Report: Kyle Filipowski expected to play Wednesday after Duke made stink over court storming

Duke F Kyle Filipowski is expected to play on Wednesday night against Louisville, per Adam Zagoria. Filipowski was the focal point of a national discussion on court storming after suffering a knee injury. In contrast, Wake Forest fans stormed the court following last Saturday’s upset win over Duke. The Blue Devil forward won’t even miss a game from the injury if he suits up as expected.

Court-storming has been a part of college sports, especially basketball, when an underdog team picks up an unexpected victory or a team convincingly beats a long-time rival. It is absolute chaos as fans flood the court to celebrate with their team. Over the years, coaches on the losing side have removed players early to try and limit potential injuries from the act, and there likely needs to be some sort of restraint shown for safety sake. Still, Filipowski was run into by a fan and tweaked his knee. He is one of the best players for Duke, so his missing any time would be huge for them, and it is caused by something as avoidable as a fan running into him is understandably frustrating.

When it happened, social media lit up with fans and analysts calling for the banning of court storming. ESPN analyst Jay Bilas — notably a Duke grad — went so far as to say that the students/fans who stormed the court should face jail time or be issued a criminal citation. Rather than suggesting that maybe security does a better job of holding the crowd until everyone who wants to leave the court can, Bilas suggested that you let everyone storm the court, then block off the court and detain or arrest everyone there.

This court-storming injury comes on the heels of Iowa guard Caitlin Clark being collided with as Ohio State fans rushed the court after the Buckeyes upset the Hawkeyes last month. Clark quickly said in the post-game press conference that she was fine and just had the wind knocked out of her.

Court-storming likely needs to be better regulated as allowing players and coaches the chance to leave the court safely won’t take away from the excitement; in fact, it may build it even further. To say that it should be eliminated entirely just feels like overkill.