Bilas: Debate issues, not school affiliation

Jay Bilas will do color commentary for ESPN tonight on a Duke game for the second time in five days when the No. 3-ranked Blue Devils visit Georgia Tech at 7 p.m.

Bilas, a former Duke player, lives in Charlotte and has coached for the Blue Devils under Mike Krzyzewski. He has occasionally been the target of ire on Duke-oriented Internet message boards for criticizing the Blue Devils (or praising rival North Carolina) on the air.

He said he is aware that he has been a target and doesn’t mind it as long as his critics have a point.

“What I want to hear is if I say something, and somebody says they disagree with it and here’s why, make an argument as to why,” Bilas said.

Bilas doesn’t have much patience for fans who discount whatever he says just because he went to Duke.

“Tell me what I said you disagree with and why, and then we’ll discuss that,” he said. “But if we’re just going to have, ‘You went to school here therefore you’re disqualified from having an opinion on this,’ you can’t to get anywhere with that argument.”