RALEIGH, N.C. — Rasheed Sulaimon leans back on the padded chair inside the lobby of his swanky hotel on the eve of his High School OT Holiday Invitational debut in Raleigh, N.C.

He’s stylishly underdressed in a Strake Jesuit College Prep (Houston) warm-up pulled over a black Duke shirt with blue letters. Finally, it’s chill mode after a long day that included a 2:30 a.m. arrival, a brief meeting with the Duke players and coaches and a practice at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium with his Strake teammates.

Just as he begins to express mild concern with the fact that he’s feeling a bit under the weather, a hotel employee, who has been staring at Sulaimon for the last 10 minutes, walks by and unnecessarily begins to fiddle around with the blinds just in front of his chair.

Minutes later, the employee, a middle-aged woman with short hair and a big, puffy coat, walks by again. This time she can’t resist.

“You the guy that’s going to Duke?” she asked matter-of-factly.

Sulaimon smiled and replied, “Yes ma’am, that’s me.”

“Oh,” she said with a grin. “Well, you’ve got really pretty eyes.”

For a split second, Sulaimon seems slightly uncomfortable. He shifts to the side in his chair and blushes, but just as he tries to get “thank you” out, she interrupted with, “But just so you know; I. Hate. Duke.”

Such is the life of a high school player who’s signed on to join college basketball’s Evil Empire.

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