Unhateable: Five Duke Blue Devils that Syracuse fans don’t hate

We’re trying to build stronger communities at this time, so we’re taking this idea presented by our sworn bowl rivals, Bring on the Cats (the Kansas State SB Nation blog), and applying it to Syracuse Orange rivals. It will require us to look at some of our rivals — both old and new — and find players/coaches from that school who we might not really like, but that we can honestly say we don’t hate.

First up will be the Duke Blue Devils, and before you ask Michael Gbinije doesn’t count because he spent more time at Syracuse, so he’s ours and you’ll have to just deal with the five we’ve chosen.

1) Greg Paulus - Yeah you probably hated him when he was on the court for Duke, but most of you rooted for him when he was under center for the Orange. If you didn’t then you’re the #disloyalidiot here. While the overall numbers didn’t blow anyone away, Paulus helped Doug Marrone’s first Syracuse team establish a new culture and helped the Orange to a competitive season.

Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

2) Jay Bilas- One of Jim Boeheim’s most ardent defenders, The Bilastrator will often remind people that Jim has over 1,000 career wins. Bilas also reminds us that he was recruited by Boeheim and that the Orange were one of his final choices.

3) Grant Hill- I’m pretty sure that even North Carolina Tar Heels fans don’t hate Grant. Seriously how can you hate this?

4) Alana Beard- Naismith Player of the Year while at Duke. The WNBA All-Star finished her career last season with a championship, two defensive player of the year awards and four all-star appearances.

Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images

5) Jason Kreis- the former MLS all-time goal scoring leader made 14 appearances with the USMNT in his career. We’re certainly not going to hate on that.

Honorable Mention:

David Cutcliffe- the head football coach at Duke has been credited with developing the careers of Peyton and Eli Manning but more importantly he seems like he’s enjoyable to be around unlike some ACC head coaches.

Jayson Tatum- Boston Celtics fans certainly agree with this choice.

Marty Clark- key reserve on two Duke Basketball championship teams and when you make the list you get to include whatever obscure athlete you want.

Myles Jones- I suppose lacrosse fans might disagree with this but sometimes you just have to step back and appreciate a skilled athlete.

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Now it’s your turn to tell us who we missed and which schools you’d like to see next in this series.