I used to love Duke. There… I said it. When I was young, I would act like I was Jay Williams and my older brother Jordan would act like he was Shane Battier. We would get into our basketball shoes and run plays so one of us could throw down a monster dunk on our Little Tikes basketball hoop. That is one solid piece of play equipment because we served up alley-oops to one another at least one hundred times a night. To the dismay of my father, we broke at least one light bulb per week from our “NBA range” three-pointers. Much to the dismay of my mother, Jordan and I weren’t always teammates and one of us (usually me — always me) would end up with a bruise, bloody nose, or bloody lip. We would even go as far to call each other “Jay” and “Shane” as we pretended to play Lonny Baxter and the Maryland Terrapins.
I used to love the Blue Devils.
Now, those feelings of love and admiration have transformed into enmity and disgust.
Duke University has a storied basketball program. The Blue Devils are just one of those schools that seems to be really good every single year. They are always in the mix for an ACC championship. They spit out NBA players every year. They make the tournament religiously.
In fact, since Coach Mike Krzyzewski took over the program in 1980, the team has:
Won 12 ACC Regular Season titles
Won 13 ACC Tournament championships
Made 32 NCAA Tournament appearances
Won 5 NCAA Championships
These accolades alone are enough to make a college basketball fan despise Duke. Furthermore, Duke is essentially an Ivy League school in North Carolina, and they have the “rich kid” stigma. They are comparable to the Yankees. When you have a lot of money and win a ton, no one seems to like you that much. There is another stat for Coach K, however, that makes Duke a little more hated.
He produced five Duke Villains.
“Wait a second, Kendall! What is a Duke Villain?”
Calm down. I’ll explain.
A Duke Villain is a white basketball player at Duke University coached by Mike Kryzewski. A Duke Villain is described as one who taunts, trash-talks, plays very physically, acts emotionally, displays poor sportsmanship, etc.
Actually, watch this video.
What sets these players apart isn’t the aforementioned characteristics. These players are all really good. They play hard. They hustle. They win. So why are they deemed villains?
As I do my research on these players, I am learning very quickly that these players are just like every other college student-athlete. They are simply victims of the name on the front of their jersey.
Christian Laettner played really hard. He was aggressive — not dirty. He did intentionally step on the chest of Kentucky’s Aminu Timberlake. He claimed it was retaliation from a previous altercation with Timberlake—an eye for an eye. I am not a huge fan, but the thing is, he did not do it again (a lesson Grayson Allen should have noted)
Steve Wojciechowski isn’t a villain. To be honest, I don’t see the problem with him. From what I’ve learned on Wojciechowski, the dude played great defense and hustled his ass up and down the court. No one had an issue with Ryan Arcidiacono (another really good white player) during Villanova’s run to the NCAA Championship this year. Wojciechowski is now the head coach at Marquette. Not so bad for a “villain.”
J.J. Redick shot the lights out of the ball and he still does for the Clippers. The guy showed passion on the court. Yeah, he would slap the floor (pretty annoying), and he would pound his chest (cool, bro), but he acted no less flamboyant than other studs in the NCAA.
Greg Paulus. Poor Greg Paulus. I don’t know why he is on this list. The only crime he committed was throwing away a promising basketball career to be the starting quarterback at *gags* Syracuse. He has gone on to find success coaching college basketball. Good choice, Greg. Stick to b-ball.
And now… Grayson Allen. What the hell, man? You are a Duke Villain — maybe the Duke Villain.
Allen is insanely talented. He was a McDonald’s All-American where he won the slam dunk contest. He played an integral role in Duke’s 2015 NCAA championship. This year, he made an incredible last second shot to beat #7 Virginia. Then, it all went downhill.
It started against Louisville when Allen fell to the ground on a shot attempt. Instead of accepting the fact that he missed a shot (boo-freaking-hoo), he acted like a child and stuck his foot out to trip a Louisville player, earning himself a flagrant foul.
I imagine the amazing Coach K would have pulled his young star aside and said, “Umm… hey. Don’t do that.” Coach K took time to mentor Oregon star Dillon Brooks about sportsmanship after Oregon beat Duke this year in the Sweet Sixteen. Surely, he had a chat with Grayson Allen!
Maybe that conversation never happened because just under two weeks later against Louisville again, Allen fouled out on a very questionable charging call. Following the play, Allen shouted “fucking bullshit” directly behind an official, earning him a technical. I love the heart, but chill.
*Thank you, ESPN, for replaying that moment over and over on live TV. I laughed.*
For a Duke team that was short-handed all year, one would think the great Coach K would advise his sophomore stud to be a good little boy. Allen acted out again. This time, he tripped Florida State star Xavier Rathan-Mayes just three weeks after his first tripping incident. The ACC decided to “reprimand” Allen, aka a slap on the wrist. Maybe his mom forgot to refill his prescription for RLS (restless leg syndrome) medication. Maybe tripping people was encouraged when Allen was younger. Maybe he is just a big baby.
I don't know what is going through his head, but either way, this is when I became a hater.
The first tripping incident was embarrassing. The guy just finished a championship season as a freshman. He is on yet another Duke team that gets constant TV time and media attention. Tripping another player? Duke’s a good school. Use your head. People already hate Duke just to hate Duke. Now they have more reason.
Speaking of TV and the media, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea to do anything dirty on national television during the NCAA tourney. Allen hadn’t acted childish in quite some time. He must have learned his lesson… psych.
We fell for his tricks again (lol, puns). Watch this.
You can see Allen casually stick his right foot out far enough to trip the driving Yale player. Seriously? I thought we were over this.
Grayson Allen announced he will be returning to Duke for his junior season. In the all-too-early pre-season rankings, Duke is listed as the top team in the country.
More fuel for the fire.
The dirtiest player in the country playing for the most hated school in NCAA basketball. Should make for another great season.
Grayson Allen is by far the most athletic player of the “Duke Villains.” Unless something crazy happens, he will be in the NBA making millions very soon. He would have had an extremely successful life, ridicule-free.
All it took was some childish, selfish actions to transform one talented, bright star into a hated punk-ass.
Christian Laettner owes a huge thank you to Grayson Allen for all these trippings. Now the haters will finally leave Laettner alone.
America has found a new player to hate.
