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Richard Jefferson blasted his ESPN colleague\u2019s take on court-storming after Jay Bilas suggested those who enter the playing field to celebrate upset victories should be arrested for the action.<\/p>\n
Jefferson, who played several years in the NBA after a standout collegiate career with Arizona, took apart Bilas\u2019 take on ESPN\u2019s “NBA Today.”<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s gotta be the dumbest thing I\u2019ve ever heard in my entire \u2026,” Jefferson said on Monday. “Did he say detain 10,000 people? Did he say give 10,000 people citations?”<\/p>\n
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Wake Forest Demon Deacons fans storm the court after a win over the Duke Blue Devils at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Feb. 24, 2024 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.<\/span> (Grant Halverson\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nJefferson said he has had the court stormed on him as a player a handful of times, and “it sucks.”<\/p>\n
“But this is about college basketball, this is about college football. To say something, and I love Jay Bilas \u2013 a legend in this game \u2013 that is asinine to suggest that,” he continued. “Because for me, when you look at this, yeah, get your players off the floor. \u2026 But this is a part of college sports, it always has been, for what? Forty years? Fifty years?<\/p>\n
“You know what? Even in football. You\u2019re gonna stop all the people from running on the field when Alabama loses to Florida A&M? No, you\u2019re not going to stop it. Figured out a way to protect your players. Again, we\u2019re talking about one situation, two situations over the course of how many court stormings?<\/p>\n
“We get it. But let\u2019s not get old and get the \u2018Get off my lawn, get a citation, let\u2019s arrest them all.\u2019 Do we know what we\u2019re talking about when we say these things?”<\/p>\n
Jefferson said if fans paid their tuition and went to support their team in an underdog situation against a blue blood like Duke, Arizona, Kansas or Kentucky, then “Look, you deserve to storm the court.”<\/p>\n
Bilas brought up his idea earlier on Monday.<\/p>\n
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Kendall Moriarty, #15 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, celebrates with teammates and fans on the court after the win against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Feb. 11, 2024 in Lincoln, Nebraska.<\/span> (Steven Branscombe\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nCAITLIN CLARK MIRRORS \u2018PISTOL\u2019 PETE MARAVICH IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE<\/strong><\/p>\n“The truth is nothing\u2019s going to change now,” he said on “First Take.” “We\u2019re going to talk about it. It\u2019s going to go away, and nothing\u2019s going to change. And if they wanted to stop it, they could stop it tomorrow. The administrations will tell you the security experts tell them that it\u2019s not a good idea to try stop the court-storming, because that could cause more problems than it would solve.<\/p>\n
“But you don\u2019t have to stop the court storming. One time, all you have to do is, once they\u2019re on the court, don\u2019t let them off. Just say, \u2018You\u2019re all detained,\u2019 and give them all citations, or arrest them if you want to. And then court stormings will stop the next day.”<\/p>\n
Bilas then suggested the media was complicit in the court-storming.<\/p>\n
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Richard Jefferson, left, fired back at Jay Bilas’ take on court-storming.<\/span> (Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n“Years ago, when fans would run out on the field or the court during a game, it was network policy not to show that because we didn’t want to encourage it. So what does that say about the way we in the media use these images now? We can’t deny that we encourage it or at least tacitly approve of it.<\/p>\n
“Everyone has to accept some responsibility for this. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right thing to allow this, but I know that it\u2019s gonna continue. This is not going to stop.”<\/p>\n
Duke star\u00a0Kyle Filipowski\u00a0had to be helped off the court after Saturday\u2019s incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It appeared a fan made contact with him running from the left side of the court. The fan who appeared to hit Filipowski fell to the court, and Filipowski somehow ended up in the arms of Duke staff.<\/p>\n
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n The incident sparked the latest talk around court-storming.<\/p>\n
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