Duke basketball star Kyle Filipowski suffered a knee injury when Wake Forest fans rushed the floor following the Demon Deacons’ recent win over the eighth-ranked Blue Devils.
A visually frustrated Filipowski called for the implementation of more protective measures for players when students and fans decide to storm the hardwood.
“Just trying to get my way off the court, and you know, you’ve got these crazy college students just doing whatever they want. It’s got to be a little more protective when things like that happen,” the Duke star said.
The future of court-storming has been widely discussed in the days following the on-court collision between Filipowski and a fan. Longtime sports commentator and radio host Bomani Jones weighed in, describing court-storming as “a full-on state of lawlessness.”
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Sports journalist Bomani Jones attends an NBA Summer League game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 7, 2023, in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
“And so, the court storm is like the encore on steroids,” Jones said on a recent edition of “The Right Time” podcast.
“No one has any leverage over the kids once they get out there. It is a full-on state of lawlessness; and you know it’s a state of lawlessness because if you looked at those clips of that game and you just saw security like, ‘Alright, y’all come down.'”
Jones then pointed to the security personnel inside arenas throughout the nation.
“Now, you’re not gonna tell me that security at these games thinks this is a good idea. In fact, this what we’re talking about here is an anathema to their whole existence, right? Like, this is what they exist to prevent and they’re like, ‘Alright, y’all got it. Y’all come on down.’ They know this is a horrific idea.”
Fans storm the court after Wake Forest defeated Duke in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Jones’ former colleague at ESPN, Jay Bilas, recently suggested that fans who run onto the basketball court should face serious consequences.
“The truth is nothing’s going to change now,” Bilas said during a recent appearance on ESPN’s “First Take.”
“We’re going to talk about it. It’s going to go away, and nothing’s going to change. And if they wanted to stop it, they could stop it tomorrow. The administrations will tell you the security experts tell them that it’s not a good idea to try stop the court-storming, because that could cause more problems than it would solve.”
“But you don’t have to stop the court storming. One time, all you have to do is, once they’re on the court, don’t let them off. Just say, ‘You’re all detained,’ and give them all citations, or arrest them if you want to. And then court stormings will stop the next day.”
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Filipowski’s status for Wednesday night’s game against the Louisville Cardinals remains unclear, with Duke head coach Jon Scheyer recently admitting that the star player is “not himself.”
“He’s just not 100% after what happened. He’s not himself,” Scheyer said on “Fast Break with Jon Scheyer” on Monday night. “Hopefully, he takes another step (Tuesday) and he can be ready for Wednesday.”
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