From the sidelines
Marty Gordon
The definition of storming the court is simple: “Actions that occur when a person or a crowd of people spectating a sporting event run onto the competition area, usually to celebrate or protest an incident, or sometimes as a publicity stunt. In most sporting events, this includes jumping over the rail or fencing to join hundreds, sometimes thousands on the field and/or court.
This all intensifies when the home team takes down a rival or in some cases a nationally-ranked opponent.
I think the action gives fans something of a celebratory time in history, but it does set up a dangerous situation for the opposing team and its staff.
This was seen just this past week when Duke lost to Wake Forest in men’s basketball on Wake’s home court. Duke player Kyle Filipowski was injured when he got caught in a “sea” of Wake fans. A fan seemed to collide with the Duke player as individuals poured onto the court.
Duke says Filipowski suffered an injured knee.
After the game, his coach Jon Scheyer asked, “When are we going to ban court storming?”
Of course, this conversation is nothing new.
In 2015, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self got trapped in a court storming at rival Kansas State after UK’s loss.
In 2018, a West Virginia basketball player threw a punch at a Texas Tech fan who stormed the court.
Court storming has become human nature in college basketball, but it can also be a black eye, as you can see by the previous incidents.
There has to be a way to make it safer. While it’s tough to stop, college leaders have to find a way and make changes for everyone.
“How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched, or they get pushed, or they (get) taunted right in their face? It’s a dangerous thing,” the Duke coach told the media.
“You look around the country, Caitlin Clark, something happens,” Scheyer said. “And now Flip, I don’t know what his status is going to be.”
Iowa’s Clark collided with a fan and fell to the floor during a similar incident during her team’s loss to Ohio State.
Athletic directors and those from the NCAA must step up with some strict consequences instead of blowing off the issue.
In 2004, a high school volleyball player was trampled and is partially paralyzed.
In the recent Wake Forest incident, event staff and security had rehearsed procedures to protect the visiting team and game officials.
It just didn’t work when you have security and event staff outnumbered and overwhelmed by the crowd.
The simple fix is to hire more staff, but that starts to be costly. Some schools have put up ropes along the court, but this is not going to stop hundreds of fans.
One of the best options might be a delay at the end of the game in order to delay the court storming. This would allow players and coaches an opportunity to exit the arena.
I would also propose eliminating the ceremonial handshake by players and coaches.
Beyond that, there’s no simple solution.
There are some consequences, and the Southeastern Conference has stepped up to the plate.
The SEC fine for court storming one time is $100,000. For the second offense, it’s $250,000. For the third, $500,000. The fines are paid directly to the school that is “rushed upon,” per an SEC official.
Currently, the ACC has no such penalty. Maybe they need to add it, or the NCAA should take it a step further and make it a much bigger fine across the board for all divisions and all sports.
Court storming may be a beloved college basketball tradition, but no tradition is worth preserving if it is inevitably going to lead to an ugly scene or brutal injury one day.
Court storming must not continue in its present state.
