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Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski Criticized As He Bans Players From Locker Room — Is Duke’s Program Imploding?

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 11:21 PST, Jan 27, 2017

Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski is fuming over his team’s losing streak during his time away for back surgery. He is so angry, he reportedly brought the team over for dinner at his home to tell them that they are being punished, and for now, they are banned from the locker room and unable to wear any Duke team gear. Coach K as he is known is unfamiliar with losing.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski has taken a lot of heat for allowing player Grayson Allen to return to play after he was reprimanded for intentionally tripping other players three times since he started playing for Duke, says the Inquisitr. After the last incident, Coach K said that Allen was suspended indefinitely, only to reinstate him for the next game. This has fans and those who don’t like Duke wondering if the program is tanking.

The New York Daily News has some rough words for Duke’s Coach K, considering he is 70 and has serious back problems, which have required surgery in the past, and he is still on leave for a recent surgery. The coach of the men’s basketball team at Duke is being called a hypocrite because he is punishing them for losing games when he wasn’t available to coach, and before he has returned to coach them. In other words, he is undermining the replacement coaches by banning players from their locker room at Cameron and stopping them from wearing Duke gear.

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Coach K is still on medical leave, but he summoned them to his house to “rip them a new one.” The Daily News suggested that Coach K doesn’t need back surgery, but rather a “jerk-ectomy.” He frequently plays mind games with his players, keeping them from using their top flight facilities to practice and not giving them the honor of wearing anything with the word “Duke” on it.

But Coach K is on a leave of absence, so many are asking if he has the power to step over their current coaches. Many are also wondering, with Coach K out at such a critical point in the season, what can be achieved without a real full-time coach?

Most photos of Coach K look like a man who is miserable, and even though he is still homebound, it’s likely that he is even more miserable than usual. ESPN is saying that the current punishment system he is pulling on his team is nothing new, as he has used them several times in the past. “He wasn’t happy. Especially after the loss to NC State,” according to ESPN.

Sources are saying that the punishment will likely continue “Until they start living up to the standards of the Duke program.”

But between the unsportsmanlike conduct from Grayson Allen and other fundamental issues, being banned from wearing their Under Armour is not going to fix their problems. “He needs to do more than just take away their jerseys. There are bigger issues that need to be addressed.”

Jeff Capel, a former Duke player, is supposed to be the head coach for now of the Duke Blue Devils, but he still seems to be taking orders from Coach K, and is disappointed that someone talked, according to a recent interview.

“Really can’t speak on it. Disappointing when stuff that’s supposed to stay in the locker room gets out.”

Duke used to be known as a team with the highest graduation record and the lowest number of discipline problems, but now, they seem to be just another basketball program, with slumps and peaks, and they are having the worst season yet since Coach K took over.

Since Coach K took his leave, the team is 2-3, with a game tomorrow against ACC team Wake Forest.

Do you think Duke should just focus on rebuilding? Is Coach K disrespecting Jeff Capel by coaching the team while on leave?

[Featured Image by Jim McIssac/Getty Images]

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