Duke radio call of UConn game-winner sums up exactly why fans hate the Blue Devils

Sunday's Elite Eight matchup between the Duke Blue Devils and the UConn Huskies brought college basketball fans one of the most riveting endings in March Madness history: Despite Duke leading by as many as 19 points, they allowed Dan Hurley's back in the game down the stretch and, with mere seconds remaining, turned the ball over, allowing the Huskies to take the lead (and win) on a miraculous 3 with less than one second to go.

Everything about the end of this game was utterly absurd. Rather than focusing on UConn finding a way to steal the game or the Blue Devils melting down, though, the Duke radio broadcast was trying to do whatever it could to try to steal the game for their team. How? They were clamoring for a technical foul on UConn guard Malachi Smith for ... leaving the bench too early. Yes, seriously. And what's even crazier about actually thinking a technical foul should be called in that moment is that Smith was a legal player on the court at the time.

Duke radio call is nothing but sour grapes

I understand the frustration. I, too, would show more than a little emotion when calling a game-winner of that magnitude against the team I was on the call for. In no way am I suggesting the Duke radio announcers should be unbiased, but are we serious with this? Are they really going to say UConn deserves a technical for celebrating one of the biggest shots we've ever seen?

That take is bad enough, but again, the player they wanted the technical foul to be called on was literally one of the five players on the court already. He was allowed to celebrate the shot however he wanted! If you're going to give an outlandish take like that, can't you at least point to a player who was actually on the bench?

Frustration is fine, but clamoring for a technical in that spot is something that only Duke fans would do.

Duke entitlement is on full display with final radio call

Nobody hates Duke because they win a lot. I mean, UCLA has more national titles than anyone, and the Bruins aren't typically viewed as a big bad. UConn has had far more recent success, and yet their women's team often gets more recognition than the men's. Even schools like Kentucky and UNC, which are constantly in the news, don't get this kind of hate. The reason Duke is the most hated program in college basketball has to do with their entitled fans.

Despite not winning a single national championship since 2015 — over a decade ago at this point — Duke fans expect their team to be given preferential treatment, as though winning were their birthright by virtue of spending four years in Durham before moving back to the New York City area to start a lucrative career at McKinsey. They expect to be given the benefit of every whistle, and we even saw Duke get what looked like favorable whistles for much of this year's tournament prior to Sunday's game.

It's just hard to shake the feeling that Duke fans expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter. The minute anything goes wrong, losing with dignity isn't an option; they cry to the referees to try and bail them out with what would've been the worst technical foul call in basketball history.

It's one thing to win a lot by just being flat-out better. It's another to not have a national title in a decade and still expect to be treated as if you're better than everyone else. Duke fans fit that latter description, and that's why the majority of college basketball fans can't stand them. This absurd radio call is just the latest proof of that.

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