Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz caught up with the Duke center about the challenges of court storming in college sports, the heightened level of scrutiny that comes with playing at Duke, and various other topics. Kyle Filipowski joined Yahoo Sports on behalf of Great Clips.

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JASON FITZ: Hanging out with Duke basketball player Kyle Filipowski. Kyle, you're joining us on behalf of Great Clips. We'll get to that because hair is important, especially as we get ready for the NCAA tournament. But I want to talk to you about basketball first, and I'm interested to get your perspective. Everybody has an opinion about Duke basketball players all the time. And, obviously, you were in the news this year.

Do you feel like there's a different magnifying glass that comes with playing at Duke?

KYLE FILIPOWSKI: I do for sure. I think that if I went to any other school I would not be portrayed in the light I'm being portrayed in right now just because I do go to Duke. But like I said, we hang out off the court. I'm a very friendly, loving guy. Just great, great kind person, but obviously having the spotlight shown down in games and wearing Duke across my chest, that adds a little bit of a different taste in people's mouths.

JASON FITZ: Now, I do think anytime anybody talks to you right now, court storming comes up. We all know that. So how would you solve the problem?

KYLE FILIPOWSKI: I mean, you know, obviously, growing up as a fan, you know, I totally loved court storming just because I feel like it did bring a special meaning behind college basketball. And that's part of what college basketball was about. But obviously as a player and going through what did, I do feel like there still needs to be more regulations and safer rules for the players before any college kid can just do whatever they feel like they can do just because their team won.

So I think there's just a fine line that needs to be drawn. Obviously, just taking it away would cause a lot of upset all across the nation. But, I mean, I definitely feel like schools can do a much better job than what they're doing right now if court storming is still a thing.

JASON FITZ: The expectations of Duke is that you're going to win a national championship every year. Is it daunting when you come in even now? You're in your second year too. But as you evolve into all of this at Duke, do you ever look around and just feel like, man, when is what we're doing right now enough?

KYLE FILIPOWSKI: Yeah. I mean, last year, winning the SEC tournament, it was a great feeling for sure. Obviously, I'm sure other schools too. That's the highlight of their season as well, but there was still a part of us that felt like we weren't done yet. And, obviously, that's the national championship, and that's what we're really eyeing for this year as well along with the SEC tournament championship too.

Yeah. Just having that expectation for ourselves, I mean, holding ourselves to that highest standard. It isn't like any other school, and obviously that can put a lot of pressure on us players. But, you know, I think it just makes us more prepared, more hungry for reaching the ultimate challenge every year.

JASON FITZ: You're joining us on behalf of Great Clips. Tell me a little bit of what you guys are up to.

KYLE FILIPOWSKI: Yeah. So we're doing this campaign where, obviously, March Madness, and winning, and making it to the national championship, it's all about doing the small things right. So just Great Clips in their campaign with the rights versus wrongs-- you know, like for an instance, what's right is watching the game from the stands, in my opinion, and not going out on the court. [CHUCKLES] But no. It's just going on the Great Clips app and having a chance to win tickets to the Final Four for 2025.

That's a great opportunity, and just being able to promote that, and making myself feel good, and helping myself play good with the haircut too is always a bonus.

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