childress22
All American
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2012
- Messages
- 7,974
Last edited by a moderator:
By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.
SignUp Now!DurhamSon said:
Get 'em
"@GregGoBlue
Michigan sports fanatic. Family medicine resident. Friend."
Gbinije chose Duke partly to please his parents. The school, located just two hours from home, provided a national platform to ply his basketball trade with a respected Hall-of-Fame coach to guide him. And Frank Gbinije, like countless parents before him, preached about the doors a Duke degree could open if basketball somehow faded.
The fit, for Michael, was uneasy from the start.
A Jordan Brand All-American, he pictured himself a "typical one-and-done guy." He'd play a season at Duke, then declare for the NBA Draft, earn money at a profession he'd targeted since kindergarten. Recruited as a small forward, he initially longed to play guard and then finally, to find a way onto the basketball court at all.
Gbinije averaged 5.8 minutes per game his only season at Duke, his confidence dimming and his frustrations rising with every game he watched from the bench. As the season progressed, he tried to derive satisfaction from the simple tasks of attaining weight room goals or staying in optimum shape to dull the constant, present ache of not playing. Whenever Frank Gbinije talked to Mike Krzyzewski about his son's situation, Krzyzewski would mention Michael's muted personality.
Gbinije formed friendships with roommate Quinn Cook and the Plumlee brothers, but never felt part of the Duke equation, never felt free to expose his basketball self.
"It was very tough on him, it was tough on me and it was even tougher on his mom because it got to the point where she really didn't want to go to any more games. She'd take off work, get excited and many games he didn't get in or he'd get in for 30 seconds. He didn't see this, but I saw her cry a lot," Frank Gbinije said. "I'd talk to him on the phone and I could just sense it wasn't fun for him anymore. It seemed like he was losing his passion."