Never fear Dan Kane is here on Duke, Sulaimon story

It’s not understood yet if having The News & Observer investigative reporter Dan Kane on the Duke University Rasheed Sulaimon story is an effort to get to the truth of why the basketball player was dismissed by arrogant Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski or just lip service to fans of the lighter shade of blue, the UNC Tar Heels. 

The story in today’s paper is under the fold of the front page just beneath a photo of Krzyzewski at center court in Indianapolis. He appears to be praying, either for a win against Michigan State today in the NCAA Final Four semifinals or for the Sulaimon story to disappear. The story’s placement says it’s an important report.

Surely, Kane and his editors want the truth of the Sulaimon account to be completely revealed, and that’s reason to have Kane on the narrative. It’s sad to the public that this is happening at a private university that has constantly and consistently hidden behind that status instead of telling the complete story of injustices, misbehavings, and low entrance SAT scores for athletes. In the case of Sulaimon, there are plenty of rumors and innuendo. It’s all we have. Maybe Kane will dig up the truth about more dirt there.

If Sulaimon was involved in sexual assault allegations, Krzyzewski and Duke University decided to hide it instead of dealing with it up front. At the point of initial accusation, Sulaimon was too important to Krzyzewski’s plan to win another NCAA title. So, he did nothing except keep a secret. No matter what he may say in public, there is no way Krzyzewski didn’t know about accused transgressions by his player. What he did know, and what was probably the proverbial straw that broke Krzyzewski’s only team rule—Do nothing to embarrass Duke University—is the rumor that Sulaimon, verbally berated by an assistant coach for sloppy play, literally struck back, pushing the assistant coach to the floor. It’s just a rumor, but it’s logical, and was reason to push Sulaimon out of the program. That was the spark Krzyzewski needed to get his team to the Final Four, so he must be pleased with kicking a player from his program.

Krzyzewski probably doesn’t care that Dan Kane is on the story because the coach and Duke University will continue to stonewall, pushing away questions as the minions of reporters who love the coach and who do not want his wrath cast upon them stay away from the story that’s far from over. Hopefully, Kane, who did a terrific job staying on the UNC football and basketball scandal, is not offering lip service and will persist on this one as well, eventually getting to the truth of this story about Duke and Krzyzewski. But, to do so, he’ll have to climb over tall and thick Gothic-style walls at Duke, and that will be hard to do. Kane, though, has shown he is up to the challenge.

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