear that Sulaimon was playing on borrowed time.
“Rasheed has been unable to consistently live up to the standards required to be a member of our program,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a release, via ESPN.com. “It is a privilege to represent Duke University and with that privilege comes the responsibility to conduct oneself in a certain manner. After Rasheed repeatedly struggled to meet the necessary obligations, it became apparent that it was time to dismiss him from the program.”
With the loss of Sulaimon, Duke could turn to freshman Grayson Allen to fill the void left by his absence. He has averaged 2.8 points per game in only 6.1 minutes per game but could be pressed into a larger role.
In addition to Allen, sophomore reserve Matt Jones could see increased minutes, but he hasn’t been asked to play the point like Sulaimon has been able to do throughout his career.
Nevertheless, this is not what Duke needed in advance of Saturday’s road tilt with No. 2 Virginia on tap. Their ACC title hopes are fleeting with a 4-3 record after Wednesday’s loss to Notre Dame, so this is must-win territory for Duke who now must adapt without Sulaimon who averaged 19.3 minutes per game.
His best season with Duke came as a freshman when he averaged 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.2 minutes per game.
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