For much of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, Duke men's basketball was arguably the most hated team in all of American sports.
The Blue Devils ranked near the top of the most-hated lists, along with the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers.
But has something changed? Do sports fans no longer hate Duke like they did in the past? The sports world is trying to argue that.
Hating Duke might be going out of style.
© Bob Donnan-Imagn Images.
Chris Carrawell, a former Duke All-American and current Blue Devils assistant coach, admitted that the hate is not what it used to be.
“It’s not as hostile anymore,” he said earlier this NCAA Tournament. “We used to go into some environments, man, where they’re going after you. … Sometimes they stepped over the line. Habitual line crossers. But now it’s not the same.”
Why is Duke less hated now?
For one, players aren't staying in school as long as they used to. You used to have easily hatable players at Duke like J.J. Redick, Jay Williams, Grayson Allen, Christian Laettner, Shane Battier, etc. in school for three to four years. By their third or fourth year, you were sick of them.
But that's not the case anymore.
“They’re in and out, then you get another top guy,” Carrawell said. “Grayson Allen, he was the last four-year villain, where you got the growth. You get to watch him and hate him; you learned to hate him. He was probably the last one.”
Bomani Jones, meanwhile, thinks that how we talk about race in basketball has changed, too.
“How we talk about race in basketball is just not the same,” Jones said. “Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, two White dudes that went to Duke, are Nos. 1 and 2 in NBA Rookie of the Year and nobody’s done a thinkpiece. That wouldn’t have been the case five years ago, let alone 10 or 20.”
What is your theory?
