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Wyoming Seminary Lower School educator Clark Switzer bringing classroom documentary to local libraries for month-long speaker series

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Paul Sokoloski: Reaching for the moon can make teams see stars

<p>Let&#8217;s all take a moment and honor the Duke basketball team and its king, Mike Krzyzewski.</p><p>The program never does anything wrong, and the coach is the best and classiest in the storied history of college basketball.</p><p>At least that&#8217;s what the school and many members of the media want everyone to believe.</p><p>Before I go any further let me add a disclaimer. There are two types of college basketball fans: those that love Duke and those that hate the Blue Devils. I happen to fall in the latter category, being a longtime fan of all sports teams of the University of North Carolina.</p><p>Regardless, the latest antics by the team and its coach have gotten out of hand.</p><p>In case you missed it, Krzyzewski decided to reprimand another team&#8217;s player after Duke lost to Oregon in the Sweet 16.</p><p>Not only did he do something no coach should ever do to another team&#8217;s player, he then lied about it. This coming from a man many consider the most-respected coach in the game.</p><p>Basically, what he did was act like a sore loser. It&#8217;s fine when his team throws up 3-pointers like they are at practice at the end of games when winning big, but other teams can&#8217;t do it to the Blue Devils.</p><p>And many of those shots taken by the Blue Devils are taken by starters.</p><p>Want proof?</p><p>There have been at least seven instances of Duke doing this in the last two seasons. The most recent being a little more than a month ago when the Blue Devils defeated Florida State 80-65, and star Grayson Allen put up a 3-point attempt with 20 seconds left.</p><p>That&#8217;s the same thing that ruffled Krzyzewski&#8217;s feathers when Oregon&#8217;s Dillon Brooks sank a shot from behind the arc with just 10 seconds left Thursday night with the shot clock expiring in the Ducks&#8217; 82-68 win.</p><p>Yes, Krzyzewski apologized a few days later for his conduct, but that&#8217;s just because he was caught in a lie thanks to CBS releasing the audio of the conversation.</p><p>I understand it was in the heat of the moment, but it&#8217;s still not something that is done. Sportsmanship is something every coach and athlete on any level should follow no matter the situation.</p><p>If Duke and Krzyzewski want to reprimand someone, maybe he should look no further than the acts of Allen this season. Four times he was caught tripping an opponent during a game. The second time he did it came in the Florida State game. The two latest incidents were in one game, the team&#8217;s second-round game against Yale.</p><p>Allen has put opponents in danger four times in one season and hasn&#8217;t been suspended one game, not even one half. In fact, it seems like he&#8217;s been rewarded for what he did. He started all eight remaining Duke games after getting a slap on the hand by the ACC for what he did against the Seminoles and played at least 38 minutes in all of those contests.</p><p>Don&#8217;t tell me that the Blue Devils had depth issues this season. Every Division I men&#8217;s college basketball team has 13 scholarships for players each year. There are players good enough on that bench to fill in for five minutes to discipline a player who was out of line.</p><p>If Krzyzewski was indeed the classy, honorable mentor that everyone claims, he would have stepped in and penalized his own player.</p><p>Yes, the team has dealt with injuries all season, but a person who is referred to as the best coach to ever step foot on a basketball court should be able to figure out a way to win without one or multiple star players in the lineup.</p><p>Then again, this is Duke Blue Devils men&#8217;s basketball, and everything the team or its coach does is perfect. He constantly makes the right decisions.</p><p>It&#8217;s everyone else that is always out of line and wrong.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski ran into controversy after losing in the Sweet 16 Thursday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_AP370788455471.jpg</photo0><caption0>Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski ran into controversy after losing in the Sweet 16 Thursday. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_rosengrant.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dave Rosengrant</div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_rosengrant.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dave Rosengrant</caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Dave Rosengrant: Just one more reason to hate Duke, Coach K