Duke basketball: The 10 most hated Blue Devils of all time

The most hated Duke basketball faces: Kyle Singler

Though Kyle Singler had a prototypical Dukie appearance and was a deadly threat from inside and out, he didn’t encounter as much hate as one might have expected during his first two years as a Blue Devil. One possible reason was the distraction that was Greg Paulus, a floor-slapping, flopping, oft-posterized guard who, in hindsight, should have been an honorable mention here.

Singler, whose 2,392 career points still rank fourth in program history, was a relatively quiet fella in Durham. Also, he was a tad peculiar. He was artsy, painting murals to capture the essence of his career as a Duke basketball star.

But in Singler’s senior season, following Duke’s national title his junior year, the hate picked up as outsiders feared he’d go down as a leader in back-to-back natty runs (like two guys to come on this list). He didn’t. However, he did wear the tag of a coach’s pet at the time, which never sits well with those who become ill at the mere thought of anyone sucking up to the program’s king.

Talking to the New York Times prior to that 2010-11 campaign, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski essentially egged on detractors with the following brief quote regarding Singler’s likability factor:

“He’s just too good of a guy. He’s a guy’s guy. He’s a warrior. It’d be very hard to hate him.”

Googling “I hate Kyle Singler” proves it wasn’t all that hard for many after all.