Although Terp fans received praise for their behavior Saturday, many students continued to take questionable jabs at Duke players, including J.J. Redick.

Duke University guard J.J. Redick walked onto the court in the pregame shootaround to warmup with his teammates.

Hours earlier, he had spoken about Maryland fans’ inappropriate behavior during a candid interview on ESPN’s College GameDay.

A year earlier, he had been showered in choruses of “F— you, J.J.,” for which the Maryland student section has been widely criticized.

This moment would determine whether the Student Sportsmanship Committee had succeeded, whether anyone had listened to coach Gary Williams’ impassioned pleas for cooperation.

“BOOOOOOOO!” yelled the students.

With a few exceptions, that jeer was as bad as it got Saturday night.

The university was in the media spotlight as viewers across the country watched to see if Terrapins fans had improved their behavior after a year of intense advocacy by the university administration and Athletics Department that fans be more tasteful in their cheers.

After last year’s incident, the university made sportsmanship a priority. The Student Sportsmanship Committee was formed, “Rock and Roll, Part II” was banned and basketball coach Gary Williams became the issue’s spokesman.

The efforts seemed to pay off. Even Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski agreed.

“The fans were behind their team,” he said. “There was a lot of energy in the building and I would comment positively on that. It helped their team and they have really good fans who do that, and that was a plus for them tonight.”

The silence of the alumni and the national media, who were the student fans’ harshest critics last year, was a testament to the change.

Susan Ascolese brought her two sons, Vincent, 10, and Nicholas, 6, from New York to root for Duke. Though she knew their reputation, Ascolese said she wasn’t wary of Maryland fans’ affecting her children, even after she scolded Vincent for joining in on a “Bulls—” chant.

“You guys are known to be like New York,” she said, “very cutthroat.”

The scene kept the families of Redick, Shelden Williams and other players away, said Katherine DeStefano of Silver Spring, whose brother, Brian, is a Duke team manager. While she appeared repulsed by certain anti-Duke cheers, DeStefano thought on the whole Terps fans weren’t as bad as they were made out to be last year.

“The Wake Forest fans aren’t any better,” she said.

Coach Williams agreed. He appeared bothered when asked about fan behavior during his postgame news conference.

“The fans were great, but I don’t hear everything,” he said. “Every place we go we hear the same things. I wish someone would print that.”

Only a minority of students took to offensive cheering.

Chants of “Abby Redick,” the 12-year-old sister of Redick, popped up in pockets of the crowd. “No means no,” a reference to Duke forward Shelden Williams’ rape accusation in 2002, was more widespread, as was the more direct, “You’re a rapist.”

Signs, which were checked by security personnel for vulgarity before admittance and by ESPN camerapeople before airing, were tamer. “Coach K, Don’t Lie Down on the Job” referred to Krzyzweski’s fainting during a recent game. “Shavlick My Balls,” complete with two arrows pointing down, played on the name of Duke forward Shavlik Randolph.

Another sign both mocked Redick’s fondness for poetry — a nugget of information released during his interview for Gameday — and sexually referenced his older sister Jeanie.

“J.J., Here’s a Poem: Terps Are Red/ Devils Are Blue/ Jeanie Was Good/ Abby Will Be Too.”

Freshman journalism major Bryan Bryson took matters into his own hands, creating and distributing 750 copies of a cheer sheet, similar to those that Duke’s student fans use.

“I just mainly did it to unify the crowd,” Bryson said.

But overall, negative Maryland fans had the same effect as Randolph: five fouls, no points. The overwhelming majority of the crowd cheered for the Terps and refused to recreate last year’s scene.

After voicing his displeasure at last year’s occurrence, ESPN anchor and university alumnus Scott Van Pelt said he was pleased with students’ behavior.

“I’m proud of tonight,” he said. “There’s a little bit of nastiness, but we hate these guys, that’s what you expect.”