Louisville basketball: The 10 most hated opposing players
By Alan Thomas
Travis Diener – Marquette
2002-2005
The kid just had one of those faces that you wanted to dropkick into a lake. The undersized, fast-food-drive-thru-window-worker-looking Marquette guard shared a locker room with the likes of Dwayne Wade in his college career for crying out loud.
MU Golden Eagle fans will tell you he was underrated and played with a chip on his shoulder, but I think he was one of those people that just had good things happen to him, and no one could ever convince me that he deserved any of them to happen. His post-game interviews were so annoying as well.
“We always felt like we were going to win.” Travis Diener explained after a 78-73 win over Louisville that was in doubt more than a couple of times during the game.
That’s just who he was as a college player. He was arrogant and for the life of me, I just wanted to see all of his dreams crash and burn. But they never seemed to.
At the end of one particular game vs Louisville, Deiner sank two free-throws to seal the deal and the look on his face as he screamed in celebration made me want to claw my eyes out…his eyes first though.
The little-runt appearance was fool’s gold for us Cards fans as he averaged double figures against the Cardinals throughout his career.
Just when you thought you’d never have to worry about seeing him again, the dude comes out of retirement and hits the dagger to seal a trip to the Championship game of “The Tournament.” Go away, Diener.