I think that the front page piece is a bit of a reaction to the ever-present sentiment from a lot of Duke fans and posters on this board that Gbinije was some kind of cure-all to this season's ills who just couldn't get off the bench for some mysterious reason. There is a long list of Duke players who fans shouted for... Mike being the latest... who would have, should have made a difference. The reason that it gets old is because people seem to think that the staff isn't putting the best team on the floor to give us a chance to win. These cries for Player X are usually based on a high school highlight video (see Czyz, Olek) and have nothing to do with what the coaches are seeing in practice every day.

However, we do know that in several cases, Duke players haven't gotten onto the court for their lack of defensive prowess or inability to communicate. In recent memory, Elliot Williams actually played his way ON to the court by focusing solely on his defensive game under the tutelage of Nate. This was a case where we saw a player work his way onto the court... there is actual evidence.

It would stand to reason that there was a, or multiple, reason(s) that Mike didn't see PT this season. The front page article is analyzing those possible reasons in the context of what we know about K's program over the course of 30 years. There's no need to coddle the kid on his way out the door. He seems like a good kid, and we can wish him well, but we can also speculate as to why he didn't get onto the floor and why he felt that Duke was not a good fit for him. We can do this especially in light of the fact that we are also crowning him an All-ACC caliber talent without evidence to support that assertion.