Hurley Explodes Against Arizona

Duke fans know full well that Bobby Hurley is a coiled spring, a pit bull competitor who never quits or gives in.

Arizona State fans have some inkling by now but what happened in Hurley's first game against arch rival Arizona will go down in the rivalry as a landmark between the schools.

Eastern fans, generally speaking, don't appreciate the intensity of this rivalry, at least partly because ASU has sucked for a long time even as Arizona grew into the best program west of the Mississippi and one that could go toe to toe with anyone.

Despite losing twice in a row in Tempe, Arizona has grown used to ruling this rivalry. And you have to think, given his competitive nature, that isn't sitting well with Hurley, who takes a back seat to no one.

So in his first rivalry game, Hurley got one technical and then drew another 14 seconds later for making some, uh, highly animated comments to the officials following a series of calls against the Sun Devils which gave Arizona 14 free throw attempts in the final 1:18 of the game.

We're sure Hurley's emotions were authentic. We don't doubt for a minute that he was genuinely enraged and that he expressed himself passionately. He is, after all, the son of Bob Hurley, who is no shrinking violet.

But what it inevitably reminded us of was Coach K's explosion after losing to UNC in 1984 and complaining about "the double standard that exists in this league."

To those who don't know, Smith tried to sound the horn so that a Carolina player could enter the game and missed the horn, and racked up about 20 points for UNC. Coach K was absolutely correct to say that no one else could have gotten away with that (then or now).

It was a program defining moment. At that point, UNC was the dominant ACC program and probably nationally as well. But Krzyzewski made it clear that he was never going to take a backseat, not to UNC, Maryland State or anyone.

Could Hurley have controlled his emotions better? Yes. It's a lesson he learned at Duke as a player and he'll learn it as a coach. Emotions are never far from the surface with Hurley and they can pose a danger to him. He's not the first coach to face up to that.

But that's secondary. Understand this, Arizona: you will surely beat Arizona State again, but as long as Hurley is there, you'll have to earn it. You will never push this guy around and he'll never give up.

Might as well embrace it: the most intense Western rivalry just went up a notch, and it's going to stay there.

• Bobby Hurley acknowledges need for control after ejection
• WATCH: Bobby Hurley explodes for 2016's best ejection of the year
• Bobby Hurley's anger boils over after ejection against Arizona
• Hansen: Hurley trying to put some fight into Devils