Popular college hoops analyst Jay Bilas backs $809,000 NIL-valued Caitlin Clark after court storming incident: "Fans do not belong on the court"

While chasing the cherished record of being college basketball's highest points scorer, Caitlin Clark recently had to endure a scary moment during Iowa's 100-92 loss to Ohio State.

Clark was knocked down by a boisterous Buckeyes fan who had stormed the court after the win and needed to be attended to. This caused frenzied discourse in CBB circles about the act by fans.

Appearing on "College GameDay," ESPN basketball analyst, Jay Bilas had strong words about the court storming incidences that have plagued college basketball this season, especially after the $809,000 NIL-valued Clark was knocked down:

“Fans do not belong on the court ever, and players do not belong in the stands,” Bilas said. “When somebody gets hurt, we’re going to get serious about it.”

The fallout from the Caitlin Clark incident

While speaking to ESPN after the game, Caitlin Clark revealed how she felt about the incident at the time, and although she tried to downplay it, she also pointed out how serious it could have been:

“Kind of scary, could’ve caused a pretty serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me, but luckily my teammates kind of picked me up and got me off the court,” Clark said, adding, “comes with the territory.”

“I’m sure they (Ohio State) did their best to do everything they could,” she continued. “It didn’t work and that’s disappointing but just focused now on the game.”

Although his team won the game, Ohio State Buckeyes coach Kevin McGuff couldn't hide his dismay at the unfortunate incident and apologized to the Buckeyes and Clark repeatedly during his postgame news conference.

“That should never happen. I feel really badly,” McGuff said. “Hopefully she’s OK. … That’s extremely unfortunate. Shouldn’t happen to anybody, but man, such a great player like Caitlin, I really hate that.”

However, McGuff was not the only Buckeye apologizing as the Ohio State athletic director, Gene Smith went to the Hawkeyes' dressing room and personally apologized to Caitlin Clark and coach Lisa Bluder.

Lisa Bluder did not hide her anger in her postgame news conference, addressing the incident, knowing how badly it could have turned out:

“That should not happen,” Bluder said. “Our players should be safe and be able to walk off the floor.”

With the record chasing Caitlin Clark currently the face of college women's basketball, the incident she's facing has hastened the conversation on court storming all over the country.