DURHAM - A bold column by Joe Drews of The Chronicle, Duke's student newspaper, got under coach Mike Krzyzewski's skin Wednesday.
In a column titled "It's time to bench Singler," Drews wrote that junior forward Kyle Singler should be removed from the starting lineup and play no more than 20 minutes against Boston College on Wednesday and perhaps against Wake Forest on Sunday.
In a 79-59 win over Boston College, Singler started and scored 15 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds in 31 minutes.
"I thought Kyle played really well," Krzyzewski said. "There were some suggestions in our student newspaper that we shouldn't start him tonight. The first day back (from holiday break) and we read the student newspaper and he's benching our guy. It's welcome back, I guess. Unbelievable."
In Drews' defense, Singler's performance hasn't quite matched the preseason ACC player of the year and Associated Press' All-America accolades he received. Singler's teammate, senior guard Jon Scheyer, has had the better season and appears at this point more likely to gain both of those honors.
But Singler still is one of the best players in the ACC. He entered Wednesday's game ranked 11th in the conference in scoring (15.4 ppg), eighth in free throw percentage (.780), and 14th in rebounding (7.1 rpg).
If a coach is trying to win, he doesn't put that kind of player on the bench for half the game. A coach also is going to back a player who works as hard as Singler at every opportunity.
That's why a bold but flawed argument in the student newspaper didn't pass without a comment Wednesday.
"We're No. 2 in the RPI and the first article is, 'Bench Singler,' " Krzyzewski said. "Happy New Year. Unbelievable."
Comments
benching starters
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 20:52 — carbonLibhaha.....roy benched ALL his starters last night...didn't help much...
benching a player for not
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 14:40 — duke_bluebenching a player for not playing well never helps. the only thing it's going to do is tear up the players confidence and make him play worse. all players have bad games...they know it when they have a bad game. they beat themselves up enough without having someone remind them of it. you have to let them work through it. you know Singler can play better...and he knows it to. they will never learn from their mistakes by riding the bench.
fuzz...there are just as many spoiled brats at the other two corners of the triangle buddy!!
Tough Call
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 13:40 — carolinalivinWas the piece in the Chronicle an Opinion piece? If it was a sports piece, and he was making the argument that maybe Singler needs to not start a game until his numbers improve I don't see anything wrong with it. Maybe Mike was just a bit ticked that Singler's poor performance was being called attention to and perhaps it was a wake up call for Singler that, eventhough he is in a slump, the Duke fans want better either from him or someone else.
its called hedging and putting yourself out there
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 10:45 — gvillegatrthe writer looks brilliant if Singler comes out and stinks the game up against BC b/c he knows K is not going to bench him. If Singler comes out and plays well, he can attribute it to his article and "lighting a fire under his arse." either way, the guy keeps his job at the student paper. he wins either way.
Not to mention putting himslef out there allows him to get some pub. negative or positive ... ACCNow wrote a blog b/c of it.
Singler
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 10:28 — tarheelyankHow typical of the know it all dookie kids. Singler has given 100% in every game he has ever played at Duke. People like that writer is one of the reasons most fans of other schools don't like Duke or the "crazies". What a jerk, K put it correctly, "unbeleivable".
Singler
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 13:27 — dukeblue54Agree that Singler is a valuable asset to Duke but I Just have to say:tarheelyank:Typical Carolina Fan cannot even spell UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Goes to show...
Thu, 01/14/2010 - 09:39 — Fuzzcaster...what ignorant, spoiled brats the Duke "crazies" are. Now go practice your little "cheers" and leave the newspaper writing to the big boys.