Duke star Grayson Allen was suspended indefinitely by coach Mike Krzyzewski on Thursday, following a blatant trip against an Elon player on Wednesday night.
He could sit the rest of the season, one game or something in between.
Big picture, this suspension could hurt Blue Devils' hopes of winning an ACC regular-season title. Not having Allen, a preseason national player of the year candidate, is detrimental no matter Duke's depth. And the Blue Devils are deep.
Even a one game suspension could be huge, given Duke's schedule. The next game is Dec. 31 at Virginia Tech. The Hokies (10-1), who have won six straight, get Duke in a crazy environment and will give the Blue Devils a run.
As it stands now, Gary Parrish notes that KenPom projects a four-way tie between Virginia, Louisville, Duke and North Carolina. One game may not seem like a big deal but could be the difference between an ACC title and a fourth-place finish.
Odds are Duke, which has battled through games without an injured Allen earlier this season, would be fine should he sit only one game.
Duke is back to full health, with the trio of star freshman in Harry Giles, Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden on the floor. Luke Kennard has not so subtly been the team's best player So he would be able to shoulder a bigger workload in Allen's absence.
But let's say it's a five-game suspension. That would put Allen out for Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Boston College before visiting currently ranked Florida State (No. 21) and Louisville (No. 10, but just beat No. 6 Kentucky on Wednesday night), and they likely would be an underdog at the Yum! Center. We would definitely be talking about potentially dropping more than one game -- which could doom any ACC title shot.
In 2015, North Carolina brought home the regular-season title with a 14-4 ACC record. So no matter how long Allen's ban lasts, Duke will need to perform at a very high-level to keep pace.
