The Decade that was: The hated players

Continuing in our series of looking back at the decade that was, we are going to discuss the most hated players of the past 10 years. No doubt this list would look different for each person depending who you are a fan of, who played well against your favorite team and where you live in the country. However, the following players were hated all across the county for several seasons.

Disclaimer: You will see a lot of white people on this list. Is it by design? Not really but the fact of the matter is that the game of basketball today is not populated by white people. When a successful one comes through, people will find a reason to knock them. Just comes with the territory and success I guess.

JJ Redick/Greg Paulus/Jon Scheyer, Duke

America loves to hate Duke. It's part of the reason why the 2010 final was so highly rated. If you are not a fan of Duke, you were rooting for Butler. I doubt there were more than a small percentage of viewers who were neutral in this game. These three players epitomize the Duke player that has came through Durham in the past 10 years and were the center of opposing fans vile throughout the ACC season. We went through JJ's poetry,Paulus' flopping and the Scheyer face and each time that we thought we were in the clear, a new player arrived who was easy to hate. Pick the player who you hated the most out of these three but they were all equally hated across America.

Eric Devendorf, Syracuse

You should notice two themes across the players on this list: They were great players for their team and they often acted in a negative way on the court (or off it). Devendorf fits both of these qualities to a T as he hit big shot after big shot for Syracuse and often followed that up by puffing out his chest and posing for the crowd. He was already hated prior to the incident where he was accused of striking a female early in the morning and this only added to the laundry list of reasons Big East fans and national fans had to hate him. I am sure that many of his enemies had a great laugh when he jumped on the scorers table in the Big East tournament after making the supposed winning shot before it was waved off. If you asked 5 people why they did not like Devendorf, you may have gotten 5 different answers from the fact that he plays for Syracuse, is white, tattooed, hits the big shot or allegedly hit a female. Even though you may hate him, you have to respect his game play and how well he fit into Boeheim's system.

Jason Kapono, UCLA

The West Coast needs to represent and no school has been more successful than UCLA. The most hated player to play there in the last decade has to be Jason Kapono. A google search for Jason Kapono sucks brings up a whole message board relating to why he sucks so much. I remember watching each of his games at UCLA and being drawn back to one perplexing thought, "How does he play with so much hair gel? Does it not get in his eyes?" His 16.5 career PPG show that he was an easy target for PAC 10 fans, as getting in his head could be the key to stopping UCLA.

Joakim Noah, Florida

Noah definitely fits into the second trait of hated players which was shown in his on court antics and demeanor. He would yell after big baskets, dance poorly after winning titles and just have a general attitude that draws the ire of the opposing fans. Noah was the kind of player that did not have the skill level of some of the other players on the court, but he scrapped, hustled and played physical (opposing fans read 'dirty') and that is why fans did not like him. Big 10 fans immediately think of Chris Kramer as a similar player.

Greivis Vazquez, Maryland

The ultimate combo of talent and attitude to become the most hated player in the ACC not wearing a Duke uniform in a long time. I can guarantee if he did don the blue and white of the Blue Devils, the national hatred level of Vazquez would have rose to epic proportions. The changing hairstyles, the shimmy shake after a big 3 and of course the anticipation of him putting a mediocre Maryland team on his back and leading them to victory were the main reasons fans hated him. Vazquez loved to be hated and often played to the fans, quieting them after a big shot and performing his patented shimmy shake even more on the road, drawing the ire of fans. He was the reason that NC State fans drew up a sign saying 'Deport Vazquez'. Racist? Of course. But this is the type of hatred Vazquez drew in his 4 years at Maryland.

Others considered:
Luke Walton, Arizona
Chris Kramer, Purdue
Luke Harnagody, Notre Dame
Hasheen Thabeet, UConn