Grayson Allen brought this on himself. And so has Duke

Grayson Allen is back in the news again. The way things are going, that’s where he’ll stay for the rest of the college basketball season.

If this is bothersome to him, he has no one to blame but himself — and a Duke men’s basketball program that has spent more time enabling him than punishing him.

This time, it was a shove along the Florida State bench as Allen went for a loose ball Tuesday night. The replay from the Duke loss shows Allen pushing an FSU assistant coach, but the coach says, no, Allen didn’t shove him (even though Allen really did) and blames himself for not getting out of the way fast enough.

With another Allen controversy brewing, the coach, Dennis Gates, went to great lengths Wednesday morning to explain exactly what happened.

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“I want to make this very clear!” he began on Twitter. Three long paragraphs later, Gates hit the Caps Lock button to praise Allen: “A GREAT HUSTLE PLAY.”

This is about the time you realize that Allen and Duke gave us all of this: the social media back and forth, the pro-Allen crowd, the anti-Allen backlash. Anything Allen does from now on that is remotely questionable or unsportsmanlike will be scrutinized, which is exactly as it should be when a school suspends a player “indefinitely” and then brings him back after one measly game.

Ah, the old “indefinite,” one-game suspension trick. Really, Mike Krzyzewski?

By now, you probably know the story. Three times in the past year, including once this season, Allen has blatantly tripped opposing players. After the third offense, he was suspended Dec. 22 and brought right back Jan. 4. At some schools, that’s called winter break.

Then, last Saturday, in a victory against Boston College, there was what looked like an awkward attempted trip by Allen. And then he flew into the FSU bench and something did or did not happen.

Now you’re all caught up.

What I don’t understand is how Allen ever got to the point where he could trip a second person.

The first? If that happens — when that happens — that’s when a tough coach like Krzyzewski steps in, looks his player in the eye and says that will never be tolerated on his team again.

If it happens a second time, as it did in this case, the coach throws the book at the kid. The suspension is definite, and meaningful.

But Duke and Krzyzewski didn’t do that. They let Allen’s bizarre and unbecoming behavior continue. Their punishment, coming as late as it did, was laughable.

And now, here they are, surrounded by intrigue every time Allen steps onto the court.

This is no one's fault but theirs. Allen and Duke created this mess. Now they get to deal with it.

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