Mike Krzyzewski

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski yells during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Florida State in Durham, N.C., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

(AP)

On Feb. 1, the Duke Blue Devils visit Syracuse for their first ACC matchup with the Orange in the Carrier Dome.

In advance of the Syracuse-Duke game at the Dome, I wanted to take a look at the main reasons why Duke has gathered one of the largest groups of haters in the sports world today.

We'll count down 10 things college basketball fans hate about Duke leading up to the big game Feb. 1.

Join the conversation below by dropping in the comments section or contacting me at the info below.

No.3. Mike Krzyzewski

You know the resume, but it's worth looking at it again.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is the all-time wins leader in Division I men's basketball with 974 wins and counting. He just joined Jim Boeheim on the list as the only two coaches to win 900 games at one school.

Krzyzewski has guided Duke to 11 Final Fours, winning four national championships. He has led Team USA Basketball to two gold medals at the Olympics as head coach, with Syracuse's Jim Boeheim by his side both times as his assistant. They'll attempt to win a third gold medal together in 2016.

Coach K preaches loyalty, hard work, and leadership. He has even written books on the subject. While there have been some minor bumps in the road, Duke has never been the subject of a major NCAA investigation under Coach K's watch.

Krzyzewski has set a high standard at Duke which continues to thrive in the "one and done" era of college basketball, where other schools are better suited for those that don't embrace the "student" of the "student-athlete" title.

Krzyzewski has maintained a high graduation rate at Duke

I could go on and on here. Krzyzewski has the most polished resume in the history of college basketball short of a guy named John Wooden.

All that, and Coach K still seems to draw the ire of a noticeable amount of college basketball fans.

The recipe as to why seems to have a lot of ingredients.

Let's ask some questions to try and narrow it down.

Is is jealously? Success breeds it. A lot of the fans that take shots at Coach K are the same ones that would dance in the streets if he decided to coach their team.

Is it the way he coaches? Krzyzewski is intense on the sidelines, but intensity seems to be a prerequisite for the job. A lot of college coaches are intense.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski speaks with Matt Jones during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Florida State in Durham, N.C., Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Is it the flopping, floor-slapping and style of play demonstrated by various Duke players over the years?

Sure, that can be annoying, but is it any worse than the brash play of Michigan's Fab Four, the UNLV teams of the early 90's, the revolving door of "one and done's" at Kentucky, or other examples I could cite of teams or players who play the "look at me" game.

Is it the way he works the officials? Coach K can get pretty intense with the refs, but that places him on a very long list of college coaches.

Is it the way he schedules? Some college basketball writers have criticized Duke for not playing enough "true" road games outside of conference play,

A 2011 article in The Atlantic gathered a few sportswriters to examine the dislike of Krzyzewski just as he passed Bobby Knight on the all-time wins list.



"I've always thought that the general public's dislike of Krzyzewski, and of the school and basketball program he works for, has to do with a very particular elitism that's been rubbed in our faces over the years"



If you call yourself a "Coach K hater", do you fall in that category described above?

Is is Coach K's penchant for cursing? Again, that puts him in a very long line of college coaches.

Is it something specific he did that is listed above?

A simple Google search is full of stories as to why many hate Krzyzewski, but here are a few incidents over the years involving Coach K that seem to come up often from his critics.

In 1990, Krzyzewski was upset that a student reporter graded his team B+ at midseason. Coach K later gathered ten staffers from the paper in the locker room, becoming upset with the staff. One of the reporters tape recorded the meeting, where Krzyzewski was quoted as saying:

"I just wonder where your mindset is that you don't appreciate the kids in this locker room. I'm not looking for puff pieces or anything like that, but you're whacked out and you don't appreciate what the *expletive* is going on and it pisses me off—I'm suggesting that if you want to appreciate what's going on—get your head out of your ass and start looking out for what's actually happening."

As brought up in No.4 of this series, there is the lost season of 1994-'95, in which assistant coach Pete Gaudet took over for Krzyzewski, who left for health reasons, and the season went in the tank. Some felt Gaudet was thrown under the bus for the situation after Duke finished 4-15 under Gaudet and he, not Krzyzewski, was credited for the losses.

Krzyzewski starring in a American Express commercial in 2005, seen by some as an unfair recruiting advantage for Duke. "I don't look at myself as a basketball coach." he said in the commercial, "I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball."

If you fall in the category of one who doesn't like Mike Krzyzewski, drop below in the comments section or send me an email and tell us why.

Brent Axe

baxe@syracuse.com

or post a comment below

Find me on Twitter @BrentAxeMedia

