Rasheed Sulaimon: 5 Things To Know
Rasheed Sulaimon was dismissed from Duke’s basketball team back in January. At the time the Duke Chronicle reported there had been two alleged cases of sexual assault by Sulaimon where the victims decided not to come forward to the police. Now Sulaimon is looking to transfer away from Duke and play his final season of college ball elsewhere. It is now that he has decided to talk about everything.
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Jeff Goodman of ESPN reports that Sulaimon denies any sexual assaults and says that his dismissal stems from other courses. Let’s look at five things I learned from Goodman’s article.
1. Sulaimon Says There Was No Sexual Assault
Sulaimon claims that he has never sexually assaulted any woman anywhere. He says that he has too much respect for the role of women in society. The conversation on the single allegation brought to Duke’s attention stuck to specifics. Sulaimon repeats there is no proof. One does not get the opinion that Sulaimon was not misidentified though by the woman. Something happened, but there is no proof that what happened was sexual assault.
2. Sulaimon is on track to Graduate Duke in August
Sulaimon is carrying a 3.7 GPA and will reach his require number of hours to graduate during summer school. That would allow him to transfer from Duke without losing a year of eligibility.
3. Sulaimon’s dismissal was based on his worsening relationship with Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Sulaimon was clearly upset about being benched early in the season. Strangely though, the move that turned Duke into a championship team was moving Justise Winslow to the four spot. Winslow had been the one to take Sulaimon’s spot at the three early in the year. One would have to think Sulaimon could have matched Matt Jones’ production. Sulaimon was gone before that change at been made.
The weird thing is that when Coach K was asked what was so great about coaching this particular bunch of guys, his response was that he didn’t have to coach attitude with these guys. Was that a commentary on Sulaimon’s absence?
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4. Sulaimon is in demand on the transfer market
Sulaimon claims to have been contacted by a dozen schools like Arizona State, Baylor, Colorado, George Washington, Houston, LSU, Maryland, Memphis, Oklahoma State, Seton Hall, SMU, Texas, Texas Southern, and Texas A&M. Of that list, Maryland is thought to be a preseason top ten team this upcoming season.
5. Sulaimon regrets not coming forward sooner
Sulaimon has shown how hard it can be to answer what he considers to be falsehoods. During his time of silence where was merely a Duke student, his reputation took quite a hit from the allegations. Sulaimon chose silence because he was hurt. Whether he did the things or not, information can travel much faster than the truth can. This interview seems like step one for Sulaimon to get it back, at a time when people have largely gotten over him.