Duke, Vermont coaches discuss underdog-favored crowd at March Madness: 'The roof would've came off this place'

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The Duke men's basketball program is one of the most popular in the NCAA, but the Barclays Center crowd was largely in favor of the underdog on Friday night.

The 13th-seeded Vermont Catamounts tried their damndest to get their first non-First Four March Madness victory, and a healthy majority of the crowd wanted it to happen badly.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer knows all about home-court advantage, as Cameron Indoor is one of the best there is. But, he knows all about the road jeers as well.

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General view of the arena during a practice day ahead of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 21, 2024 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.  (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

And although Friday's contest was played at a neutral site, as is the whole tournament, he says the game against Vermont might as well have been an away game in the record books.

"You're in the first game [of the session], you can feel it's not full… so what happens all of a sudden halfway through the game, you feel it even more," Scheyer said of the Brooklyn crowd. "So when the team is making a run - I don't think other teams are rooting for us, that's the feeling that I get sometimes… I thought it was an electric environment."

Scheyer wasn't wrong - it was very much an anti-Duke crowd - even those dressed in Wisconsin red and James Madison purple for the nightcap at Barclays Center were rooting for Vermont.

Head coach Jon Scheyer of the Duke Blue Devils reacts during the second half against the Vermont Catamounts in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 22,