Schools won’t stop fans from storming the court, but they can manage it better

After his player got injured Saturday when Wake Forest fans stormed the court, Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer asked a logical question.

“When are we going to ban court-storming?” Scheyer asked during a press conference a few minutes after Duke forward Kyle Filipowski suffered an ankle injury during a collision with a sprinting Wake Forest fan. “Like, 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?”

Scheyer’s question has already been answered, though.

Court-storming (in basketball) and field-storming (in football) already have been banned in some places. It continues to happen. The better question is this: When will the people in charge of college sports stop the practice of rushing the court/field after a big win by the home team?

The answer? Never.

We have enough evidence at this point to show that no matter the good intentions behind such a rule — the safety of the players and of the fans who storm — they are no match for the rocket-fuel mix of hormones and endorphins that is a home student section after pulling a massive upset or beating a hated rival for the first time in a while*.

*Neither of these descriptions fit Saturday’s Duke-Wake Forest game. The Demon Deacons were 2.5-point betting favorites, and they beat Duke in Winston-Salem last season. Such is the hatred/respect for the Blue Devils that wins against them seem to inspire storming.

The SEC banned the practice way back in December 2004. Nearly 20 years ago, the league told its fans to stay in the stands and started fining schools for allowing them to storm. Did this stop anything?

Not in 2007 when Kentucky beat LSU in football.

Not in 2014 when Ole Miss beat Alabama in football.

Not in 2016 — after fines were increased — when Vanderbilt beat Kentucky in basketball.

Certainly not in 2022 when Tennessee beat Alabama in football.

And not last week —after yet another hike in fines in 2023 — after LSU sank a buzzer-beater to beat Kentucky.

In that last one, SEC partner ESPN cut a clip and posted it to YouTube advertising the court storm. ESPN’s Jay Bilas correctly explained multiple times in the past two weeks that court stormings aren’t going away in part because his network wants the visual. We love that visual. The CBS blimp shot of Tennessee fans streaming onto the field at Neyland Stadium after beating Alabama in 2022 might have been the most iconic image of that season. Bilas also said court stormings probably would end overnight if every fan on the court was detained and arrested or fined before they left the area. 

But that’s probably bad for business. Schools don’t really want to be arresting (mostly) their own students en masse.

Plus, it’s fun. The vast majority of the people who rush the court or the field are 18- to 22-year-olds having a blast. And most of the time, the visiting team gets off the field or court without incident.

But it’s certainly understandable why SEC commissioner Greg Sankey would want the practice stopped. If someone gets trampled to death in a storming, one of Sankey’s member schools and Sankey’s league will get blamed (and probably sued). So I don’t blame Sankey and his predecessor Mike Slive for trying to curtail storming. In their position, this stance is not only sensible, but it can provide a legal defense in the event of such a lawsuit. “We tried,” a conference commissioner can say. And that commissioner would be telling the truth.

But since the people at the games have shown time and again that they aren’t going to stop, the best thing schools can do short of commercially irresponsible mass arrests is manage the situation.

Ohio State showed it can learn from its mistakes this season. When the Buckeyes’ women’s team upset Iowa on Jan. 21, an oblivious fan smashed into Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark, who might be the single biggest box office draw in all of college sports. 

Buckeyes officials apologized and went to work on a new plan. And when the Ohio State men upset Purdue on Feb. 18, a line of security personnel appeared immediately to give the Boilermakers an exit route as the fans swarmed elsewhere.

This is the way to handle these situations from a game management perspective. Creighton also had a good plan when the Blue Jays beat Connecticut last week.

But schools can be more proactive. Here are two suggestions:

• A pre-game poll.

• An instructional video.

For the first, the poll doesn’t need to be scientific. On gameday, ask fans on social media if this feels like a game where they might storm if the home team wins. If the numbers come anywhere close to 50 percent, make sure arena/stadium security is on high alert.

For the second, think about the video you watch before you’ve gone on any rollercoaster. It explains how to buckle your seat belt and also what kind of movements might cost you a limb. 

This video should offer helpful tips like asking fans to count to five before storming. (The Wake Forest fans jumped the gun a little Saturday.) It should demand fans keep their phones in their pockets until they reach the celebration spot at center court. Just remember the run. Don’t try to run and shoot video at the same time. You’re not coordinated enough.

The instructional video also should show a clip from the infamous Malice at the Palace to explain what can happen when a fan invades the players’ domain. As you can tell, I’m fine with fans rushing the court or the field. But I’m also fine with players retaliating in any manner they choose against fans who taunt them. This is the tradeoff for entering their space. So at the under-four minute timeout of each basketball game, the arena operations team needs to play the video of the Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal punching a Pistons fan on the court. Some deep-voiced narrator needs to say “If you’re an a-hole, this can happen to you.”

That way, everyone goes into the situation fully aware of the potential pitfalls.

With a more common-sense approach, it’s possible to keep the fun without hurting anyone. But the fans are going to have to help.

Wait a few seconds. Keep the phones down. Stay away from visiting players. 

And if you get maimed because you voluntarily ran with thousands of other people into a confined space that you officially aren’t allowed into, don’t sue. You knew what you were doing. 

Other than that, go make a memory!