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Duke Basketball Allegations

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chicagobuckeye's picture
March 3, 2015 at 10:51pm
47 Comments

Checked the forums and didn't see this posted.

Per ESPN, The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper, alleges that Rasheed Sulaimon was dismissed from the team due to multiple sexual assault allegations during the 2013 season. The article states that while neither of the alleged victims came forward, people knew back in February of 2014 that the victims claimed the assaults happened. The reason they didn't come forward, and the most disconcerting portion of the article is:

Sources close to the two women told the Chronicle that the women did not pursue school or legal action against Sulaimon because they feared reprisal from Duke's fan base.

Unfortunately I fear that this isn't uncommon to other major athletic departments. Before we suggest these are isolated incidents at Duke, FSU, etc., one must look even at our own fan base and 11 warriors to see some comment that Winston's alleged victim is just "money hungry". This in no way suggests that any Ohio State football or basketball player has committed sexual assault, but that the culture surrounding big time college athletics invites wins as opposed to justice for victims.

The most surprising thing about this is that The Chronicle claims that Coach K and the athletic staff knew about the allegations back in March, but Sulaimon was still on the team up until recently. Just as we all found out in 2011, even the squeakiest of outside personas can make a lapse in judgement. (This in no way means that I think the two situations are the same other than a coaches action) Before anyone makes assumptions about what Coach K knew and when he knew it, please let all the facts come to light.

Thoughts on this case, or the pervasiveness of similar situations at other major athletic programs?

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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