Duke hate wagon gassed up for NCAA Tournament run

The Duke hate wagon is rolling again, just in time for March Madness. 

With the Blue Devils men's basketball team taking the top overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, many naysayers are coming out of the woods in droves. Jon Scheyer's team has long been one of the sport’s most polarizing and the familiar chorus of boos, eye rolls and anti-Duke sentiment has returned across the college basketball landscape.

Yet again, people love to hate what they can't have. For many fans, disliking Duke is almost a tradition — a rite of passage tied to decades of dominance under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski and the aura that surrounds the program in Durham.

Now the same dynamic appears to be building again under Scheyer. In fact, he's arguably a carbon copy of Coach K in many ways. 

Scheyer’s fourth season has produced another powerhouse. Duke captured the ACC Tournament title with a 74-70 victory over Virginia enters the NCAA Tournament with a 32-2 record and an 11-game winning streak.

The Blue Devils are led by freshman star Cameron Boozer, who delivered a 23-point, 10-rebound performance in the ACC championship game and has produced one of the most efficient freshman seasons in recent college basketball history.

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However, success tends to bring out the haters. Scheyer has felt the heat from opposing fans after publicly discussing scheduling concerns during the ACC Tournament. He's also been vocal about incidents like the court storming following Duke’s rivalry game against North Carolina. 

For detractors, it reinforces the familiar narrative that Duke still carries the same edge and the same reputation that defined the program for decades. Coach K is gone but Scheyer is the Darth Vader leading his corps of Stormtroopers into battle. The renewed animosity has another side to it all. Duke is once again the team everyone is chasing.

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Scheyer has already captured three ACC Tournament titles in his first four seasons and compiled a remarkable 42-2 conference record over the last two years. That level of success has pushed the Blue Devils back into a familiar role of being the bad guys. 

Love them or hate them, Duke remains at the center of college basketball and the hate wagon always seems to follow wherever the Blue Devils go. Get on now before it's too late to appreciate them. 

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