The injury suffered by Duke basketball star Kyle Filipowski during a court storming has reignited a national conversation about the dangers of college basketball’s popular practice. Filipowski was injured after a fan tripped him during a court storming at Wake Forest following the Demon Deacons’ 83-79 win over the Blue Devils on Tuesday night. It’s the second significant injury from court storming in this season after Iowa’s star guard Caitlin Clark got hurt in a similar situation in January.
ESPN just showed a new angle of the court-storming at Wake Forest where Duke’s Kyle Filipowski was injured. Can clearly see where he hurts his knee as a fan taunts him while racing to midcourt. Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/ABAsKC2kTI
— Kyle Boone (@kyletheboone) February 24, 2024
The incident has also opened up a dialogue about whether to implement stricter penalties against court storming — especially in the ACC, which does not fine teams for the practice.
How Much Do Teams Get Fined For Court-Storming?
Different conferences have varying policies regarding fines for court-storming:
- SEC
- $100,000 for the first offense
- 250,000 for a second offense
- $500,000 for third offense
- Pac-12:
- $25,000 fine for first offense
- $50,000 for second offense
- $100,000 for subsequent offenses.
- Big 12
- Recently fined UCF $25,000 for a court-storming incident in January.
- Big East:
- Implements a $5,000 fine for court-storming.
- Big Ten
- No fines are imposed until the third offense.
- ACC:
- Currently, the ACC does not impose fines for court-storming incidents.
Filipowski Claims He Was Targeted
The lack of procedure in the ACC, which has led to the spotlight coming off Filipowski’s injury, is among the topics being widely discussed in the aftermath of Wake Forest’s victory. Wake Forest will likely face no discipline from the conference in terms of fines although with incidents like this becoming more commonplace, that could change.
Filipowski, who has enjoyed a standout season and was named ACC Rookie of the Year last season, called the incident “absurd” and feels he was an intended target.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer called for the banning of fans storming the court.
“When are we going to ban court storming?”
Jon Scheyer on Kyle Filipowski spraining his ankle in the court storming at Wake Forest, and he also points to what happened to Caitlin Clark at Ohio State, a month ago. pic.twitter.com/VCdMJXRywl
— Will Dalton (@thewilldalton) February 24, 2024
“I’m concerned about the well-being of my players,” Scheyer said when asked about the result and the incident. “When are they going to ban court-storming?”
While we don’t have the answer to that, maybe Duke could try winning to stop fans storming the court!
