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The five biggest surprises from the college hoops hate map

Data compiled by Reddit user KMHokies35
Data compiled by Reddit user KMHokies35

Kyle McCrum surveyed more than 6,000 Reddit college basketball users to find out who the most hated team in each state is.

It should come as no surprise which team received by far the most votes.

They hate Duke in Maryland and Virginia. They despise Duke in New Jersey, Louisiana and Alabama. They even don't like Duke halfway across the country in Idaho, Montana and the Dakotas.

That was certainly one of the expected outcomes from the survey McCrum conducted over the past few days, but there were a few more surprises. A look at the five things that stood out most to me:

1. For those expecting Duke or Kentucky to dominate the entire map, it didn't happen. Yes, Kentucky is the most hated team in most SEC states and Indiana. And yes, Duke took some ACC states and much of basketball-barren Big Sky country. But while those two are probably the most despised programs nationally, regional rivalries took up much of this map.

2. Eight schools are the most hated in their own states: Washington, Arizona State, BYU, Creighton, Louisville, North Carolina, Boston College and Mississippi State. Most of these are programs with one or more in-state rivals who boast similar or larger fan bases. The lone big surprise in my eyes is Boston College being the most hated team in Massachusetts since the Eagles are probably the state's flagship program. Maybe Boston College fans spread their hatred evenly among schools like UConn, Providence, Duke and Syracuse, whereas other fan bases in the state united in their dislike of the Eagles.

3. The most prestigious programs who don't appear on this map are probably UCLA, UConn and Michigan State. In Michigan State's case, it's because the Spartans are nobody's primary rival. Michigan hates Ohio State more and vice versa. UConn is similar since its former Big East rivals Syracuse, Georgetown, PItt and Villanova all have more heated rivals. As for UCLA, it's probably a product of two factors: Arizona fans have more dislike for Arizona State and the Bruins' natural rivals in California don't have large enough hoops fan bases to sway the state.

4. The biggest what-the-heck vote in the entire map: What does the state of Wyoming have against Ohio State? The Buckeyes were the choice ahead of reviled national programs like Duke or Kentucky or Wyoming's Mountain West rivals UNLV, San Diego State or New Mexico. The only explanation here is a small sample size. Perhaps only a handful of people from Wyoming voted or maybe savvy Michigan fans flooded the ballot box.

5. One more surprise: Colorado hates Arizona State the most, huh? I'm puzzled by that one, but maybe Buffs fans haven't forgotten this Jordan Bachynski takedown of Josh Scott.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!