Filipowski Interview!

As Duke fans know, after a sensational freshman season, big man Kyle Filipowski underwent surgery on both hips and now everyone is calling him Two Hip Flip. He goes over his freshman year, his surgery and more in this interview with Jeff Goodman.

He was way ahead of where people thought he was going to be last year, but his hips had to have limited him (on a side note, remember how much abuse he took in his rookie season? How many times he got knocked down, most notoriously by our neighbors in the Old Dominion? That had to have added up).

Now though he says his hips are far more comfortable and less tight and he’ll have strength and flexibility that he lacked as a freshman.

He also talks about why he came back, what he hopes to accomplish and how he hopes to prove he can guard smaller players and also become a shotblocker. If he can get more power and flexibility after his surgery, that’s definitely possible.

One thing that’s becoming clear, if it wasn’t before: Filipowski has a big personality and he’s not at all timid about expressing himself. Over the summer, he’s made a crack about honking at cars with UNC stickers, told Kansas fans that Duke was coming for the national title and in this interview, he compares this year’s team to a flamethrower.

The natural tendency is going to be to compare him to Christian Laettner, a strong personality that Mike Krzyzewski occasionally had to rein in.

We’re not saying that Jon Scheyer will have to similarly rein his young star in, but having a strong personality could prove an interesting test for the still-young head coach.