Sulaimon to Play at Maryland After Being Cut by Duke Basketball
Former Duke University guard Rasheed Sulaimon will play his final year of college basketball for the University of Maryland, choosing a school more than three months after becoming the first player ever kicked off a Mike Krzyzewski team.
Sulaimon, who is scheduled to graduate from Duke this summer after three years, will have one year of eligibility with the Terrapins and is expected to play immediately, Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said in a news release.
Krzyzewski, who in April led the Blue Devils to a fifth national title, said in a January news release disclosing Sulaimon’s dismissal that he failed to “live up to the standards required to be a member of our program.” He didn’t share specifics. Sulaimon became the first player Krzyzewski ousted from his basketball program in 35 years at the Durham, North Carolina, school.
The Chronicle, Duke’s student newspaper, in March said Sulaimon was the subject of two separate sexual assault allegations.
“I have never done anything like this in my life,” Sulaimon said, denying the allegation, in an interview with ESPN. He didn’t disclose the reason for his dismissal.
A former McDonald’s All-American, Sulaimon averaged 7.5 points and two rebounds per game last season. He was an ACC All-Freshman selection in 2012-13.
Sulaimon isn’t the first Terrapins transfer who’s faced sexual assault allegations during Turgeon’s tenure. Dez Wells, who as a senior led Maryland to the second round of college basketball’s men’s tournament in March, transferred to the school after being expelled from Xavier University in 2012 amid rape allegations.
Wells said he had consensual sex with the student who initially pressed charges, and the prosecutor in the investigation eventually expressed doubts about the allegation, according to the Associated Press. A lawsuit he filed against the school was settled in April 2014.
Last season was Maryland’s first in the Big Ten Conference after switching from the Atlantic Coast Conference, in which Duke plays.
