In fifth grade, Rasheed Sulaimon’s parents made him sit out of an Amateur Athletic Union game.

Angela and Kenny Sulaimon didn’t hold him out because of an injury. He didn’t get in trouble at school. He even had A averages in all but one of his classes.

But Sulaimon had a B in math.

“Rasheed knew that if he received a B+,” Kenny Sulaimon said, “he shouldn’t settle for that good grade.”

He was always a bright kid, but with five siblings, a mother who emigrated from Jamaica and a father who emigrated from Nigeria, things weren’t always easy for him and his family.

Sulaimon still faces challenges as a sophomore guard at Duke. But with the help of Blue Devils assistant coach Jeff Capel, along with the values instilled in him by his parents, Sulaimon has been able to overcome obstacles on and off the court.

This season he’s faced one of his hardest tests yet — trying to work his way back into Duke’s core after falling out of it — and is keeping his same positive outlook.

Even though being held out of a fifth grade basketball game perplexed a young Sulaimon, he acknowledged that his parents simply wanted to set a standard of excellence for him.

“Just like in basketball, being a ‘good’ player is sometimes not good enough,” Kenny Sulaimon said. “You should work on the skills that will help you become a ‘great’ player.”

The Sulaimons weren’t the wealthiest of families. But Sulaimon said as long as he showed his parents he was giving nothing short of 100 percent, they’d reciprocate and put all their effort into transporting him to workouts, getting him to games and paying for him to travel.

“My parents did a great job of supporting me,” Sulaimon said. “ Both of them humble me, having come from foreign countries. They’ve always told me not to take anything for granted.”

Kenny Sulaimon mentioned how he and his wife raised all six of their children to support one another and that their family is very tight. He said that Rasheed is very close with his brother and four sisters. When Rasheed wasn’t playing basketball, he was attending his little sister’s volleyball matches.

“We raised our children to work hard and value the opportunities,” Kenny Sulaimon said. “We take the time to make sure we help our children understand how fortunate they are to live in the United States.”

Sulaimon adopted these morals, maximizing his academic and athletic potential at Strake Jesuit High School in Houston. He was highly recruited by major schools, eventually committing to Duke over UNC, Arizona and Baylor.

In his freshman season with the Blue Devils, Sulaimon started 33 games, averaging 11.6 points and 3.4 rebounds. He was also named to the ACC All-Freshman team and the All-ACC Academic Team.

But then things changed.

Three freshmen came in, a transfer was now eligible and a senior stayed for a graduate year.

In 10 games from Nov. 15 – Dec. 28, Sulaimon failed to amass more than three made field goals in any contest. He didn’t even see the floor in a 10-point win against Michigan on Dec. 3.

As Capel explained, his senior season at Duke almost mirrored Sulaimon’s early-season predicament this year, which is why he’s been able to mentor him through the struggles.

Capel averaged 19 points in the conference and 16.6 on the year one season, but found trouble hitting that stride the next.

“You just assume next year those numbers are going to be the same, maybe a little bit more,” Capel said of his junior season with the Blue Devils. “Now all of a sudden when I’m a senior and you have more guys, you can look bad. I think that’s one of the things that happened to Rasheed.”

Capel noted that Sulaimon didn’t come into the season in ideal shape, and this, in addition to the newcomers, provided for an obstacle.

“Rasheed had to change a lot of things,” Capel said. “It certainly knocked him back, but he’s stayed the course. I think he’s grown up a lot with how he’s handled it all.”

Through these struggles, Sulaimon said Capel has been a tremendous influence, as he was the first one to reach out to Sulaimon to help him get back to playing at a high level.

Against Virginia on Jan. 13, Sulaimon dropped 21 points, including the game-winning 3 with 19 seconds left in a 69-65 victory.

Said Sulaimon: “I just had to keep my head up and know that God won’t put you through anything you can’t get through.”

Published on January 31, 2014 at 3:53 am

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman