Grayson Allen was a hero, a villain, and everything we want from a Duke star

Grayson Allen had a Final Four trip on his finger tips. Duke and Kansas were tied in the closing seconds of the Midwest Regional title game, and Allen had the ball isolated at the top of the key.

Four long, strange years were coming down to this.

Allen drove the ball at Malik Newman. He spun to his left. He took an off-balance runner that hit the rim, hit the backboard, and hit the rim again. It felt like it hit every part of the rim. And then it missed.

Kansas buried Duke in overtime with one bucket at a time from Newman. And just like that, it was over.

Allen was one of four Duke commits at the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2014. He wasn’t as touted as Jahlil Okafor, Tyus Jones, or Justise Winslow, but it was easy to see how talented he was in his own right.

Allen spent the first two days of practice that year ripping jumpers. Even while sharing a court with D’Angelo Russell and Devin Booker, Allen stood out as one of the best shooters in the gym. He had hops, too. Allen won the McDonald’s dunk contest by putting on a Jay Williams jersey and jumping over Jahlil Okafor.

Opposing fans were going to hate this guy. You could just tell. Allen had the look of a Duke villain down pat, presenting himself as a choir boy but playing with a mean streak. Even as a high schooler, Allen knew what was coming.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Allen told me at McDonald’s festivities when asked about the taunting likely coming his way. “As far as me, I kind of take that as fuel. I had a little of that in high school, but I know it wasn’t as extreme as it’s going to be next year. It’s always been fuel. I’ve never let it get to my head too much.”

Allen barely played for the majority of his freshman year. He was regularly getting DNPs late into conference season as Mike Krzyzewski kept his rotation short and trusted veteran guards Quinn Cook and Matt Jones around his three freshman studs.

That started to change in the Final Four. Allen was Duke’s spark plug, scoring nine points and throwing down one memorable dunk to help Duke drop Michigan State. It set the stage for his true coming out party in the national title game.

Allen was electric against Wisconsin. He blew past Sam Dekker for clutch layups. He hit a big three in the second half. He finished with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, forever establishing himself as a national championship folk hero.

At least that could have been Allen’s legacy. Instead, it was just the start.

All Allen did as a sophomore was turn into one of the best players in America. He raised his scoring average from 4.4 points per game as a freshman to 21.6 points per game. Duke was supposed to be Brandon Ingram’s team that year, but it was Allen who turned into the Blue Devils’ biggest star.

Allen wasn’t just good as a sophomore, he was great. He posted a sparkling 61.6 true shooting percentage. He finished top-50 in the country in offensive rating. He also almost never came off the floor, playing more than 90 percent of Duke’s available minutes.

Allen’s rapid improvement should have made him one of college basketball’s best stories. That was overshadowed by when was caught tripping a Louisville player in February, and then a Florida State player three weeks later.

The country spent days watching grainy footage of Allen’s trips and debating his intent. The next great Duke villain was officially born.

Allen had a way out. He could have entered the NBA. After his fantastic sophomore year, Allen was widely projected as a late first-round pick. He chose to come back to school instead. He spent the summer trying to rehab his image in the wake of the tripping incidents.

“Duke’s Grayson Allen ready to get his reputation back,” wrote ESPN. The rest of the country took a wait and see approach.

Duke’s 2016-17 roster drew superteam praise from the very start. The Blue Devils had the best recruiting class in the country, headlined by top-three prospects Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles. Allen’s return put them over the top. In our preseason ranking of the 100 best players in college basketball, Grayson Allen was No. 1.

Nothing worked out as planned, not for Allen and not for Duke in general. Giles had another knee surgery before the start of the season and never turned into an impact player. Luke Kennard turned into Duke’s breakout player and took much of the shine away from Allen.

Meanwhile, Allen had his third highly publicized tripping incident. On Dec. 21 against Elon, Allen was caught again. He proceeded to have a full blown meltdown on the Duke bench:

Duke stripped Allen of his captaincy and gave him an “indefinite suspension.”

That suspension lasted one game. Allen was back in the Duke lineup, but the rest of his season was defined by the public wondering if his every move on the court was a dirty play.

Duke’s purported superteam would get bounced in the second round by South Carolina. Again, Allen could have taken his chances in the draft, even as his stock fell. Again, he decided to come back for one more season.

Allen’s senior season was so strange because of how relatively normal it was. While the rest of college basketball burned around him, Allen was just another guy.

Aside from a dominant performance against Michigan State in the Champions Classic, Allen felt lost in the shuffle for most of the season. Duke started four freshmen around him who drew considerably more attention.

Everyone wanted to talk about Marvin Bagley III’s incredible scoring ability and Wendell Carter’s rise up draft boards. No one was talking about Allen.

It felt like Allen had one more moment left in him. He couldn’t possibly go quietly one way or another, could he?

Allen had his chance in the final seconds against Kansas. He just missed.

What is Allen’s ultimate legacy? Duke fans will remember him as the surprise national championship game hero. They’ll remember him as the player who could have jumped to the NBA but decided to stay all four years instead.

Everyone else will remember him for the tripping incidents. He is Duke’s modern day Christian Laettner, a player that brought the country together by rooting against him.

Allen’s Duke career was full of contrast. He is the most recognizable college star of his era, partly for his allegedly dirty play, partly because he kept coming back year after year.

Grayson Allen was a star. Grayson Allen was a villain. One thing is for sure: he was never boring.