Poll: Are you OK with fans storming the court after big wins?
The dangers of court storming made the rounds once again yesterday after the latest big time player got nudged by rowdy fans flooding the court after a big time upset.
Saturday night it was the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest, who worked their fans into such a frenzy by beating No. 8 Duke, 83-79, to take a big step toward earning an NCAA Tournament bid.
When the clock hit triple zeros, Wake Forest fans flooded onto the court to celebrate the school's victory and amid the chaos, Duke star Kyle Filipowski was run into by several court stormers, causing the Blue Devils forward to sprain his ankle. Filipowski then needed help from teammates and coaches to get off the congested court and back to the locker room.
If you remember, last month a similar situation unfolded following an Iowa women's basketball game, in which the Hawkeyes and star Caitlin Clark were upset at Ohio State, causing the fans to storm the court. One of the fans collided with Clark, knocking the Iowa star to the floor.
With court storming back in the news, what should be done about it? It's a practice that has exemplified excitement and triumph throughout basketball's history. But that's not how Duke head coach Jon Scheyer is viewing the tradition after watching one of his best players taken out by court stormers.
"When are we going to ban court storming?" Scheyer asked the media. "When are we going to ban that? 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.
"You look around the country. Caitlin Clark, something happens. And now Flip, I don't know what his status is going to be. He sprains his ankle. It's one thing, like when I played, at least it was 10 seconds and you storm the court. Now, the buzzer doesn't even go off and they're running on the floor. This has happened to us a bunch this year."
In recent days, there's been some discussion about how to avoid putting players in harm's way, while continuing to keep the tradition alive. Some have suggested a shot clock - 30 seconds for teams to clear the floor - but do you really think thousands of anxious fans are going to patiently wait out a buffer zone?
While some call for it to be banned and others say they have no problem with it continuing, where do you fall on the idea of storming the court after a big W?