Of all the abbreviations associated with basketball, from NBA to ppg to NET, there’s one that no player wants to see: DNP-CD.
Did not play—coach’s decision.
It means you were benched for the game in question.
Duke sophomore Caleb Foster picked up the dreaded five letter acronym in the second-to-last game of the regular season, a win at Wake Forest.
Foster’s minutes had been dwindling. After playing 20 minutes or more in six of Duke’s first eight games, he’d played less than 10 in six of the previous eight contests. Then, at Wake, nothing at all.
It was not the way Foster, one of two rotation players to return to Duke after last year’s Elite Eight run, envisioned the year going.
“The majority of the time, if not all the time, guys can pout, quit, make an excuse, be pissed at me,” said coach Jon Scheyer. “I’m sure he’s pissed at me. That’s fine, that’s good, I’m all for that.”
Foster set aside his feelings and doubled down in practice. In the next game, against the Tar Heels in the season-ending rivalry game, Duke’s guards were struggling against UNC. Down seven, the Blue Devils needed a spark, and Foster got the call from the bench. He responded with nine minutes of stellar play, helping to lead a second-half rally for Duke.
“He doesn’t play last game, and he came back with a big-time attitude,” Scheyer said. “He really attacked practice the last couple days, and their pressure was bothering us, and because of how he responded in practice, I just had a lot of confidence to put him in. For him to be ready, I think that just speaks volumes about who he is as a person, as a competitor. … He’s got amazing character to do that.”
