Brad Brownell reacts to Kyle Filipowski injury during Wake Forest court storming

Clemson coach Brad Brownell believes the court storming at Wake Forest that resulted in an injury for Kyle Filipowski raises serious concerns. A Demon Deacons fan who ran onto the court following an 83-79 upset of Duke on Saturday collided with Filipowski, causing him to nearly fall to the floor.

A Blue Devils staffer grabbed him and got him away from the mayhem, but the damage was already done at that point. It sparked a debate across the country about whether court storming still belongs in college basketball.

Brownell addressed the situation Saturday, saying he understands the reluctance to get rid of something that is considered tradition in college hoops. However, if it’s choosing between that or player safety, the answer is obvious.

“Man, they were on the court — it felt like there was a second or two left and guys were crossing the baseline and there’s absolutely zero chance,” Brownell said. “I hate it because that’s what’s great about college. You’re experiencing it with your student body. Having said that, we can’t have players getting hurt. Crowds are aggressive. Fans are aggressive. So I do worry about confrontations. Somebody getting in a kid’s face.”

Replay of the court storming showed Wake Forest fans entering the court slightly before the final buzzer sounded with 0.1 seconds on the clock. That in mind, it was almost impossible for the Duke players to get out of the way in time.

Several media members across the country criticized the Demon Deacons for not having better security in place to escort Duke off the court. The ACC released a statement saying it will “assess with schools the best way to protect our student-athletes, coaches and fans.”

Currently, the ACC is the only conference in college basketball that does not have fines for court storming. One would think that could potentially change after Saturday’s incident.

But in Brownell’s estimation, it may be time to go even further and ban storming the court altogether.

“What’s gonna happen is a player will not only get hurt, which I hate to hear that and I hope Kyle’s OK, but you’re gonna have some kid get in the face or walk up on a player and the player is gonna respond in a way that nobody’s gonna like because he’s gonna feel threatened,” he said. “Then we’re gonna have a real problem. So that’s the scary thing in terms of you’re worried about protecting your players.

“We’ve gotta be super careful. I’m starting to lean towards that it may not be a good idea.”