BLACKSBURG -- Wait a minute, where was all the taunting?

Where were the boos and jeers that so often pour from the stands when Duke basketball star J.J. Redick enters opposing arenas?

Compared to the treatment he gets at most places, Redick's visit to Virginia Tech's Cassell Coliseum on Thursday was fairly tame.

Not only did Redick and the Blue Devils cruise to an 80-67 win, but the Roanoke County native and Cave Spring High School graduate was the target of only mild verbal abuse in his final college homecoming.

In pregame introductions, he was booed twice as loudly as his teammates -- worse even than Sean Dockery, whose remarkable game-winning shot kept the Hokies from an upset win at Duke eight weeks ago.

The fans also mustered a brief "J.J. sucks!" chant in the second half after he was the beneficiary of a foul call they deemed dubious, but they largely left him alone.

Certainly it was nothing like the treatment the senior guard has received elsewhere in recent years, starting with the University of Maryland.

In 2004, Maryland fans discovered and distributed his cellphone number, leaving dozens of messages for him.

When Duke played at Maryland that year, ESPN microphones picked up fans chanting "[Expletive] you, J.J.!" Many fans wore T-shirts bearing a similar sentiment.

Signs of downright love for Redick and the Blue Devils were scattered throughout Cassell Coliseum, which was otherwise packed to the rafters with maroon and orange.

Little surprise, really, for a fan base that frequently rooted for Virginia Tech in football and Duke in basketball before the teams became Atlantic Coast Conference rivals in 2004.

"A House Divided," proclaimed the sign held by Brooke Daniels, a 12-year-old Redick fan from Chantilly.

Kasey Bond, 12, had no problem declaring her allegiance with a sign that read: "Bedford loves J.J."

More typical, though, was the banner that rose in the student section when Redick was introduced before the game:

"Cave Spring Hates J.J."

Why the hate? For starters, Redick is really, really good -- one of the best players in college basketball.

"He's kind of cocky because he knows he's good," acknowledged Nick McBride, a Duke fan who made the trip from Durham, N.C.

Moreover, Redick is the public face of a Duke program that won three national championships before his arrival and generally has been the envy of the sport the past 15 years.

The Blue Devils are frequently credited with high academic and moral standards -- praise that rankles critics such as www.truthaboutduke.com, a Web site that dedicates itself to "debunking" Duke's squeaky-clean image.

The diehards in the front row of the Virginia Tech student section had to give Redick some credit. To a point.

"He's a very good player," admitted Ian Johnston, a Tech junior. "But ..."

"He's a complainer," interjected fellow junior Josh Logan. "He's a whiner."

ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, an unabashed fan of Redick's skills, compared it to playing for the New York Yankees or the Notre Dame football team.

"That just goes with the territory whenever you're a superstar and play for a great team," said Vitale, part of ESPN's broadcast team Thursday night. "That's a compliment. That means you've made it."

Redick was a senior at Cave Spring High School when he first encountered heckling from local University of North Carolina fans who were upset that he was going to play for Duke.

He has said that he looks forward to the negative attention, that it helps him focus more intently on the task at hand.

Thursday there was not much of that. Even his father Ken Redick -- involved in an infamous argument with Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver after the Hokies beat Duke here last year -- appeared to escape unscathed.

As halftime approached, Duke's lead grew to 15 points and the crowd grew quiet. Little to cheer for at the moment.

In the corner of Section 15, Kasey Bond waved a blue-and-white pompom. Redick was OK in her eyes.

"I don't really see how anybody couldn't like him," she said. "He's just awesome."