ESPN’s Jay Bilas Suggests Arresting Court-Storming Fans After Injury to Duke Star: ‘Once They’re On the Court, Don’t Let Them Off’

ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas floated the idea of arresting fans who storm the court in an effort to prevent further injuries to players.

The decades-long college hoops tradition has become the topic of discussion following the injury to Duke men’s player Kyle Filipowski. Following the Blue Devils’ upset loss at Wake Forest, the crowd stormed the court in celebration. As they were doing so, however, Duke players were still making their way off the court. Caught in the fray, Filipowski collided with a running fan. As the sophomore fell to the ground from the impact, another fan appeared to push him in the back.

Filipowski injured his leg and had to be helped to the team’s locker room.

Speaking on First Take on Monday, Bilas claimed it reinforced his point that fans don’t belong on the court. Some conferences, he noted, fine universities when their fans do it; but those fines are relatively minor and schools are willing to pay them.

Because of this, he suggested more aggressive methods.

“The administrators will tell you that security experts tell them that it’s not a good idea to try to stop the court storming, that that could cause more problems than it would solved,” Bilas said. “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. Then court stormings will stop the next day.”

Watch above via ESPN