The 9 Most Despised Duke Basketball Players Who Fans Loved To Hate

Duke boasts one of the most accomplished programs in college basketball history, and the team has cemented its reputation as a blue blood with the help of the talented players it’s been able to attract over the decades—including more than a few guys who manage to infuriate plenty of fans.

Duke is far from the only school that’s managed to produce some college basketball villains, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a single program that’s boasted more guys who fans came to hate with a passion.

Some of that enmity stemmed from their behavior on the court, although a good chunk of it also had to do with the jealousy that came with watching them help the Blue Devils terrorize other teams on a regular basis.

Without further ado…

Christian Laettner

I’m not listing these in any particular order, but it’s only natural to start with the man responsible for a 30 For 30 documentary examining his college career that was called I Hate Christian Laettner.

Mike Krzyzewski is responsible for transforming Duke into the powerhouse it became during his tenure, and the team was on a five-year NCAA Tournament streak that included a Sweet Sixteen appearance, a run to the Final Four, and a loss national championship game when Laettner arrived for his freshman season in 1988.

The sharpshooting big man, who averaged 16.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game during his time in Durham, helped lead Duke to back-to-back championships beginning in 1991 with the help of his iconic buzzer-beater against Kentucky in the Elite Eight the following year.

He drilled that shot in the same game where he was widely criticized for stomping on the chest of a prone Aminu Timberlake, which only fueled the haters who were already sick and tired of watching a man who they viewed as an rich, arrogant white dude (despite not coming from an overly privileged background) repeatedly lead Duke to glory.

Grayson Allen

Laettner’s stomp may have been a one-time incident, but Grayson Allen didn’t do himself any favors with the pattern of behavior that led to him being viewed as a dirty player while he was at Duke.

The guard averaged 14.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3 assists during the four-year career that began in 2014, but his performance was routinely overshadowed by his propensity for tripping opponents on the court.

He was at the center of two tripping incidents against Louisville and Florida State in 2016 that transpired just a few weeks apart, and the following season, Coach K stripped him of his captaincy and suspended him for a game after a trip led to him getting hit with a technical during a showdown with Elon.

I also have a theory that Allen’s resemblance to the actor who played the reviled King Joffrey in Game of Thrones contributed to the hate he got, but he would have attracted more than enough even if that hadn’t been the case.

J.J. Redick

J.J. Redick immediately emerged as a star after arriving at Duke in 2002, and the guard quickly discovered the downsides that come with being the face of the Blue Devils due to the abuse he and his family were subjected to on and off the court to the point where he almost quit after his sophomore season.

Redick stuck it out while breaking the single-season and all-time scoring record at the school where he averaged 19.9 points per game.

Unlike the first two guys on this list , he didn’t really do anything to merit the hate as far as sportsmanship was concerned, but as you’ll see by the pattern that’s already begun to emerge, being a white guy who plays at Duke is really more than enough to get the people going.

Shane Battier

Shane Battier mastered the art of taking a charge, and it was just one of the many weapons he deployed as part of his impressively well-rounded game.

However, his propensity for drawing a foul after ending up on the floor while playing defense led to plenty of opposing fans positioning him as a flopper, which was probably the biggest source of contention during a Duke career that he capped off with a national championship in 2001 after averaging 13.6 points and 6.1 rebounds during his time there.

Greg Paulus

Flopping was also a major reason many college basketball fans developed a distaste for Greg Paulus, who had a fairly unconventional college career by playing basketball at Duke for four years before capping things off as the starting QB at Syracuse after earning his undergraduate degree.

Paulus never really attracted the level of hatred generated by the guys we’ve already mentioned due to his comparatively unreliable play (he was largely relegated to a role off the bench during his senior season), but he was still able to rile people up—including plenty of Duke fans who ended up frustrated by his inconsistency—on a pretty consistent basis.

Bobby Hurley

Laettner may have absorbed the bulk of the flak directed at Duke players when he was on the team, but Bobby Hurley also got his fair share before and after he filled the void that formed when his teammate left for the NBA ahead of his senior season in 1993.

Hurley was an assist machine who was never afraid to let the refs know when he thought they messed up a call, and that consistent whining was a major reason opposing fans got fed up with watching him play.

Steve Wojciechowski

Steve Wojciechowski was another Duke player who never came close to achieving superstar status, but that didn’t stop him from calling plenty of attention to himself when he saw the floor.

That floor was frequently the target of the signature slaps he delivered to the hardwood when he was trying to pump up himself, his teammates, and the crowd during games.

He’s acknowledged it’s probably the thing he’s best remembered for in the wake of a career where he only averaged 5.4 points per game—a reality that undoubtedly helped annoy the fans who rolled their eyes at his attention-grabbing antics.

Chris Collins

The college basketball world found itself searching for a new Duke Villain after Laettner and Hurley left the Blue Devils behind, and Chris Collins quickly emerged as a more than servicable replacement in the mid-1990s.

The guard also followed the flop-centric blueprint that the likes of Battier and Paulus adhered to and had a tendency to be very vocal on the court despite tending to have the kind of impact you’d expect from a guy who averaged 9.1 points, 2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists during his career.

The Plumlee Brothers

This entry is technically three different players, as there was at least one member of the Plumlee clan on the basketball team at Duke between 2008 and 2016.

Miles Plumlee kicked things off before Mason joined him the following season, and Marshall ended up playing with the latter for a year before wrapping things up in 2016 (they averaged 4.8, 9.8, and  3.4 points per game, respectively).

The trio didn’t necessarily do anything to garner excessive hatred, but most fans eventually reached a point where they couldn’t help but wonder how a Plumlee was still on the team before the reign finally came to an end.