Ahead of March Madness - is it time to ban court storming?

Written By: Tex Greene

If you’re a fan of a high school or collegiate basketball/volleyball team, then court storming is all the rage. You get to race down from your seats/bleachers and run onto the court, either to emphasize this is your house or that you reign superior over the other team. It’s a way fans can connect with the players that played their hearts out to earn victory. If you’re a coach, manager, or player, however, you may have the opposite opinion.

Court storming through the lens of players and coaches is particularly dangerous. Pretend you’re in enemy territory, and you’re upset by a rival. The fans will be delirious, not thinking through their actions. With hundreds if not thousands of bodies all descending on one place, an accident is just waiting to happen. Nowhere was this more apparent than Wake Forest’s upset of Duke earlier this year.

As a result of court storming, Duke big man Kyle Filipowski suffered an ankle injury due to Wake Forest fans storming the court. He hobbled off the court with help, and thankfully, the injury wasn’t too serious. However, before that diagnosis was reached, people had the opportunity to reflect on whether court storming could cause serious damage. 

Yes, there’s the fact that court storming is a little bit disrespectful to your opponent–but that’s not the main reason why people want it gone. Court storming should be banned because of the possibility of disaster. Filipowski isn’t the only player ever to be negatively impacted by court storming; he’s just the most recent example, and plays for one of the best teams in the nation.

March Madness is the most popular basketball event in America. People are tuning in from all over the country and the world to watch, and arenas will be sold out to watch 64 teams battle it out for a national championship. If you’re paying for a good seat at an arena for March Madness, then chances are you’re very passionate about your team. What happens when court storming inevitably occurs during the tournament, and something worse happens? What happens when McNeese upsets Gonzaga in the first round, their fans storm the court, and Ryan Nembhard rolls his ankle? The NCAA would have a PR disaster on their hands, and who knows how that could spiral.

Currently, the NCAA isn’t even thinking about banning court storming, and it hadn’t been a seriously discussed issue in the past until the Filipowski injury. However, this fluke accident from a month ago could be exactly what’s needed to get the ball rolling on some change.