DeCock: Sulaimon dismissal leaves short-handed Duke in tough spot

There was a moment in Duke’s loss Wednesday night at Notre Dame when Jahlil Okafor landed awkwardly on his right leg and came up limping. As trainer Jose Fonseca poked and prodded the star freshman’s knee, on the bench there was an inescapable sense that Duke’s entire season was hanging in the balance.

Okafor was fine. Duke, as it turns out, was not.

Less than 24 hours after the Blue Devils watched a 10-point second-half lead evaporate against the Irish, junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon’s sudden and shocking dismissal from the program – a first in Mike Krzyzewski’s 35 seasons at Duke – did nearly as much damage to Duke’s prospects for the rest of the season as an Okafor injury of any severity might have.

The closest Duke has been to a Final Four since winning the national title in 2010 was an Elite Eight loss in 2013, when Sulaimon, a freshman, was as distraught as anyone in the locker room afterward. As talented as Okafor and Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow are, they can’t get Duke back there alone.

Now they’ll have to try, more or less.

Sulaimon was essentially a bench player for Duke, but that still covered almost 20 minutes a night – not easily replaced under any circumstances, and impossible to replace given the lack of depth elsewhere on the roster.

The Blue Devils’ 10-man rotation to start the season was already down to eight after Semi Ojeleye decided to transfer in December and freshman Grayson Allen’s minutes dwindled. Now, Allen will have to play, ready or not, because the Blue Devils are out of options. It’s going to be a lonely bench: sophomore guard Matt Jones, junior forward Marshall Plumlee, Allen and two walk-ons.

After a weekend in which Krzyzewski, while winning his 1,000th game, was told over and over again how clever and adaptable a coach he is, all of that will be put to the test in midseason. He’s often defaulted toward a smaller rotation, but generally by choice. This has been forced upon him.

In addition to weathering the difficulties of relying heavily on three freshman starters – as evidenced by Duke’s uncharacteristic and extensive use of zone defense beginning with the win at Louisville – the Blue Devils now face a critical lack of bodies that will affect their ability to apply pressure on defense and weather foul and injury issues. Suddenly, Winslow’s array of persistent, nagging injuries takes on new significance.

Duke had very little margin for error to start. Now there is none.

The Blue Devils may be a better team off the court without Sulaimon, but his departure will hurt them in many ways on it. They lose an emergency ballhandler, length on the perimeter and, in his best moments, a fluid attacking player with long-range shooting ability.

Sulaimon’s Duke career was, to say the least, erratic. As a freshman, he looked like he was on the verge of becoming one of the ACC’s dominant players, a dangerous perimeter scorer who could shoot and get to the rim, only to have his role publicly minimized by Krzyzewski before his sophomore season even began, in favor of Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood.

Continuing questions about Sulaimon’s limited playing time that fall provoked the coach’s memorable “I have one dog, his name is Blue, he doesn’t even sleep in a house” declaration. If nothing else, The Doghouse Soliloquy ranks as Sulaimon’s enduring contribution to Duke basketball.

Unfortunately, there’s not much to the rest of his legacy – just perennially unfulfilled potential and, now, an inability to play by Duke’s rules that has thrown an entire season into question.

This story was originally published January 29, 2015 at 7:12 PM.