Duke is down to eight scholarship players after kicking Rasheed Sulaimon off the team at the end of January. While it was unknown at the time what the junior guard did (Krzyzewski said it was because Sulaimon repeatedly struggled to meet the necessary obligations), the Duke Student Newspaper uncovered that Sulaimon has reportedly been accused of sexually assaulting two female students.
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It’s also being reported by the newspaper that Coach K and several in the Duke athletic department knew about the Sulaimon accusations in March, 2014 after someone inside the department had notified them:
The allegations were brought to the attention of a team psychologist in March 2014, the anonymous affiliate told the Duke Chronicle. That month, the allegations were brought to Krzyzewski and assistant coaches Jon Scheyer and Nate James and associate head coach Jeff Capel.
The anonymous affiliate said other athletic administrators were then made aware of the allegations. Among the administrators identified by the anonymous affiliate were Mike Cragg, deputy director of athletics and operations; Director of Basketball Operations David Bradley; and Kevin White, vice president and director of athletics. The allegations were also brought to the attention of Sue Wasiolek, assistant vice president of student affairs and dean of students, according to the anonymous affiliate.
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“Nothing happened after months and months of talking about [the sexual assault allegations],” the anonymous affiliate said. “The University administration knew. Kevin White knew, Mike Cragg knew.
Certainly wouldn’t be a good look if it is indeed true that Coach K and his staff knew about Sulaimon’s situation for over a year and didn’t act on it until recently.
Duke issued this statement regarding the Sulaimon situation:
#BreakingNews – #Duke issues new statement on Rasheed Sulaimon allegations pic.twitter.com/hpNvzlKGJ6
— Derek Rowles (@DerekRowles) March 3, 2015
Duke is currently the No. 3 team in the country and looking like a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
