The drama between North Carolina and Duke hasn't cooled down, even a week after the Tar Heels' thrilling comeback victory over the Blue Devils in Chapel Hill. The spotlight now shifts to the postgame court storming, which has stirred up quite the controversy. Duke's head coach, Jon Scheyer, isn't letting it slide, doubling down on his initial claim that some of his staff were "punched in the face" during the chaos-a statement he first made during the postgame press conference.
After Duke's recent win over Syracuse, Scheyer addressed the situation again, responding to the local district attorney's assertion of "zero evidence" supporting his claim. Scheyer stood firm, telling reporters, "I know what I saw."
He added, "I’d like to focus on Syracuse, but I know what happened with our staff after the game-that's the bottom line. I'm not going to get into what was said or claimed.
But I know what happened, and I’m always going to back our staff. I could have even said more, but I'm not going to do that."
This ongoing saga took another turn when Orange County's district attorney, Jeff Nieman, challenged Scheyer’s version of events, suggesting the coach should be more cautious with his media statements. Nieman took to social media to express his stance, stating there was no evidence of any Duke staff member being "punched" or "trampled" at the Smith Center.
In the immediate aftermath of the game, Scheyer seemed to adjust his initial comments, indicating his staff was more "trampled" than "punched." However, his recent remarks suggest he's holding his ground.
Meanwhile, North Carolina faced a $50,000 fine for the court storming incident. This penalty aligns with new regulations aimed at reducing such occurrences, though it wasn't directly linked to Scheyer's allegations. As the dust settles, the focus remains on whether these regulations can effectively prevent similar incidents in the future.