ESPN Analyst Dick Vitale Calls North Carolina Coach K Chants ’Classless’

It was Krzyzewski's final game in Chapel Hill.

ESPN analyst Dick Vitale voiced his displeasure with the reception Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski received during the Blue Devils' 87–67 win over North Carolina on Saturday night.

In what was his final game in Chapel Hill, Tar Heels fans booed Krzyzewski throughout, with the student section even voicing a profanity-laced chant when he first appeared. Krzyzewski also was not honored by the UNC program like he had been at other schools such as Notre Dame, Florida State and Louisville. 

“The profanity at the @UNC_Basketball vs @DukeMBB game was a disgrace / the F_____ Coach K chants were classless," Vitale wrote on Twitter Monday. "No place for that ; I know UNC is better than that." 

The profanity at the @UNC_Basketball vs @DukeMBB game was a disgrace / the F_____ Coach K chants were classless . No place for that ; I know UNC is better than that / it was pathetic & as @JFeinsteinBooks said DEAN SMITH would have never tolerated it .

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) February 7, 2022

Krzyzewski said after the win that, “I got what I expected,” adding, per the Charlotte Observer, “I’m always ready for it.” With the win, he now holds a 50–46 record over the Tar Heels and moved to 16–20 since the Dean E. Smith Center opened in 1986.

“We love being the villain,” forward Wendell Moore Jr. said Saturday. “We love playing on the road, we love when the whole stadium’s against us because we know we can silence the crowd.”

Vitale, who served as a broadcaster for countless UNC-Duke classics, is currently taking an extended leave from telecasts. After previously revealing that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma that required chemotherapy treatments, Vitale said at the end of December he was informed he also pre-cancerous Dysplasia on his vocal cords, which are requiring rest.