Mike Krzyzewski calls for end of court storming, punishments when it occurs
The call to end court storming in college basketball has been a massive topic of discussion since Duke‘s loss to Wake Forest on Feb. 24.
Duke forward Kyle Filipowski suffered minor injuries after being caught in the crosshairs of the fans’ attempt to reach center court. Many coaches and analysts have come out against the practice ever since the incident and now, former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has thrown in his two cents on the conversation.
“I think you ban it,” Krzyzewski said during a recent appearance on SiriusXM. “Each conference says we don’t want it. You make sure that everybody has the security system and then you have the punishment. To me, that’s the way I would do it. They’re still going to happen, but they’re not going to happen to the level. And if you have those elements, if it does happen, there’s a good chance you won’t have injury. So yeah, you have to prevent that, but just saying that we don’t want them doesn’t mean that they’re going to go away.
“It’s a spontaneous thing and you’re in a college campus and whatever. But having those deterrents, one that you don’t want it, two security and three punishment. I think is a logical step in going forward.”
The video appears to show Filipowski getting run into by multiple fans. At least one seems to extend their arm to push Filipowski and the former five-star recruit had to be helped off the court following the incident.
Earlier this season, Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark also collided with a fan during one of the Hawkeyes’ losses. Now that the incident has happened to two of college basketball’s more noteworthy figures, the dark side of what is traditionally viewed as an exciting moment for fans, coaches and players alike has come to light.
“How [Filipowski] got hit, that could have been a knee injury. What if that does something to his career?” Coach K asked. “You have a lawsuit too — Wake [Forest], or whoever the school was that stormed. For people that say, ‘Well that’s what college kids do.’ Yeah, college kids do a lot of things and you have rules on your campus and everything to make sure that it doesn’t go nuts.
“The Wake Forest thing … I do not blame their team, but they didn’t have the security set up. There were a couple kids running on the court with .7 seconds left.”
There haven’t been any court storms since the Wake Forest-Duke game and with just over a week left in the 2023-24 regular season, everyone can move on and the NCAA can sanction some sort of rule to help combat court storming as a whole.