Jay Bilas predicts postseason matchup between Duke, North Carolina

Stephen Samraby:Steve Samra03/02/24

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On the latest edition of ESPN’s College GameDay, Jay Bilas made a fascinating prediction concerning the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils.

While the two rivals will meet next weekend in Durham, the ESPN analyst believes that won’t be the final time they see each other in 2024, believing a postseason matchup is on the horizon for North Carolina and Duke.

“Basically, that means will Carolina and Duke meet in the ACC Tournament, and-or the NCAA Tournament? I’m going to say over,” Bilas responded when asked if there will be over or under 1.5 more meetings between the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils in 2024. “I think they’re going to meet at least once more than next week, when we go to Durham for Duke versus North Carolina.”

With the way North Carolina and Duke have been playing throughout the season, a postseason matchup certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but it’s just a matter of whether or not the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels live up to their immense potential.

Regardless, the two rivals will meet before that, and College GameDay will be on-hand for the game. It’s going to be fascinating to see who comes out on top during next weekend’s ACC clash.

Jay Bilas on why Kyle Filipowski situation won’t change court stormings: ‘We in the media like the visual’

In other news, court-stormings have become the talk of college basketball over the last week. Wake Forest earned a season-defining win against Duke but while fans were rushing onto the floor, Kyle Filipowski suffered an injury and was helped off. Filipowski later revealed his knee is what got banged up.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas gave his take on the situation, saying storming the court is not going to stop. Even in a league like the SEC, where schools are fined $100,000 for violating — administrators do not seem to care about paying up. Why? Because of the awesome visual it gives to capture the moment.

Bilas says it’s a problem inside of the media as well, saying the visual is important to his colleagues. Even if there had been no Filipowski injury on Saturday, you would have seen Wake Forest fans storming the court on highlight shows out there.

“It’s got to stop but it’s not going to,” Bilas said. “There’s no appetite in college basketball to stop it. The SEC has a rule against it but the institutions are happy to pay the fine because they like the visual. And the truth is, we in the media like the visual too. 

“We put it at the end of every highlight. Years ago, when people used to run out on the field or on the floor, we wouldn’t show it. That was our policy. We don’t have that kind of policies with court stormings. We like it. It’s not stopping and it’s a shame.”