Still, we think fans of No. 1 Duke will be OK given the last 48 hours or so. On Friday night, they landed a verbal commitment from Class of 2018 star R.J. Barrett, the projected No. 1 pick in 2019. Later that night, freshman forward Marvin Bagley III went for 25 points and 10 rebounds in his collegiate debut against Elon. And then on Saturday, the Blue Devils got a double-dip of good news when coach Mike Krzyzewski notched his 1,000th win at Duke over Utah Valley and Bagley III followed up Friday’s showing with a 24-point, 10-rebound performance. On Tuesday, Duke faces off against No. 2 Michigan State as part of the Champions Classic (7 p.m., ESPN) in a 1-versus-2 heavyweight matchup, with around 75 NBA personnel expected to be in attendance. Hopefully, The Worldwide Leader won’t list Allen as being from UNC for that game.@sportspickle ESPN thinks Grayson Allen plays for UNC. pic.twitter.com/xElryNCe2U
— Kyle Butler (@ButlersPicks) November 11, 2017
Maybe ESPN needs to get Andy Katz back in the fold, ASAP.
Or maybe The Worldwide Leader was just messing with Duke fans.
Either way, it wasn’t a good look on Saturday when the network listed Grayson Allen as playing for North Carolina on their Franchise team that also included Devonte Graham’ from Kansas, Jacque Landale from Saint Mary’s, Bonzie Colson from Notre Dame and Joel Berry of North Carolina.