Mixed feelings for Oregon players heading into Sweet 16 tilt with Duke

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Whenever Duke travels on the road, there’s rarely any love lost between the home fans and the visiting players.

Something about the blue and white—or sometimes black—jerseys seems to require extra vitriol from anyone not directly connected to the Blue Devils.

People grow up hating Duke for reasons they don’t fully understand themselves—and the Ducks is no exception.

“I just always hated Duke, because my older brother liked Duke and I was obviously against whatever he liked. If he liked red, I liked blue,” Oregon forward Jordan Bell said. “It was just one of those things—I hated everything that he liked. No other reason. I have no disrespect toward their program or anything like that, I just hated them because he liked them.”

Bell noted that although his dislike for the Blue Devils was fairly innocuous, he still found himself rooting against Duke in any game he watched. He remembers watching a lot of Kyle Singler—his brother’s favorite player—and hoping his shots wouldn’t fall.

But the passion of those who root for the Blue Devils is just as strong as that of those who oppose them—and Bell still thinks his brother will be pulling for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s squad, even with a blood relative on the other side.

“Honestly, I think my brother is still going to root for Duke,” Bell said. “He was a big Duke fan growing up, so he might be rooting for me but still have some Duke gear on.”

Several other Ducks shared memories of Duke basketball growing up, even though many of them self-identified as football players and fans. Freshman Tyler Dorsey recalled Kyrie Irving’s dramatic return from a season-long foot injury against Hampton in the 2011 NCAA tournament as his favorite Blue Devil memory.