His college career for the Duke Blue Devils is widely regarded as one of the best in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) history.

Christian Laettner was born and raised in Angola, New York, near Buffalo and Niagara Falls, to a blue-collar Roman Catholic family.

Although he received a financial aid package that paid a substantial part of his tuition, his family had to sacrifice to send him there and he also did janitorial work at the school to defray some of the cost.

[b] During his career he scored over 2,000 points, breaking the school record set by teammate Ron Torgalski,[5] and the team won two state titles and reached another semifinal.

[3] He was the second player from Western New York to reach 2,000 points, falling short of Curtis Aiken's total of 2,162 set five years earlier.

[10] He scored 21.5 points per game his senior season, garnering every major national player of the year award; Duke retired his No.

In the 1992 East Regional Final, a game many critics rate among the greatest in college basketball history, Laettner hit a game-winning, buzzer-beating turn-around jumper that has since become known as simply The Shot.

[16] Laettner was widely reviled by opposing fans throughout his career, to the extent that more than 20 years after graduating from Duke, he was voted the most hated college basketball player in history in an ESPN online poll.

[17] This led to ESPN's creation of the 30 for 30 documentary I Hate Christian Laettner that explored five factors that the filmmakers believe explain this widespread and persistent hatred: race, privilege, bullying, greatness, and physical appearance.

[4] He was particularly resented for stepping on the chest of Kentucky player Aminu Timberlake during the 1992 regional final, which the referees deemed a technical foul; Laettner expressed regret for his misconduct but believed that ejection would have been too harsh a consequence.

[19] As the national player of the year, Laettner was the only collegian selected for the prestigious "Dream Team" that won the 1992 Olympic gold medal in a dominant fashion.

[4] They have pursued several business ventures together, including real-estate development in Durham,[23] a Major League Soccer team,[24] and an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the Memphis Grizzlies.