The 20 Most-Hated Duke Players of All Time

A list everyone can appreciate.

Mar 08, 2013
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Complex Original

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Complex Original

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When it comes to college basketball, no team catches more hate than the Duke Blue Devils. But, don’t just take our word for it. Instead, go punch the words “Duke sucks” into Google and take a look through the 5.5 million results that pop up. From a book called Duke Sucks: A Completely Evenhanded, Unbiased Investigation into the Most Evil Team on Planet Earth to a rap song created by Hot 97’s Peter Rosenberg called “This Is Why Duke Sucks” (Sample lyric: “White players everywhere, they awkward when they dunk/This is why, this is why, this is why you suck”), it’s clear that there’s not a lot of love for the Dukies out there. Much like the New York Yankees and the New England Patriots, Duke is in a class of its own when it comes to attracting haters.

But, do you know what people hate more than anything about Duke? No, it’s not Coach K or the Cameron Crazies or the fact that the Blue Devils get every call on every single play in every single game. It’s the Duke players themselves. From the guys who played key roles on Duke’s national championship teams in 1991, 1992, 2001, and 2010 to the guys who graced the court at Cameron Indoor during the program’s down years (assuming you consider “down” to mean only making it to the Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament), people hate Duke players. So, as the Blue Devils gear up to try and make another run at a national title later this month, we decided to take a look back at The 20 Most-Hated Duke Players of All Time. Prepare to feel your blood boil.

20. Austin Rivers

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Years Played: 2011-12
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 15.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists during his only season at Duke
NBA Career: Averaging 6.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists during his first season in the league

Most Duke players have to actually put on their Blue Devils jerseys in order to piss off opposing fans. Not Rivers. Months before he played his first game for Coach K, Doc Rivers' son sent out a tweet that made opposing fans cringe. "Wearing number 0 next year!" he wrote. "My nickname is going to be subzero! Cause of number and because my moves freeze people, got ice in my veins!!" Ugh. And, it only got worse from there. Once the season started, people grew to hate him even more because of the cocky way that he carried himself on the court.

19. Erik Meek

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Years Played: 1991-95
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 5.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.4 assists and helped Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Drafted by the Houston Rockets in the 1995 NBA Draft but never played a single game in the league

In a lot of ways, Meek was the quintessential Duke player. He was tall, goofy, and looked like he belonged on Wall Street running a hedge fund, not hoisting a National Championship trophy. And yet, there he was in 1992 playing alongside Christian Laettner & Co. and getting the chance to win a 'chip. He was hardly the most productive Duke player ever. But, if you search the Internet for "most hated Duke players," his name will show up more than a few times simply because of the way he used to look.

18. Shavlik Randolph

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Years Played: 2002-05
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 6.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks and helped Duke reach one Final Four
NBA Career: Averaged 2.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists during five seasons in the league [Ed. Note: He recently signed a 10-day contract with the Celtics after playing overseas for nearly three years.]

Back in 2002, just about everyone in the state of North Carolina thought that Randolph, a two-time high school All-American, was headed to NC State. After all, his late grandfather Ronnie Shavlik played for the Wolfpack back in the 1950s and had his No. 84 retired by the school. As a boy, Randolph had also worked as a ball boy for the N.C. State team, so the thought was that he'd be a part of the 'Pack. But, he changed his mind towards the end of the recruiting process and decided to go to Duke instead, which made him Public Enemy No. 1 to Wolfpack fans. But, it actually may have worked out for the best for N.C. State, as Randolph was injured for the majority of his Duke career and was later called the "Biggest Recruiting Bust" of the 2000s by Sports Illustrated.

17. Dahntay Jones

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Years Played: 2001-03
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 14.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.0 assists with Duke after spending his first two seasons at Rutgers
NBA Career: Averaging 5.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.9 assists through 10 seasons in the league

Had Jones spent all four years at Duke, he would probably be much, much higher on this list. But, despite his relatively brief stay in Durham, N.C., he still managed to pick up his fair share of haters by doing a lot of things that irked fans of ACC teams. He once broke Wake Forest guard Justin Gray's jaw by setting a hard screen. He also collided with North Carolina guard Raymond Felton so hard while going up for a rebound during a game that he split his lip open and forced Felton to get stitches. And, most infamously, he dunked on a Virginia defender and then proceeded to do pushups right in front of a TV camera to rub salt in the wound.


So, yeah. Maybe it's a good thing that he only got the chance to play for two years at Duke. Something tells us we would hate him way more right now if we would have had to put up with two more years of him.

16. Quin Snyder

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Years Played: 1985-89
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 6.2 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 4.2 assists and helped Duke reach three Final Fours
NBA Career: None

That hair. That stupid $^%&*@# hair. It just screams, :"I GO TO DUKE! I'M BETTER THAN YOU!" We're glad this guy and his hair have been banished to Russia to pursue a career in coaching.

15. Kyle Singler

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Years Played: 2007-2011
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 16.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and helped Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaging 8.8 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assists during his first season in the league

There's a certain way that Duke players carry themselves that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. They're arrogant, they've overconfident, and they're smug. Case in point: Just check out the quote that Singler gave to a reporter back in November 2008 after Duke knocked off Presbyterian College by 31 points. "Tonight, [it] just wasn't there," he said. "That's on us. Our standards weren't met tonight, and we've just got to come back tomorrow with a different attitude, a different mindset. I know we will." Um, what? Son, YOU JUST WON BY 31 POINTS! Don't be a douche.

14. Brian Davis

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Years Played: 1988-92
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 6.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists and helped Duke reach four Final Fours and win two National Championships
NBA Career: Averaged 1.9 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.3 assists during one season in the league

Did you hate Christian Laettner back when he was at Duke? Of course you did. And, if you hated him, then you were required to hate Davis, too. The two were roommates, and it was rumored that Davis was the only guy on the Blue Devils that Laettner really got along with. So, anytime you saw Laettner, Davis wasn't far behind. And, it didn't end after college. More recently, these two have been involved in a number of shady business deals (including one that involved a proposal to buy the Memphis Grizzlies that never panned out) that have made them even more hateable than before. We're sure Davis is probably a nice enough guy, but he's been running with the wrong crowd for years now.

13. Jason Williams

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Years Played: 1999-2002
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 19.2 points, 6.0 assists, and 3.2 rebounds and helped Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaged 9.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.2 assists during one season in the league

Don't get it twisted: Jason Williams—or Jay Williams as he's known now—was good. Real good. In fact, you could make the argument that he was one of the best players to ever suit up for Coach K. But, he was so good that it made a lot of people hate him.


Like, how in the world did Duke manage to land that guy? Don't they only recruit goofy-looking white guys who shoot 500 threes a game and slap the floor when they play defense?! And, don't even get us started on how Jay Will played during the era when Duke got EVERY call. It got so bad that one sportswriter sat and counted the number of fouls that Williams should have been called for during the 2001 National Championship Game against Arizona. He counted at least seven. Crazy.

12. Bobby Hurley

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Years Played: 1989-93
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 12.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 7.7 assists and helped Duke reach three Final Fours and win two National Championships
NBA Career: Averaged 3.8 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists during five seasons in the league

It's hard to hate on a guy who set an NCAA record for dishing out 1,076 assists during his storied collegiate career. Or, is it? Even though we'll admit that Hurley was a problem at point guard, he still played alongside and led a cast of characters that almost everyone in America hated. So, he was guilty of being a douche by association. Sorry, Bobby, but that's just how it works when you decide to become a Dukie.

11. Gerald Henderson Jr.

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Years Played: 2006-09
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 12.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists during three seasons with Duke
NBA Career: Averaging 9.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists through three seasons in the league

To be honest, we never had a huge beef with Henderson. He played his tail off. He was athletic as hell. And, compared to some of the other Duke players listed here, he was a real treat. But, we get the feeling that the good folks at Chapel Hill don't remember him the same way. All they remember is that fateful night back in March 2007 when, for whatever reason, Henderson decided to make sure that UNC fans would remember him forever by delivering an epic elbow directly to Tyler Hansbrough's face with just 14 seconds left in the game and UNC poised to win. It resulted in Psycho T losing a massive amount of blood and made the Dukies look like a bunch of dirty players who couldn't bear the thought of losing. And, it also made Henderson the target of Tar Heels fans for the next two years.

10. Mike Dunleavy Jr.

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Years Played: 1999-2002
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists and helped Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaging 12.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists through 11 seasons in the league

Coming out of high school, Dunleavy Jr. was touted as a smart player with supreme ballhandling skills who could shoot the heck out of the rock. Or, as we like to call it, "Dickie V's wet dream." All you had to do was take one look at Dunleavy's lanky frame and the mop of hair on his head and you knew you were going to throwing things at the TV every time he touched the ball for the next four years.

9. Jon Scheyer

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Years Played: 2006-10
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists and helped Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaged 0.0 points, 0.0 rebounds, and 0.5 assists during one preseason stint in the league and currently plays in Spain

By all accounts, Scheyer was a nice, shy kid at Duke who never really tried to show anyone up on the court. So, why is he so high on this list then? Blame "Scheyer Face." For some reason, Scheyer had an annoying habit of making ridiculous faces like the one you see here every single time he shot, passed, dribbled, rebounded, or—well, you get the point. And, it drove us insane. So, we're glad we were never subjected to it during NBA games.

8. Shane Battier

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Years Played: 1997-2001
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 13.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists and helped lead Duke win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaging 9.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists through 12 seasons in the league

It's hard to hate on a guy like Battier. He went to school for four years. He stayed out of trouble. And, he played his rear end off and did everything to help his team win. But, he's still got one thing going against him: HE WENT TO DUKE! So, you shouldn't be shocked to hear that, despite being on the hated Miami Heat now, he still hears more boos for being a former Blue Devil than he does for playing alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. "Anti-Duke,: he said last year when asked whether he gets more hate for playing on the Heat or for being a former Dukie. "Way, way more. It's a small school. I go to New York or Los Angeles, Chicago, D.C., big cities, I get some Duke love. But, other than that, no Duke love." No surprise there.

7. Danny Ferry

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Years Played: 1985-89
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 15.1 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists and helped Duke reach three Final Fours
NBA Career: Averaged 7.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists during 13 seasons in the league

These days, people hate Danny Ferry because of what he's doing—or, in the case of Josh Smith, what he's NOT doing—with the Atlanta Hawks. But, back in the day, Ferry was the epitome of an annoying Duke player. He had a stellar college career, convinced an NBA team to draft him No. 2 overall, and then completely fell on the face on the earth. How this guy managed to stay in the Association for more than a decade, we'll never know.

6. Greg Paulus

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Years Played: 2005-09
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 8.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists during four seasons at Duke
NBA Career: None, but tried out for the NFL's New Orleans Saints in 2010

The former Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year attempted to take so many charges at Duke and got dunked over so many times that he earned the nickname "Tea Bag." Need we say more?

5. Cherokee Parks

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Years Played: 1991-95
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 12.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists and helped Duke reach one Final Four and win one National Championship
NBA Career: Averaged 4.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.6 assists during nine seasons in the league

In 1991, the basketball gods decided that they really, REALLY hated us. So, rather than give us another guy from Duke named "Danny" or "Bobby," they mixed it up a little and gave us Cherokee—a tall, unathletic, immobile center who got his name from his great-grandmother who was a Cherokee Indian. And then, as if that wasn't bad enough, they had him go through a major identity crisis once he got to the NBA and cover his arms and hands in tattoos just to make him look even more ridiculous than he already did. No wonder he wound up playing for seven different teams in nine seasons. The NBA hated him almost as much as we did.

4. Steve Wojciechowski

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Years Played: 1995-98
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 5.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists during four seasons at Duke
NBA Career: None, but played professionally in Poland for one season

Wojo didn't put up a ton of points, rebounds, or assists during his time at Duke. But, he did lead the NCAA—in defensive floor slaps—with 35.0 per game. In fact, he slapped the floor so often and pissed off so many people by doing it that the Miami basketball team used it to taunt the Duke players when they played earlier this year, despite the fact that most of them were, like, five when Wojo played. He clearly inspired a hate that still runs deep.

3. Chris Collins

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Years Played: 1993-96
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 9.1 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.4 assists and helped Duke reach one Final Four
NBA Career: None, but played professionally in Finland for two seasons

If you think taking charges and flopping all over the place is something that Duke just started doing, then you never saw Collins play. Long before guys like Greg Paulus and Steve Wojciechowski were making asses of themselves by diving all over the place at Cameron Indoor, there was Collins. You can blame him for their behavior.

2. J.J. Redick

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Years Played: 2002-06
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 19.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists and helped Duke reach one Final Four
NBA Career: Averaging 9.3 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.0 assists through seven seasons in the league

Although we're sure they're used to it by now, a lot of the players on this list probably don't take a whole lot of pride in the fact that they're "hated." But, that's not the case for Redick. During his Duke career, he made it a point to antagonize opposing fans after knocking down threes. And, they hated him for it.


But, as he explained at the time, all the hate he received from them didn't bother him in the least. "I don't think my relationship with opposing fans is a love-hate relationship," he said. "I think it's a hate-hate relationship. I don't think the fans really like me. I think it's because I play for Duke. But, to be honest with you, I love that kind of stuff. I enjoy getting heckled. For some reason, it really gets my competitive juices flowing." Doesn't that just make you hate him more?

1. Christian Laettner

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Years Played: 1988-92
NCAA Accomplishments: Averaged 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists and helped Duke reach four Final Fours and win two National Championships
NBA Career: Averaged 12.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists during 13 seasons in the league

There's absolutely no denying that Laettner was a great player when he was at Duke. From the two 'chips he won to the classic buzzer beater that he hit to help the Blue Devils knock off the Kentucky Wildcats in the Elite Eight in 1992, the guy made his mark on the world in the early '90s as a great college basketball player. But, the key word there is great COLLEGE basketball player.


You see, his game didn't translate all that well to the NBA, which is something that's become a trend for Duke players. They're great in college and suck in the pros. That's reason enough to hate Laettner. Oh, and that stomp Laettner performed on Aminu Timberlake during the '92 Elite Eight didn't hurt either—just sayin'.

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