The underdog story in college sports is a tale as old as time. When your school’s team upsets the national powerhouse, wins a last second buzzer beater, or wins on a Hail Mary is what makes college sports unlike any other. Along with a massive win for the program comes the student section’s favorite, the green light to storm the court. The opportunity to storm a court can be one of the most exhilarating and memorable moments that a college student can experience.
However, what was once a positive and memorable event has received negative attention from the national media as of late. Most recently, Wake Forest and Duke played each other, at which Wake Forest was home. The game resulted in a Wake Forest win, as Wake Forest upset Duke with an 83-79 win. After the massive win, the Wake Forest fans stormed the court, as most college basketball fans do after their team wins a big game.
While the Wake Forest fans were running onto the court, one of them ran into Duke’s star player, Kyle Filipowski.[1] This resulted in Filipowski being visibly shaken up as he had to be helped off the court with a clear limp. Filipowski was diagnosed later that night with a sprained knee, which resulted in him missing a week of basketball.[2] This came a week after Iowa basketball star, Caitlyn Clark, was run into by a fan when Ohio State upset Iowa.[3]
While it came into the national spotlight after a superstar like Clark was involved, it blew up after the Duke star was injured during the Wake Forest court storming. Some of the biggest names in sports media discussed the recent court storming incidents. Jay Bilas went as far to say that the fans storming the court should be arrested and issued citations or fines.[4] While this may be an extreme reaction, the point of the matter is player safety.
Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe also chimed in on the controversy.[5] While they didn’t go as far as Bilas, they did both agree that there needs to be more security to prevent this from happening.[6] Furthermore, Alabama Athletic Director, Greg Byrne, believes that teams should have to forfeit the game if their fans storm the court.[7] However, the idea of letting fans onto the court to celebrate with their team isn’t the issue. The issue is the fans charging onto the court the moment the final buzzer goes off. There is no time for players, coaches, or team personnel to safely evacuate the court before they are being inundated by the mass of fans storming the court.[8]
This is what basketball officials are concerned about. They are worried that players do not have enough time to escape the court out of harm’s way. Moreover, they are worried that players do not even have enough time to brace themselves for when fans storm the court. This was evident when Filipowski was injured – he was caught completely off guard as the Wake Forest fan bumped into him.[9]
Most of the time, when fans storm the court there are really no issues. However, it is situations like the two we have had recently that are going to push the NCAA to implement rules restricting court storming. What was traditionally a positive thing that the sports world relished in is now one of the most controversial topics in sports. Whether the NCAA bans court storming altogether and imposes punishments for doing so, or whether it continues to allow it, it will be interesting to see what the outcome will be.
[1] College coaches, leaders call for court-storming regulations – ABC News (go.com)
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Court Storming Dangers Exposed: Jay Bilas Calls for Action | First Take Recap – Video Summarizer – Glarity
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] College coaches, leaders call for court-storming regulations – ABC News (go.com)
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
Leave a Reply