Kentucky pastor uses Duke cutouts to push congregants to sit in front at church (PHOTOS)

All men are created equal — or so it goes somewhere in the bible or something — but in Kentucky, where college basketball is a religion, Dukies are second tier. Or, at least, back pew.

One Kentucky pastor found the state's hatred of Duke basketball so strong, he's using it to force congregants to sit further to the front in his church during sermons.

Cameron Mills, a former Kentucky basketball player, tweeted out these photos of the pews at Second Baptist Church in Hopkinsville, Ky., which were filled with cardboard cutouts of Duke legends in the back and life-size images of local icons, Louisville coach Rick Pitino and Kentucky coach John Calipari, in the front.

The brilliance of a @KentuckyBaptist pastor to keep people from sitting in the back. pic.twitter.com/i6KPHAIigg
— CAMERON MILLS (@CameronMillz) March 11, 2015

And for those in the back, you rise and pray with the likes of Coach K and a Christian — as in Christian Laettner.

He also put some rather unpleasant folks in the back pews to push people to the front for my sermon tonight. pic.twitter.com/Exlvg9gedR
— CAMERON MILLS (@CameronMillz) March 11, 2015

Now what about that Kentucky-Louisville, heaven and hell divide Pastor?

Tony Romo ran across court to sit with Cameron Crazies (PHOTOS)

The Dallas Cowboys brought their own version of the Core Four to Cameron Indoor Arena Wednesday night as Jason Garrett, Tony Romo, Jason Witten and DeMarco Murray all sat together to watch the Duke Blue Devils take on Wake Forest.

Crazies want the Dallas Cowboys to sit with them. @dallascowboys pic.twitter.com/FVpo6xt0Tf
— Blue Devil Nation (@BlueDevilNation) March 5, 2015

But at some point, Romo broke away and ran across the court to sit in the student section with the Cameron Crazies.

Tony Romo running over during the timeout to come sit with the Cameron Crazies pic.twitter.com/74fjFvC7yj
— David Glenn Show (@DavidGlennShow) March 5, 2015

Romo with the Crazies pic.twitter.com/mzOnSAWu3h
— Blue Devil Nation (@BlueDevilNation) March 5, 2015

Considering that Romo went to Eastern Illinois and plays in Dallas, it's kind of odd that the kids welcomed him so warmly into their rowdy section.

Well, they are Crazies.

Jerian Grant single-handedly stops Notre Dame's students from storming court after beating Duke (VIDEO)

After No. 8 Notre Dame knocked off No. 4 Duke Wednesday night, the Fighting Irish fan base was ready to explode onto the court after beating the despised Blue Devils.

That was until they ran into Irish star Jerian Grant:

Grant, who was outstanding in the come-from-behind victory, played the role of traffic cop at mid-court by putting his hands up in the air. And, surprisingly, as the swell of fans came to the edge of the court, they saw Grant, and actually turned around.

What can't this guy do?

ND star Jerian Grant singlehandedly stopped fans from storming the court after beating Duke: http://t.co/CEgcZLFgdn pic.twitter.com/YQHqMtBWjy
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 29, 2015

Duke's Okafor and Louisville's Harrell hug it out after scuffle (VIDEO)

On Saturday, there was a special episode of sportsmanship that occurred during the Louisville-Duke game at the KFC Yum! Center.

During the battle of the Top 10 teams, things got a little pushy between Cardinals junior Montrezl Harrell and Blue Devils freshman Jahlil Okafor during a tussle for the ball under the rim.

But cooler heads prevailed and the two opponents hugged it out instead of throwing down.

Aww. Hugs, not thugs.

Duke commit Grayson Allen soars over 6'11' Jahil Okafor to win McDonald's dunk contest (VIDEO)

To all you Dukies wallowing in misery after the Blue Devils' early exit from Big Dance, look up. Way up.

Duke commit Grayson Allen looked pretty good at the McDonald's All-American Game practices Monday and showed he has some major hops by winning the dunk contest.

The 6-foot-4 two-guard from Jacksonville, Florida — wearing a Jay Williams Duke jersey —threw down a few dunks over all three of the future Duke commits whom are also McDonald’s All-Americans.

The first dunk came over Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones, but the winning dunk came over 6-foot-11 center Jahlil Okafor.

Yup. Coach K has seriously reloaded for next season.

While wearing a @RealJayWilliams & dunking over @bigjah22, @graysonjallen becomes your Dunk Champion! #McDAAG https://t.co/WVM3AyGJCi
— All American Games (@McDAAG) April 1, 2014

Bruce Springsteen rocks Duke-UCLA game at Madison Square Garden (PHOTO)

Those weren't boos you heard at Madison Square Garden Thursday night during the Duke-UCLA game, they were calls for Bruuuuce — as in Bruce Springsteen.

The Boss himself was spotted sitting courtside rooting for the Blue Devils with his Duke undergrad daughter Jessica while the whole place was rocking.

The Yankees cap was a nice touch.

Bruce Springsteen, college basketball fan. pic.twitter.com/C3n2GIttCR
— Cork Gaines (@CorkGaines) December 20, 2013

It sure wasn't the first time the pride of New Jersey heard those calls in this venue, but even Springsteen had to be thrilled watching another Big Man, Jabari Parker lay down this monster jam.

Duke men's basketball team poses with assault rifles (PHOTOS)

Serious looking photos of members of the Duke men's basketball team holding automatic assault rifles were posted on some of the Blue Devils' personal Facebook pages Saturday and had some people wondering what the shots depicted or if they were in bad taste.

Deadspin later explained that the Dukies and their M4 Carbines were part of the team's four-day fall break. They had visited West Point —coach Mike Krzyzewski's alma mater — and taken some target practice with some of the cadets before heading to New York City where they planned on seeing a Broadway play, the National 9/11 Memorial and a show at the Apollo Theater. The team even had dinner with some former Duke greats including Grant Hill.

After all that infantry training, Coach K's sharpshooters might want to start their season by seeing both Blue Man Group and A Time To Kill.

Buffalo hires Bobby Hurley as men's basketball coach

It looks like New Jersey's own, Bobby Hurley, is headed to upstate New York to take over the men's basketball program at Buffalo.  A press conference late Tuesday announced Hurley's first head coaching job would be at the university, after three seasons as an assistant at Wagner, then Rhode Island for his brother Dan, according to ESPN.

Hurley will replace Reggie Witherspoon, who was 198-228 during 14 years at the school.  The Bulls finished 14-20 overall, 7-9 in the Mid-American Conference.

This might be a good hire for the middle-of-the-pack Bulls.  Hurley, the son of legendary St. Anthony's  (Jersey City) High School coach Bob, Sr., brings a solid background as a player at Duke — something his two national titles will attest to.  Even though his glory days were two decades ago, Hurley's Coach K pedigree and the former All-American's name recognition should be enough to lure top prospects to the Buffalo campus.

The Bulls have had a decent amount of success recently, but has been in hovering in the middle of the MAC. A lot of the hype around the program is attributed to the talents of Michael Watt and Javon McCrea. If Hurley can convince McCrea to stick around for his senior season — he averaged 18 points and 7.9 rebounds this season — he might have the roster (only two seniors on this year’s roster) to immediately contend in the MAC.

That's something the old Jersey City gym rat will be able to build on.

Coach K wants fans to make room before storming court

The Duke Blue Devils suffered an upset 73-68 road loss to an unranked Virginia team Thursday and — after the No. 3-ranked team bit the dust on the Charlottesville court— fans swarmed the hardwood and made it difficult for Coach Mike Krzyzewski's  players to hit the locker room.

After the pandemonium on the ACC rival's court subsided and the Blue Devils team was safely tucked away, Coach K shared his safety concerns for his players after dodging rampaging Cavalier fans on the court.

"Whatever you're doing, you need to get the team off first," Krzyzewski said at his presser. "Look, celebrate, have fun, obviously you won, that's cool. Just get our team off the court and our coaching staff before students come on.

"Look do you know how close you are to, just put yourself in the position of one of our players or coaches. I'm not saying any fan did this, but the potential is there all the time for a fan to just go up to you and say, 'Coach you're a ... ' or push you or hit you. And what do you do? What if you did something? That would be the story. We deserve that type of protection."

This isn't the first time Krzyzewski has been critical of student running amok on the court after beating  Duke. Miami's 90-63 rout of the top-ranked Blue Devils on Jan. 23 led to mad rush off the court and a Maryland loss in College Park was another bum-and-grind to the visitor's locker room.

Krzyzewski's comment were not meant to overshadow the effort of the Virginia team and the exuberance of the fans.

"I don't want to demean the game with this," he said. "They played great. Harris was unbelievable. That's the story of the game."

And it's not like Coach K doesn't want the same sort of crowd control in his own backyard.  Following Duke's victory over rival North Carolina on Feb. 13, the revered coach held back the tide of Cameron Crazies with a simple wave of his arms — and they obeyed.

Nobody enjoys seeing Duke players walk off the court with bowed heads better than an ACC rival and even Krzyzewski understands opposong fans' unabashed joy when their team lays out one of his Blue Devils teams.

"Again, congratulations to them, and they should have fun and burn benches and do all that stuff," he quipped at the end of his press conference. "I'm all for that."

Just let them leave.

Coach K stops students from rushing court after beating UNC

Duke beat North Carolina last night and, as the Cameron Crazies were ready to storm the court after another round of their interstate rivalry ticked down to 0.0, one man stopped them in their tracks.

In stepped the Blue Devils' head coach Mike Krzyzewski who, with the waving of his arms, stopped the frothing fans from flooding the floor.

After all, No. 2 Duke had just defeated a watered-down unranked Tar Heels team by five points.  Not exactly a victory for the trophy case — even on Tobacco Road.

What's amazing is that when Coach K signalled for the students to retreat back into the stands, they did just that.

Not a single Crazy challenged their fearless leader.  Now that's power.

Lance Thomas lawsuit raises questions with Duke basketball

Former Duke forward Lance Thomas is being sued for the remaining balance of a nearly $100,000 jewelry bill from 2009 — bringing into the mix potential NCAA violations for the Blue Devils basketball program.

The pristine image of Duke basketball program has now come into question and its 2010 national title could be be in jeopardy, as well.

Thomas — a former New Jersey basketball standout at powerhouse St. Benedict's Prep — is being sued for the remaining balance of a $97,800 jewelery tab from a well-known New York company in Dec. 2009, according to reports.  The case was filed in Dallas in January, but wasn't made public.

The company, Rafaello and Co., is popular for its exquisite bling and is known to cater to professional athletes and celebrities.  The Manhattan Diamond District company promotes itself as a "deluxe" jeweler.

Thomas reportedly made a $30,000 down payment for a black diamond necklace, a pair of diamond studs, a diamond-encrusted watch, a diamond cross, and a black diamond pendant in the shape of jesus' head.  According to the purchase order, the ballplayer agreed to pay back at least 25 percent of the price and the rest in 15 days.

The problem for Duke is whether the purchase violates NCAA rules — an infraction that could endanger the Blue Devils 2010 title.  The Associated Press reported that there was an agreement between Thomas and the jeweler giving him credit to pay back the balance but didn't specify where the money would come from.

NCAA spokesperson Stacey Osburn said they are speaking with Duke about the situation.

NCAA rules prohibit college athletes accepting benefits that are not available to all students.  Osburn said a violation basically comes down to whether "the general student body, or someone similarly situated, would be able to get the same benefit or treatment."

The company's attorney, Mike Bowers,  said the company does not know how Thomas made the initial payment and claims there is no evidence showing anyone other than Thomas was involved in the transaction.

Thomas appeared in 39 games for Duke during its 2009-2010 championship season — including the Blue Devils' 61-59 victory over Butler for the national title.

The undrafted Thomas played with the New Orleans Hornets last season and made $305,551.