Austin Rivers will always be one of the more hated Duke players in UNC circles. When you drop a game-winning three-pointer in Chapel Hill at the buzzer to beat your rival, there's no other way for it to turn out.
But the feeling is mutual. UNC fans may hate Austin Rivers, but he hates them just as much in return, and he's not afraid to make that point well known.
On a recent Instagram Live, Rivers went scorched earth on his feelings about North Carolina with some uncomfortable truths that have been hard for the Tar Heel fans to accept.
The topic started because he was asked what his favorite moment was during his one season at Duke. He obviously chose the game-winner over North Carolina that "put that weak-ass baby blue team to misery."
He then piled on by attacking North Carolina's recruiting efforts over the years.
"They don't recruit anybody. Nobody goes there," Rivers said. "Besides Caleb Wilson, they got him. But we get those every year. Why the hell would you go to Carolina, respectfully? I'm just being honest. If you go there, you end up going like four years in college. Caleb Wilson was like the first one-and-done they've had in like a decade. Harrison Barnes was like the closest thing we had to Kobe Bryant in high school, and he ain't even go one-and-done. He had to go two years. I don't know why people go to that school. I'm not even saying that to be Duke bias; there's just no reason."
Austin Rivers visciously puts down North Carolina for their run of NBA failures
Rivers' rant isn't 100% accurate; UNC has had some one-and-dones in recent seasons like Coby White, Nassir Little, and Drake Powell to go along with Caleb Wilson, but it has been minimal in comparison to what Duke is pumping out to the NBA every season.
Rivers didn't even mention the biggest negative against UNC for recruits right now. The Tar Heels haven't had a single NBA All-Star since 2008, when both Rasheed Wallace and Antawn Jamison appeared. That's difficult to comprehend, but it's true. North Carolina has lacked any and all real star power in the league since Vince Carter. They've churned out some quality pros, but they've all been role players while Duke consistently churns out superstars at the next level.
For context, Duke has had 23 All-Star appearances since the last time North Carolina had one.
And it's not a lack of recruiting success. Guys like Barnes, Little, and White were all-world recruits. But the development in Chapel Hill has been questionable over the last two decades.
Perhaps Wilson changes that. He's certainly got All-Star and All-NBA potential. But it's going to take a lot more than one player to flip the narrative that Rivers mentioned. Recruits nowadays weren't even born the last time North Carolina produced a star player. The Tar Heels are relying on grainy VHS tapes for their former greats, while Jon Scheyer can just tell prospective recruits to turn on pretty much any NBA game to watch a Duke player shine. There's a reason Tar Heels fans are always nervous when Scheyer gets involved with a recruit they want.
And for any angry UNC fans who are here and reading, I'll leave you with one parting thought:
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