Actually he never was. A small few of us were fairly vocal about it. Bilas has always been a bullshit artist. He's 100% in favor of the collective "feel good" opinion.
Because he was from Duke but also appeared favorable to Kentucky people looked away from his routine agenda and toward his kind words. He also presents himself well, so a fraction of us enjoyed his temperament and tone after enduring Dickie V for so long.
But he's always been FOS. He's a media person and a lawyer. It's not possible to be those things and not also be a total scumbag.
THIS ^^^^^^^ Bilas has always been a snake oil salesman. He's smart & slick and has conned many into buying his self serving agenda. He is very pro-ACC, especially Duke and has always thought he was the smartest man in the world. Typical Duke nerd elitist made intolerable by his ESPN liberal empowered pulpit. The attorney in him needs to win the argument regardless of the actual merit of the subject.