The word “hate” is one of the strongest in the English language and should not be said so freely. Yet that’s exactly what sports fans do toward particular teams, and the world of big-time college basketball is no exception.
When discussing the topic of which college basketball teams are traditionally the most despised in the country, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky seem to come up in the conversation a lot. why is this the case?
Obviously, a major reason is that (to quote rapper DJ Khaled) “all they do is win.“Winning is a great source of hatred and jealousy in the world of sport.
While few fans don’t hate a perennial loser, they also have no problem generating animosity toward a winner. And with a total of 15 national championships under their belt, the Blue Devils, Jayhawks and Wildcats have racked up plenty of victories during their existence.
So it’s easy to understand why these three programs are hated by swaths of bitter and jealous college basketball fans. But when it comes to determining exactly which of these three is the most hated, it’s not as easy to determine.
But that doesn’t mean we won’t try to handicap hatred.
Kansas
As for the Jayhawks, they are certainly hated by their rival Missouri, which is completely understandable. These two states have not lost love for each other since the famous Lawrence Massacre during the Civil War in 1863.
Since then, the border war rivalry between the Tigers and Jayhawks has been one of the most heated in all of college sports. As for why Kansas is so despised by fans outside of Missouri, one reason is because they are a Goliath.
And as legendary former Jayhawk Wilt Chamberlin once proclaimed: “No one supports Goliath.” Animosity toward a team can also translate into hostility toward that team’s fans, and Kansas is no exception.
Just imagine a Google KU fan bragging about how Allen Fieldhouse is the best place in the world to watch a college basketball game. Or the fact that the inventor of the sport himself, Dr. James Naismith, was the program’s first coach in 1898.
Enough to make other fans nauseous.
And it certainly doesn’t help that the hated Roy Williams was Lawrence’s boss for so many years before returning to his alma mater, North Carolina. Those who can’t stand Williams find him to be the equivalent of an evil Forrest Gump with a Type A personality.
He has an awkward, awkward appearance on the bench, accompanied by often flailing arms and a bitter scowl. And just in case that wasn’t enough, Slate writer Jeremy Stahl mentioned a few years ago in a presentation text on why he hates Kansas basketball: The fact that a number of Jayhawks under head coach Bill Self have been agitators on and off the court over the years.
During his time with the team, former Kansas point guard Tyshawn Taylor got into a fight with members of the KU football team. Last year, former Kansas star Thomas Robinson was cited for misdemeanor battery in connection with an altercation at a Lawrence nightclub.
And in December 2010, former Jayhawk Mario Little was arrested for pushing his girlfriend into a sink. Obviously, Kansas isn’t the only program to see players occasionally get into trouble.
But it certainly gives Kansas opponents justification to hate the Jayhawks.
Kentucky
When it comes to disliking Kentucky these days, the rotten tomatoes are thrown squarely at the head coach. John Calipari. Fair or not, many fans have called Calipari a college basketball’s wily snake oil salesman.
They consider him a cheater, even though he does quite well. A big reason for this is the fact that two programs Calipari coached at before his arrival in Lexington – UMass and Memphis –were forced to give up victories by the NCAA for rule violations after his departure.
And while Kentucky hasn’t broken any major rules under Calipari’s watch, that hasn’t stopped fans from being wary of the snake oil salesman, especially considering the number of recruiting classes in profile that Calipari accumulated with the Wildcats.
Calipari proved to be a great coach for Kentucky, but he wasn’t the only one left on the sidelines in Lexington. Kentucky’s first great coach was the man after whom the arena the team plays was named: Adolph Rupp.
But for a coach as great as Rupp — who won four national titles with Kentucky — his legacy has been diminished over the years by allegations of racism. Former NBA, ABA and Georgia basketball star Tim Bassett (who is African-American) recalled a few years ago when Rupp left an effigy of Bassett hanging from the ceiling of the Kentucky arena during a game between the Bassett Bulldogs and the Rupp Wildcats.
And who can forget the sports movie Glory Road, which tells the true story of when Texas Western’s team of all-black starters beat Kentucky’s team of all-white starters in the 1966 NCAA championship game. And who was Kentucky’s coach That day ? Adolph Rupp, of course.
Between Calipari, Rupp and the former Kentucky coach Rick Pitino (who is famous adultery committed in an empty restaurant), some Kentucky coaches have single-handedly made it a pretty loathsome program.
Duke
In terms of “most hated,” Duke takes the cake here. Above the coach Mike KrzyzewskiDuring Durham’s three legendary decades, his Duke teams won many games and earned many more haters in the process.
Why is Duke so despised? Where do I start?
Certainly, ESPN and, more particularly, commentator Dick Vitale admiration for the Blue Devils over the years hasn’t helped Duke’s cause. Vitale constantly points out what “awesome babies” Dukies are! ” during every Blue Devils game he calls (which is at least one per season), many college basketball fans have been left numb and bitter.
Many fans also can’t stand the way Duke plays defense. Certainly, no team in the country tries to take responsibility more effectively — or more frequently — than Coach K’s Blue Devils. They do it so many times that many think Duke players are simply failures.
But there is a caveat that puts Duke ahead of Kansas and Kentucky when it comes to who is most hated. Let’s not forget that Duke is a private school, while Kansas and Kentucky are state-funded public institutions.
When people think of private schools, they think of the elite social class. And when they think of the elite social class, they think of snobby, spoiled kids swimming in money.
Let’s face it: for centuries, people found it very easy to look down on the upper class. And, rightly or wrongly, many view Duke as upper class. Perhaps this explains the arrogant swagger of the Dukies or the arrogance of former Blue Devils like Christian Laettner (who already trampled a player during Elite 8), Greg Paulus, JJ Redick and Austin Rivers.
If that’s not enough, how about the fact that some bitter members of the media have compared Krzyzewski’s face to that of the (blue) Devil. Sure, he’s sharp-nosed, but calling a coach known for running a clean program the next coming of Satan just seems wrong.
However, this did not prevent the Indianapolis Star to run a photo depicting Coach K as the devil Few years ago.
From fawning commentators to failures to a money-laden past to its iconic coach’s uncanny resemblance to an evil spirit, it’s pretty easy to see why among Duke, Kansas and Kentucky, the Blue Devils are the most hated of the three .
