Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has seen his fair share of fans storming the court after upset wins over the Blue Devils, but after Thursday night's display at Virginia, the longtime coach is getting frustrated.
According to ESPN.com, Krzyzewski was concerned after the game on Thursday night for the safety of his players after the sellout crowd in Virginia stormed the court after the Cavaliers' 73-68 victory. The coach said his team and his staff had to fight their way through the crowd to get to the locker room and that many were rowdy and out of control.
"When we've lost in the last 20 years, everybody rushes the court," Krzyzewski said, as quoted by The Associated Press, insisting he was raising a concern but not trying to take away from Virginia's victory. "Whatever you're doing, you need to get the team off first. Celebrate, have fun, obviously you won. That's cool, but just get our team off the court and our coaching staff before students come on."
Duke has lost all four of its games on the road this season and at each one fans stormed the court, including in Miami, North Carolina State and Maryland. It is a trend that has only gotten bigger in recent years, with some fans storming the court even after wins that aren't big upsets. It has become more of a ritual than a celebration for many fans around the nation in college basketball.
"Look, do you know how close you are to -- just put yourself in the position of one of our players or coaches," Krzyzewski said, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. "I'm not saying any fan did this, but the potential is there all the time for a fan to just go up to you and say, 'Coach you're a [expletive],' or push you or hit you. And what do you do? What if you did something? That would be the story. We deserve that type of protection."
Duke has been one of the biggest targets of storming the court over the years, as they are consistently one of the top teams in college basketball, so nearly every win over the team can be considered an upset. Duke has continued the trend of top teams losing this year in college basketball, as Indiania and Michigan have shown already.
The Blue Devils are now 24-4 and the loss enables the Miami Hurricanes to be in a position to take the ACC when the two teams play on Saturday. The last time the two faced off, Miami blew out Duke 90-63 in Florida and Saturday's game will be at Cameron Indoor Arena. Duke has been the eighth best scoring team in the nat6ion, but their rebounding has suffered without Ryan Kelly.
"I'm always concerned about stuff like that, especially at this time of the year. What if that happened and we get a kid suspended? That becomes the national story. It's not all fun and games when people are rushing the court, especially for the team that lost. Again, congratulations to them, and they should have fun and burn benches and do all that stuff. I'm all for that. They have a great school, great kids, but get us off the court. That's the bottom line," Krzyzewski said
