Dave Portnoy has blasted the Duke Blue Devils and labeled their fans ‘babies’ after the team’s astonishing collapse against Houston on Saturday night.
Houston trailed by as much as 14 points in the second half of their Final Four showdown with Duke before quickly fighting back in the final two minutes to stun Cooper Flagg and his freshmen teammates.
It proved a sensational comeback for the Cougars, who advance to Monday night’s title game against the Florida Gators.
Yet for the Blue Devils, what felt like strong hopes of going all the way and becoming national champions have come to a disastrous end.
Duke fans were left in disbelief on Saturday night, with a number of them hitting out at the referees in the game for a controversial foul called on Flagg in the closing stages.
And amid their complaints, Portnoy has ripped into both the team and its supporters for blowing the game and blaming it on the officials.
Dave Portnoy has blasted Duke and labeled their fans ‘babies’ after their collapse vs Houston
The Blue Devils suffered a disastrous collapse in their Final Four showdown with the Cougars
‘Duke fans complaining about this foul call are babies,’ the Barstool Sports founder wrote alongside a clip of the foul call in question on X. ‘You blew it. You couldn’t inbound the ball. You dribbled it off your leg.
‘[Tyrese] Proctor played hero ball and missed free throw. A million chances to seal it and you’re gonna blame the ref? Loser talk from losers.’
After their March Madness heartbreak, one Duke star is facing a much more serious problem amid potential deportation from the United States.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a tweet on Saturday afternoon that his department would be ‘taking actions to revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and to restrict any further issuance to prevent entry into the United States, effective immediately.’
Rubio stated the reason for this is due to ‘the failure of South Sudan’s transitional government to accept the return of its repatriated citizens in a timely manner.’
This could affect Duke University’s men’s basketball team because their starting freshman center, Khaman Maluach, is from South Sudan.
Duke spokespeople told Brendan Marks of The Athletic that they had ‘no comment on the situation at this time’.
According to reports on Saturday night, Maluach didn’t speak to reporters after his team lost to Houston and Duke athletics director Nina King is now ‘looking into’ what happens next.
