Jay Bilas, a former Duke star who is a college basketball analyst for ESPN, blasted fans for court storming after a Blue Devils was injured on Saturday amid an incident with Wake Forest supporters.
Bilas appeared on ESPN’s “First Take” and suggested one idea to clamp down on court-storming.
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“The truth is nothing’s going to change now,” he said. “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.
Wake Forest’s Cameron Hildreth (2) drives to the basket as fans storm the court at the end of an NCAA college basketball game against Duke in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
“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.”
Bilas then suggested the media was complicit in the court-storming.
“Years ago, when fans would run out on the field or the court during a game, it was network policy not to show that because we didn’t want to encourage it. So what does that say about the way we in the media use these images now? We can’t deny that we encourage it or at least tacitly approve of it.
ESPN college basketball announcer Jay Bilas on air before a college basketball game against the Tennessee Volunteers during the consolation game of the Allstate Maui Invitational at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center on November 22, 2023 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
“Everyone has to accept some responsibility for this. I don’t think it’s the right thing to allow this, but I know that it’s gonna continue. This is not going to stop.”
Duke star Kyle Filipowski had to be helped off the court after Saturday’s incident. It appeared a fan made contact with him running from the left side of the court. The fan who appeared to hit Filipowski fell to the court, and Filipowski somehow ended up in the arms of Duke staff.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Filipowski sprained his ankle, and the coach called for court storming to end.
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Duke’s Kyle Filipowski holds his bloodied nose as he leaves the floor during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C., Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
“When are we going to ban court storming? When are we going to ban that? How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched, or they get pushed, or they get taunted right in their face? It’s a dangerous thing.”
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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