On Saturday, Feb. 24, fans dashed toward the court after Wake Forest’s upset win over the eighth ranked Duke Blue Devils. Things turned south quickly when a fan bumped into Duke’s star center, Kyle Filipowski, causing Filipowski to suffer a sprained knee injury and be listed as questionable for practice the following Monday. After the incident, Duke’s Coach Jon Scheyer asked “when are we going to ban court storming?” Wake Forest’s court storming isn’t the first to make headlines.
Star point guard, Caitlin Clark, collided with an Ohio State fan rushing the court after the Buckeyes Women’s Basketball Team defeated Clark’s top ranked Iowa Hawkeyes in an overtime victory on Jan. 21. Clark was blindsided by the fan, causing her to tumble down to the floor. Fortunately, Clark wasn’t injured, but it caused quite a scare for her. This raises a question — should court storming be banned?
Before I dive in, I’m going to give you a synopsis on court storming. An NBC News article states that court storming happens when a home team defeats a favored visitor. Simply, fans of the home team run toward the court after a win over a ranked opponent or rival. For example, Northwestern stormed the court after their win over number one Purdue in February of 2023. This court storm involved the home fans having fun while celebrating the win and getting their money’s worth by running onto the court and celebrating. A sports fanatic’s dream is to experience the atmosphere of a game — whether it be football, soccer, basketball, hockey, you name it — the aim is to get your money’s worth. College basketball fans complete that through court storming. Fans do this in hopes to celebrate with the team or to simply gain “clout” on social media. For college basketball fans who do this for fun, I get it, but … lines are drawn when there are injury fears to players or fans. Therefore, measures need to be in place for everyone’s safety.
Mike Bianchi from the Orlando Sentinel reports that “The [Florida] Gators have made it clear to their fans […] that anybody who is on the playing surface is essentially trespassing and is subject to arrest and having their ticket privileges revoked.” In addition, the Southeastern Conference implements a $100,000 fine for a first offense for court storming, $250,000 for a second and $500,000 for subsequent offenses. Schools lose money for court storms, thus fines and policies similar to UF’s are necessary to check a box for improving safety measures in college basketball while saving the school a couple of bucks.
Additionally, mandatory timeouts should go into effect to safely get players and coaches off the court if a court storm is imminent. The rule would work as follows — referees would call the timeout to advise coaches and players if signs of a court storm are present. Also, the timeout enables coaches to draft an escape plan to get everyone out. Player safety is top priority, so let’s mandate this rule to ensure a safe exit for players and coaches. This rule should have been in place from the get-go because in a swarm of hundreds of people running toward a player on the court, there’s a good chance that a collision would occur. Prior announcements regarding celebrations that are made by coaches would help with regulation. This way, fans are more likely to have positive responses to protect program image since a court storm has serious risks for injuries to everyone involved. Coach Mike Krzyzewski said it’s important to “just get our team off the court and our coaching staff before students come on.”
Articles spread like wildfire last week calling for “full bans” on court storming and that “stiffer penalties” need to be assessed. I’m going to spill the tea — court storming needs to simmer down. I 100 percent support people celebrating after their team wins but it’s important to keep antics in check to make sure that others aren’t harmed. Court storming fits in my thinking niche — it’s what makes college hoops exciting, but after learning about past incidents involving fans and players/coaches, I believe court storming needs to settle down. Putting regulations in place is going to benefit everyone’s safety — imagine you were in Filipowski’s shoes or heck, the fan who collided with Clark, would you want to be involved in a scary collision putting you at risk while celebrating or trying to get to the lockers? Having regulations such as UF’s or implementing serious fines would reduce the probability of these scenarios. I’m sure that you would consider sprinting down several levels of seats to celebrate with fellow fans after you witness David taking down Goliath — let’s say Binghamton takes down number one Houston, man oh man, Binghamton would be going crazy for days on end. Court storming creates memories that you can proudly recall — “I was in the seats for that game, I remember the buzzer beater that made the arena rock and fans scramble toward the court.” University bodies have potential to unite since winning sports teams give students and staff an excuse to root for the team and go to their games. A sense of unity is created since a good majority is rooting for their school. I’m not advocating for a full ban on this tradition. All I’m saying is that court storming needs regulations to keep everyone safe.
Christian Bongiorno is a sophomore majoring in political science.
Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.