Duke Basketball Great on NCAA: 'Everything Is Going Wrong'

Duke basketball gem and all-time NCAA Tournament scorer Christian Laettner suggested he wouldn't touch NIL money if he played today.

Duke basketball legend Christian Laettner / Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

In his four years as a Duke basketball player from 1988-92, the majority of the college basketball world hated Christian Laettner. Fast forward to Thursday afternoon, and it seems that Laettner may now be the one doing the hating.

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Appearing on the Dan Patrick Show, the former Blue Devil All-American shared his thoughts on the current state of college basketball — including NIL, the transfer portal, and even the idea to expand the NCAA Tournament.

Never one to shy away from expressing his opinions, Laettner expressed his distaste for the current landscape of college basketball and the craziness that’s come with NIL and the transfer portal.

“Everything is going wrong," the 54-year-old told Patrick during the interview. "NIL, take it away. Transfer portal, take it away… I know everything is about money, and money makes the world go round. But everything they’re doing is wrong."

"Everything they're doing is bad. NIL is bad, take it away. The transfer portal bad, take it away..."

-Former Duke star @Laettnerbball is not in favor of the new NCAA rules pic.twitter.com/wCIL1j6Bzl

— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) March 28, 2024

Patrick later asked if he would’ve asked for NIL money in his years at Duke, to which Laettner quickly responded with an emphatic no: “Even though everyone says, ‘Boy, Christian, you would’ve made a lot of money in NIL when you were there,’ that’s what the NBA is for.”

The pair additionally discussed the recent conversations about potentially expanding the 68-team field for the NCAA Tournament, another idea that Laettner is emphatically against.

Laettner is familiar with the current format of the Tournament, playing all four of his seasons with the 64-team format that lacked the inclusion of the First Four play-in games.

His Duke basketball teams finished 21-2 in the NCAA Tournament, and Laettner became the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 407 points over a record 23 games played in four March Madness appearances. 

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