Newsweek took a dive into the curious question, and here’s how it went.
Google doesn’t always have the answer to every question. But ask the search engine why people hate Duke basketball so much, and you’ll get page after page filled with articles on why folks hate Duke, Coach K, Grayson Allen, Danny Ferry, and more. Ask any Kentucky fan why they hate Duke and they’ll likely answer you in two words: Christian Laettner. True Kentucky die-hards will even add an expletive because of an Elite 8 loss from 1992. The Duke Blue Devils are like the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, and Alabama Crimson Tide football. People either typically love them immensely or hate them with every fiber in their body. That happens when you make 13 Final Fours with five national championships in the last 40 years. It happens when you have a swagger that high-steps even the swaggiest like Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and UCLA. It happens when big plays, big moments, big names, and big egos dominate the spotlight and define your history. Hatred for Duke can stem back to Grayson Allen’s shady “tripping” plays a few years ago, or the Laettner shot from a Grant Hill assist to beat Kentucky on the final play during overtime of an Elite 8 game in 1992. Hatred can be linked to Laettner making the 1992 Olympic Dream Team because of his Duke status—making the roster on the best team ever assembled of NBA greats and the one college player. If you haven’t guessed by now, there’s a lot of hatred when it comes to Duke basketball. Duke and coach Mike Krzyzewski will do something Saturday night that’s never been done, surprisingly, and that’s face the rival North Carolina Tar Heels in the NCAA tournament. Krzyzewski’s coaching career will end between now and Monday as he’s already announced his retirement, so it’s only fitting that he will take his Blue Devils squad into the Final Four to face a North Carolina team in perhaps one of the finest rivalries in all of sports. Saturday night’s game between Duke and North Carolina has potential to be one of the most-watched basketball games of all time. The winner moves to the Monday night championship game against Saturday’s other Final Four winner between Kansas and Villanova.
