Love to Hate 'Em: The Most Hated Players of the Past Decade

College, as we all know is nothing more than a booze and testosterone filled popularity contest. At large universities, nobody is more popular than the star athletes. The student sections bow to them, the women love them, and the teachers pass them. But every so often, there is a player that exceeds even the highest level of popularity. They become so popular that they become intolerable by anyone not enrolled at that university.

One of the aspects of college basketball that separates it from other college sports is the creativity of the student sections. It's not just about getting the whole arena to wear the same color t-shirt. There are the Georgetown fans who dress up like animals, The Purdue Paint Crew (named after head coach Matt Painter), the Duke cult icon "Speedo guy", and innumerable others at pretty much every school in the country.

Fans use creativity to feel like they are part of the action. And if a player gives the student section a reason to heckle, razz or chastise, they will be more than happy to do so. All it takes is one isolated incident for student sections across the country to rise up and continue chants and insults started by other student sections.

The following list contains the most vilified hoops players of the past decade. Be warned, because we had to delve deep into the murky depths of student sections, some of the video material might be slightly NSFW. But then again, nothing that goes on in student sections would be considered safe for work.

J.J. Redick

There has not been a college basketball player in the last twenty years who was as universally despised as Redick was. He was the type of player that was so good at what he did, that you basically had to hate him. The flashy, brash, and cocky guard who threw up "the shocker" after a made 3-pointer was the main target of every student section he encountered.

After the 04-05 season, Redick appeared on ESPN and had some choice words for opposing fans, who had irritated Redick to his breaking point. It was game-on from there, as rival student sections pulled out all the stops to try and get inside the head of Redick. J.J. was constantly bombarded with insults about his sexual orientation (Terps fans referred to him as "Brokeback Redick"), his works of poetry, and his younger sister. At one point, Maryland and UNC fans got access to Redick's cell phone number. It was said that he received anywhere from 50-75 hate calls/texts a day. In 2006, Travis Clay of CBS Sportsline dubbed Redick as "the most hated current athlete in America". Think about it, Terrell Owens was in the process of destroying his second NFL locker room and Jose Canseco was snitching on former teammates. But nobody was more hated than Redick.

A lot of the hatred towards Redick probably had to do with a couple of things: He played for Duke, he was the best shooter in the country and played for Duke, he was overly cocky and played for Duke, and he got a lot of tail and played for Duke. Needless to say, a lot of his hatred had to do with the fact that he played at the most recognizable program in college hoops history. If Redick was dropping 30 a game at NC State and not Duke, I doubt he would have been tormented as bad as he was.

During Redick's time in Durham, rumors flew around the internet that Reddick was quite fond of pounding a fifth of Jack Daniels before shoot-a-round, and even that he did lines of cocaine in the locker room. While these rumors were nothing more than that, rumors, it did nothing to help Redick's reputation across college campuses.

Think about it. Redick was 6'4" and weighed under 200 pounds, and yet was the best player in the entire country in 2005. Redick did not look like the best player in the country. Part of the reason he was so hated is because he made so many guys across the country jealous. He wasn’t big, he wasn’t strong, nor was he particularly good-looking, yet he was treated like a god. He looked like every other frat member on campus, and still, girls probably broke up with their boyfriends just to have a shot at Redick. That right there is enough to make me jealous.


Greg Paulus

Paulus was lucky that he decided to attend Duke and not Notre Dame (for football). Because during Paulus's freshman year, he got to play in the backcourt with Redick and learned how to be hated from the very best. Paulus was never the outstanding point guard he was recruited to be, but he was good enough to be hated on by every student section in the ACC. Being the starting point guard for Duke carries a lot of baggage, and Paulus tried his best to handle the weight.



Paulus was a victim of posterization multiple times, the most famous being when Virginia Tech's Deron Washington leapt completely over Paulus' head. Not once, but twice.



From here on out, whenever the student section wanted to heckle the visitors, they chanted "Teabag Paulus". The rest of the country was quick to follow suit.



Fans never needed to be too creative when heckling Paulus, because whenever Duke was on the road, it was almost a given that there would be at least one "Teabag Paulus" chant during the game.

Paulus was the quintessential Duke point guard. He had heart and hustle, and to most non-Duke fans, it's enough to make you puke. Paulus was a master of Duke's patented "flop-charge", a maneuver that was more than enough to make opposing fans irate. Greg was never able to overcome all the heckling he received and the Duke teams he played on were never very successful. But to be frank, Paulus probably got it as bad as Reddick did from opposing fans. The only difference was that the fans hated Reddick on an entirely different level.


Eric Devendorf

Eric Devendorf was the bad boy of the Big East for the past four seasons. Every non-Syracuse fan in the northeast had something against "Devo". Maybe it was all the tattoos, maybe it was the line-beards or maybe it was his checkered past, whatever the case may be, if it was 2008, you more than likely were doing some hating on Eric Devendorf. After all, he was named by many media outlets as "the most hated player in the NCAA" for the 2008-2009 season. But obviously, a lot of this had to do with the assault charges filled against him last winter.



If you forget, Devo was said to have allegedly struck a female outside of a house party at 'Cuse. It's pretty safe to say that hitting a women will land you a spot on any "most hated" list. The public image of Devo is that he was a punk. But it wasn't just his off-court antics that landed him the title of "most hated" during the 2008-2009 season. Talking trash was his go-to move, and celebrating after a big three wasn't out of the ordinary either. In fact, Devo almost completely redeemed himself of his negative image by draining the game-winning 3-pointer in the Big East tournament against UConn. You remember, the one where he sank the three then jumped on the scorers table a la Dwayne Wade. Well, unfortunately the shot didn't count, but because of this, we were able to witness perhaps the greatest basketball game ever played.

Was Devo as bad a person as people made him out to be? It's very debatable. However, most of the hate he received was image-based. Nothing about his image said "character". Well, at least that's what most of America thought. But then again, his demeanor on the court certainly didn't say it either.

Ed. Note: We wrote a lengthy column last year defending Devendorf, and stand by what we wrote.


Luke Harangody

Notre Dame, like Duke and North Carolina, have the distinction of being prestigious athletic institutions, and therefore the athletes who represent them are scrutinized under a microscopic lens. In other words, its very easy to hate a Notre Dame athlete. It's obvious that the Irish football squad carries more pull than the hoops team. But when you are a white, Irish, 6'8" 250-pound power forward and not a nose tackle, you tend to attract a lot of attention.



Harangody entered Notre Dame with low expectations. As the largest member of the Irish squad, he was in charge of going up against some of the quintessential Big East bigs: Roy Hibbert, Hasheem Thabeet, DeJuan Blair, and David Padgett. Luke struggled mightily against the bigs, usually winding up on the bench with foul trouble.

I had the chance to see Harangody play during his freshman year in a game against Georgetown and Roy Hibbert. Harangody spent the majority of the time committing stupid fouls and complaining about them. The Georgetown student section was quick to jump on the behemoth freshman.

But Harangody made a huge leap in progress his sophomore year, propelling him into Naismith Award discussions and All-American prospective lists. Having said this, why would anybody hate a player like this?

Well first off, "The 'Gody" looks like the son of actor Gary Busey. Yup that's right, Gary Busey. Then add in the fact that Harangody doesn’t look like a chiseled NCAA power forward. His jump shot is horrendous-looking and he has a tendency to whine and complain about fouls and missed calls. His "all-out" style of play is the type that irks opposing student sections. He was named the Big East POY in his sophomore year, giving fans just another reason to hate the Irish big man. The West Virginia fans were quite fond of tormenting Harangody. It all stemmed from an incident during a ND vs. WVU game in Morgantown when Harangody and WVU's Cam Thoroughman got tangled up under the basket. The Mountaineer student section rode Harangody for the rest of the night. Give a listen to this:



Harangody never did anything off the court to draw negativity from fans (unlike his former teammate Kyle McAlarney, who was kicked out of school for drug possession, before being reinstated.) McAlarney was bombarded with chants of "Drug Dealer" and signs that said "McAlarney slept though D.A.R.E". Nonetheless it was Harangody who attracted much of the hate. He wasn't above throwing a hissy fit on the court, or trying to get in a tussle with the opposing big man. And he sure as hell didn't mind flopping on defense if he needed/wanted to. I'd say that's enough to make student sections chastise a player for 40 minutes.

I mean, just look at him. He looks like somebody you should hate. And most people do. But the one thing you can't hate him for is his productivity. He have averaged 20 ppg and 10 rpg every season except for his freshman year and has been a All Big-East first teamer the past two seasons.


Joakim Noah

Of all the players on the back-to-back championship Florida Gators team, nobody was as vocal as Noah. Nor was anybody as hated as Noah was. The son of a former tennis player and European model, Noah embraced the spotlight, and used his TV time to let opposing players and fans know that he didn't give a damn about what anybody thought about him or the Florida basketball team.



It can be argued that Noah was the least talented of all the players from the Gators' back-to-back title teams (five were drafted into the NBA), but nobody can argue that he was the most important player on the team. He wasn't the most skilled player on the floor, but what separated Noah from the rest was his desire.

Take a good look at Joakim Noah. It won't take long to figure out he's no pretty boy. His looks alone were enough to insight negative banter from the opposing fans. He had a nasty "independent film star" moustache that rivaled the one of Gonzaga's Adam Morrison. He had ratty hair that resembled Sideshow Bob's from The Simpsons. But worst of all, he was the guy that wore a pink tuxedo and bow tie to the NBA draft.

Noah's fame at Florida reached near cult level, but because of his flashy style and "Rodman-esque" on-court flare, he was chastised by opposing fans and the media. Some people hated the hair, some people hated the emotion, some people hated his style of play. But in the end, a lot of people just hated Joakim Noah.


We reached out to good friend, former teammate, and fellow blogger Danny Forcella for help with our Most Hated Players list, and he delivered, including sending a little love the way of JJ Redick.


Tyler Hansbrough

It's one thing to show no emotion at all, it's a whole other thing to be Tyler Hansbrough. This dude showed a lot of emotion during his four years at North Carolina, and every second of it made me want to throw up. There's a reason that his nickname was Psycho T. Hansbrough was a complete nut. His ridiculous actions on the court made me hate him more and more every time I saw him spaz around on the floor for a loose ball.



He was the epitome of getting the most out of what you have. Who likes that? I'm not a Husky fan, (just the first example that came into my head) but I loved cheering for a guy like Rudy Gay who was uber-talented but was labeled as lazy. He knew he was good and therefore didn't have to act like an idiot on the court.

Was he a star in college? Yes.

Is he now a star in the pros? Yes.

Did he ever make me want to throw myself through a window when I watched him play? No.

Tyler Hansbrough had one out of those three aspects.

He's never going to be a great pro, and everyone knew that. Sure he received numerous college accolades, and had the stats to ensure them, but that doesn't mean he deserved those stats. When you play in a manner that many basketball players can't respect, it diminishes your likeability. Falling on the ground every five seconds, pretending that you were fouled, is flat out bush league.

I was a UNC fan growing up. I loved the likes of VC, Rasheed, Stack, Jamison. Tyler Hansbrough single-handedly destroyed my fandom of the Tar Heels and turned it into a hatred for the school I once wanted to attend.


Roy Hibbert

As a generic rule, I usually dislike those that get undeserved high praise. Roy was touted as one of the best players in the country, and was even named Big East Preseason Player of the Year prior to his senior year. This is a dude who at 7'2" never averaged more than 13.4 points or 6.9 rebounds per game. 6.9 rebounds per game and you are 7'2"? His frontcourt teammate at Georgetown, Jeff Green, was miles better than him but got half the recognition.



Hibbert waddled around the court like a penguin. Nobody likes someone who looks so silly when they run. At 7'2" it's going to be awkward getting around a basketball court, but Hibbert did his best to make sure that happened. His shot was goofy, he couldn't jump, but yet this guy was supposed to be a star?

The guy showed absolutely no emotion. He looked half asleep most of the time out there on the court. Showing emotion plays a huge role in whether the public is going to like you, and by the public I mean me. Some people in the world actually enjoy a dude who just goes about his business, but not me. There is risk involved with having a personality though. It may be an awful one.

And finally Hibbert is to be hated because when he finally had a good enough team to make a run through the NCAA Tournament, he let a one man show defeat the Hoyas (and ruin my bracket). Roy put up six points and one rebound in 16 minutes of action while in foul trouble against Davidson.


Adam Morrison

Adam Morrison played at Gonzaga, which is a mid-major in the West Coast Conference. We could obviously talk again about how he was hyped well higher than his skill level, but the normal hatred for this college basketball player ran much deeper than undeserved stats and honors. It really comes down to two things. A moustache and crying.



Morrison was extremely gangly and had a girl's haircut during his years with the Zags. Although both characteristics turned me off, neither caused as much pain as his disgusting quazi-moustache. Here is the thing with facial hair. If you can grow a great beard, you do it at some point in college. Hey, if you want to have the luxury of being able to sport a sweet chin strap before you leave high school, then by golly you shave twice a day when you're a freshman (I actually don't recommend this doing this). A nice goatee or some solid muutton chops can do wonders for you as a young man, but under no circumstances do you let a peach fuzz-esque moustache grow in above your lip. When hair starts to grow on your face, but you can still see through it to your face, you know it's not a good look. Not to mention it is just a straight up stash. Unless you are in the 80s or an old man, moustaches just look weird on white dudes.

In the Zags' NCAA Tournament game against UCLA, the Bulldogs led the entire way only to see their lead slip away to the Bruins in the final seconds. Sure everyone and their brother has cried at one point or another, but it wasn't like Mr. Moustache against UCLA. This dude started balling hysterically before the game even ended! Yeah I've seen some dudes tear up at the post-game press conference. It is an emotional time, and when a player really cares about the team's success, his portrayal through tears can some times be heartfelt. Morrison's tears were not simple. The dude's face was going out of control. He couldn't contain himself. Let me remind you that the game wasn't even over yet. He could've taken it down for a game-winning shot. Did he? Of course not. He just finished filling up a soup bowl with massive tears. You can't play basketball like that. If America didn't detest this kid before that, it sure did him in.


JJ Redick

JJ was hated by so many during his years at Duke. Most people in the world hate Duke and therefore hate everyone from Duke. I, on the other hand, am an impartial observer. I don't like or dislike the men's basketball team at Duke University. I hated Greg Paulus and Sheldon Williams, I liked Corey Maggette and Jason Williams. And without a doubt, I loved JJ Redick.

JJ was a two-time ACC Player of the Year and received numerous National Player of the Year accolades. He knocked down more three-pointers in his college career than anyone in history. He tallied 457 over his four years, and he did it in style. Maybe I'm biased, because I was a three-point shooter, but I loved everything about his game. He ran off screens and J'ed in dudes' faces. And then of course he'd swag his way back down the other end of the court. Sure this was exactly the type of action that increased the public's hate for him, but as others hated on him more, my love for JJ grew larger.

It was this outlaw type of persona that made him such a polarizing personality. Either you hated him or you loved him, but I still don't see how anyone hated him. JJ was the nicest out and he proved it by how cool he was on the court.