Shav: How I Stupidly Spent My Summer

An update of anti-Duke venom...

So what is the deal with Shavlik Randolph leaving Duke, rather unceremoniously, going undrafted, and neither Duke nor Shav really get grilled on it? A pal of mine says that if the manager at Texas Tech left the program with the slightest bit of unhappiness, an ESPN crew would be there within three hours to chronicle the young man's pain and villify Bobby Knight as an abusive jerk.

The word around Raleigh is that Shav's father hates Mike Krzyzewski and everything about Duke. Speculation centers around how the most brilliant college coach ever took a frail, thin Shav and tried to make him into a back-to-the-basket banger while Shav wanted to be a 6-10 wing guard, a la Christian Laettner (though to Laettner's credit, he could bang when he had to - just ask Brian Davis!). There is also some speculation about the Randolph family financial situation as well.

Nevertheless, there is a story here that is going unreported. Shav is leaving Duke, without a whole lot of regret on either side. One (or more) of these things must be true, but good luck finding it in either the local or national media:

1. Shavlik Randolph, a McDonald's all-American and one of the most celebrated high schoolers in North Carolina in more than 10 years, went to one of the nation's premiere programs and was a complete and total flop.
A. Either Randolph was extraodinarily overrated, OR
B. He, like many other Duke big men (especially since Laettner), failed to flourish in the Devils' program, begging the question of why Duke doesn't put out quality big men who can play on the next level.

2. Shav, despite three injury-pagued, sub-par seasons at Duke, decides to test the NBA waters (remember, there was speculation he might do this straight out of high school). Coach K issues a terse statement of support for Shav (given his displeasure at others who have left early), but rumor has it that K was not willing to talk to Shav about it and that Shav's converations about his decision were held mostly with Steve Wojchiehowski, who coaches the Duke big men. Krzyzewski finally did make comments about Shav's decision, all of which pointed to goodness and light in the Duke universe.
A. According the the N&O article linked above, K offered to call NBA teams on the Thursday before the NBA draft on the following Tuesday. K may have supported the decision, but looks like he did precious little to get his player drafted.
B. Why have the mdia pressed so little on the topic of Shav leaving?

3. After his first few workouts, where the response must have been fairly negative, Shav and his father both reiterate a desire/plan to return to Duke. Yet, they choose draft uncertainty, and ultimately, not being drafted at all.
A. Why the change of heart? It must be more than "chasing a dream".
B. Many people, even NBA executives, sensed something was wrong for Shav at Duke. Some even suggested if he didn't want to return to Duke, that he return to college somewhere.

In all of the articles written about this topic, few even acknowledge the rumors of unhappiness within the Duke universe, much less address it. And those that are critical in any way usually blame Shav for walking out. In fact, I have only seen one writer (who must not have any aspirations of covering ACC basketball in the next 10 years) even call B.S. about the whole thing.
I guess "Iron Mike" has the basketball media drinking the Kool-Aid, because either Shav was an overrated flop, or Duke is not a pristine place when a highly touted returning member of your team walks away from a near-consensus preseason #1 team. As my friend says, can you imagine if this happened at Texas Tech?