The Blue Devils did something unthinkable on a Sunday afternoon – they actually made me Like they. Conditioning the disgust of my family for 30 years, I walked to the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, ready to wrap in a blanket of hatred with Duke, and was in a comfortable state of hatred. Instead, I found myself in love with this repetition of the team.
There's no need to re-query why you hate Duke. It is a topic that appears every March, without a lack of thought about the Blue Devils, embracing race, privilege and role as a college basketball “villain” and symbolizing, and at the same time distinguishing sparkle.
The current devil is fair fun. It's really fun. More importantly, this team knows how to enjoy themselves and show their emotions. This is something that the Duke teams of the past lack. Under Coach K, the Blue Devils were ruthless and efficient, but often felt like they were experiencing movements. Running through plans, including assembling furniture. John Shayer's approach to the game drew Duke into modern times by embracing personality, enabling personality, and adapting those doctrines to the Duke rubric.
It all began with the Cooper Flag, the ultimate No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, and is arguably the best US outlook since LeBron James. Flag's footwork with an array of ball and paint movements is then kicking the ball out to the boundary open player with his court vision and his best basketball IQ as a passerby that draws defenders. On top of this, there's no reason to really hate him. This was the guy coming out of the main, showing that there were few hoops recruiting hot beds and a humble team player without a huge amount of ego.
Then there is 18-year-old Kaman Mallach from South Sudan. Picking the basketball obscurity on bike riders convinced them to win the sport at a camp hosted by Ruhr Den. This has kids literally living their dreams and poised to become the top five pick in the NBA draft. Still evolving as a basketball player, Mallach's smooth length and wingspan have already made him an elite shot blocker and rebounder, with a high motor and work ethic to hone his offensive game.
It was Tyrees Proctor's show that played against Baylor on Sunday. This really highlights that this Duke team is different from past iterations. Proctor is a fringe NBA player. It is unclear whether he will actually be drafted, but in Raleigh the Australians were unconscious beyond the Ark, shooting an obscene 7-8, becoming the biggest difference maker in the courtroom. This performance caused Shayer to tears after the gameseeing Proctor shine on the brightest stages of college basketball, was overjoyed to reflect what it means to have security guards on his side since taking over as Duke's head coach.
“I think you're covering this in this era. You understand the challenges and nil and transfer portals and so on. Even so, you've had a relationship that you can build with a guy for three years and you'll go through a lot. I'm clearly really proud of him.”
Hate to hate, the lack of natural players really affects how you can hate Duke this year. Greg Paulus or Chris Duhon will not slap the floor. Grayson Allen does not trip over players with the efficiency of misplaced children's toys. No one like Christian Laetner can't even hold a candle. Plus, there's no Coach K approaching the court like Mr. Burns.
Instead, getting the match on Sunday, Shayer called out the ultimate fan favorite move and ended the game by defeating two beloved alumni walk-ons, Neil Begovic and Spencer Hubbard. Hubbard in particular is a 5'8 point guard who is likely to play the final basketball game of his career, and was welcomed into the game with noisy applause and cheered every time he touched the ball.
This year, there's no good way to hate Duke, outside of fans, logos, horrible mascots, general history and longstanding pent-up dislikes. Certainly, that's enough to hate Duke as a structure, but not this team.
It's actually quite anxious like the Duke team. I hate them for that reason.
