Grayson Allen Named Captain of Duke Basketball After Losing Title Last Season

Grayson Allen is a captain of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team once again.

Team spokesman Cory Walton confirmed the news Monday with the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com) after Seth Davis of The Athletic reported it. The selection of Allen, who is entering his senior season with the ACC powerhouse, is notable because he was originally one of three captains during the 2016-17 campaign before he lost the honor after tripping an opponent in Duke's Dec. 21 tilt against Elon.

In addition to being stripped of his captaincy, Allen was suspended for one game after the incident.

According to the AP, Allen is the only returning Blue Devil who played more than eight minutes per game last season. Duke saw NBA teams draft Jayson Tatum, Luke Kennard, Harry Giles and Frank Jackson from its team that was ranked No. 1 in the country for a time and finished 28-9.

Allen won a national title as a freshman and was one of the best players in the country as a sophomore, when he averaged 21.6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game behind 41.7 percent shooting from three-point range as a Naismith Award semifinalist.

However, his numbers dropped in 2016-17 with the tripping incident hovering over the majority of the season. He posted 14.5 points and 3.7 rebounds a night behind a career-worst 39.5 percent shooting from the field and 36.5 percent mark from three-point range.

As the AP story noted, it was the third time Allen tripped an opponent within the span of a calendar year. He did the same to Louisville's Ray Spalding and Florida State's Xavier Rathan-Mayes in ACC clashes.

Given the history of incidents—as well as his resume of accomplishments in his first three years at Duke—Allen will be under the spotlight this season as one of the faces and captains of one of the nation's premier programs.