Does Jay Bilas have cancer? Exploring former Duke star’s contributions to the medical field

ESPN analyst and former player Jay Bilas is a familiar figure for anyone who tunes into college basketball. He played basketball at Duke between 1982 and 1986 and later had a short stint as an assistant coach under his former coach, Mike Krzyzewski.

In 1995, Bilas joined ESPN as a college basketball analyst. Since 2000, he has also served as co-host of ESPN's studio broadcasts, including College GameNight and College GameDay with Rece Davis, Hubert Davis, Digger Phelps and Bob Knight.

Does Jay Bilas have cancer?

No, there have been no credible sources to support this claim. However, Jay Bilas has been a long-time supporter of cancer care. In his book Toughness: Developing True Strength On and Off the Court (2013), Bilas devoted a chapter to Dr. Henry Friedman and patients at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the Duke Brain Tumor Center.

Bilas also serves on the National Board of the Coaches vs. Cancer Organization and the V National Board of the Coaches vs. Cancer Organization. The latter was founded by ESPN and the late Jim Valvano, North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN commentator, in 1993.

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Jay Bilas's stance on the recent court-storming incidents

After the recent court-storming incident involving Kyle Filipowski, Jay Bilas spoke on First Take, sharing his solution to the problem.

“The administrators will tell you that security experts tell them that it’s not a good idea to try to stop the court storming, that that could cause more problems than it would be solved,” Bilas said.

"But you don’t have to stop the court storming. One time, all you have to do is once they’re on the court, don’t let them off. Just say, ‘You’re all detained,’ and give them all citations or arrest them if you want to. Then court stormings will stop the next day,” he added.

Bilas also pointed out that the media is partially responsible for this as they always include these clips in the highlight reel. He added that universities do not want to put a stop to this because they use this to show how passionate their students are in supporting the team.

In an interview earlier this year, after the Caitlin Clark incident, Bilas said:

"Fans do not belong on the court. Ever."

Currently, the SEC is the only conference that levies fines to the tune of $100000 on institutions for court-storming.