As Duke wrapped up its road schedule with a 70-65 win over Florida State Sunday, one thing remained completely clear: J.J. Redick is the most hated man in college basketball. While national hatred for Redick may have been on the rise in late January when Maryland fans chanted in unison, "F You, J.J.," the cheers could almost be expected from the College Park crowd. After all, this was the place where students wore shirts that read "F Duke" on the front and "And Osama bin Laden" on the back during Duke's first football matchup with the Terrapins after the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11. Maryland fans obviously have a deep-rooted hatred for the Blue Devils, and Redick is not the only one who bears the brunt of these abhorrent feelings.
The performance of the Florida State fans Sunday actually added more to Redick's "most hated player status" than their Maryland counterparts' shameful tactics. While Seminole fans are far from Duke supporters, there simply isn't any primordial hatred between the two schools that would open up the conditions for genuine malevolent cheering. But random shouts of "F*** you, J.J." pervaded the Leon County Civic Center, as only casually negative cheering was directed at the rest of the Blue Devils.
So why then is the Ronoake, Va., native such a hated figure? My thesis revolves around Sigmund Freud's argument of the narcissism of minor difference. The father of psychology observed in his 1917 essay "The Taboo of Virginity" that "it is precisely the minor differences between people who are otherwise alike that form the basis of strangeness and hostility between them." In short, J.J. Redick is hated more than other players because he shares more characteristics with fans than similarly talented players.
At 6-foot-4 with a medium build and average quickness, not much separates Redick from the fans in the crowd. If Redick was placed within a crowd of screaming fans, he would blend in more than he would stand out. This could hardly be said of Blue Devil teammates Shavlik Randolph and Shelden Williams.
"I'm just a normal looking kid," Redick said. "I'm not 6-10. I'm not the quickest guy in the world. I'm not an out of this world jumper. That could definitely be a reason why I'm hated so much."
Another reason for the hatred is that much of Redick's talent revolves around making field goals that many would construe as "lucky shots." When Grant Hill and Jay Williams were dominating college basketball, few could deny their abilities, as they consistently made SportsCenter-worthy moves every game. Redick, on the other hand, takes shots three to five feet outside the range of most sharp shooters and splashes the ball through the net. While any objective analysis would show that Redick nails three-pointer after three-pointer because of his textbook form and because of the hundreds of shots he takes every day in the off-season, a biased approach to his shooting could easily believe that Redick is simply the luckiest shooter on Earth. After all, how could it be possible for a human to make shots five feet outside the NBA three-point line consistently, especially when opposing defenses know where the shooting-guard will take his shots? Such is the rationalization of bitter fans.
A third cause for the hatred of Redick is that he desires it and eggs it on. And once the taunting of Redick begins, he seems to use the jabbing as fuel to further inspire his play, encouraging more and more negative cheers.
"Maybe because I talk back," said the sometimes (or always, according to other ACC schools) arrogant Redick. "I'm not going to be a quiet guy. If I came out and just ignored them, they'd probably give up eventually. That's just not in my nature."
Whether the cheering will continue to drive Redick to improve his game, or it wears on his psyche, opposing fans will have plenty of chances to try to stop Redick once again. And that's fine with him.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.