Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: The 10 Duke players UNC fans hated most

By Blake Cockrum

NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: J.J. Redick #4 of the Duke Blue Devils walks down the court during their Preseason NIT game against the Drexel Dragons at Madison Square Garden on November 23, 2005 in New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NC – FEBRUARY 08: Fans of the North Carolina Tar Heels prepare for their game against the Duke Blue Devils at the Dean Smith Center on February 8, 2012 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

UNC basketball fans hated these 10 Duke players more than anyone else

It’s rare in sports when sub-par or even good teams are truly hated by fans. It’s almost always the teams that are consistently at the top of their sports that receive the fiery, passionate hate that people aim at the New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Lakers and Duke Blue Devils, among others.

The Blue Devils, in particular, have been getting the ire of college basketball fans for decades. Despite being one of the most popular programs in the game, they’re also the most hated. And that bitter hatred could be attributed to a number of factors, some more reasonable than others, of course.

The first of those is that people tend to dislike a winner. Duke has, without question, been one of the most successful college basketball programs in the nation since Mike Krzyzewski became head coach nearly four decades ago. 1,000 wins and five national championships are among the accolades on his resume, and that’s reason enough for some fans to dislike the Blue Devils.

And speaking of Krzyzewski, a lot of fans just don’t like him. Rather, they don’t like how he appears when they watch him at a game or in post-game press conferences. The 2006 College Basketball Hall-of-Fame inductee is often animated and seemingly angry on the sidelines, and unafraid to show it. Throw in the potential cheating and improper benefits that many suspect have happened over the past several years when Duke has signed dozens of 5-star high school prospects (do a Google search of Zion Williamson and the Kansas Jayhawks if you need further explanation), and people find it quite easy to dislike the man responsible for one-half of the greatest rivalry in sports.

But even more than the winning and the head coach, fans have hated the players at Duke. Most Duke fans will even tell you that while some of their favorite Blue Devils have been very good, it’s understandable why they get the side-eye from opposing team’s supporters. Others, however, have just gotten the Duke treatment by simple association, or because they won a lot during their time in Durham.

Check out our list of the 10 most hated players in Duke history, and exactly what caused UNC basketball fans to not like them.

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