Just as it has been storming this winter, students have been storming the basketball court all season. For anyone who knows me well, or follows me on twitter, they know that I have strong feelings about this. While many sports writers over the years have tried to develop their own rules for storming the court, there are no parameters for it (unless fines are involved). Some see it as a right of passage in college, others look at it as kids having fun, and some find it to be a safety issue. While the truth likely likes somewhere in the middle, there’s one thing for certain – storming the court has become an epidemic.

This college basketball season has had more parody than we’ve seen in years. The result has been 21 occasions where an unranked team has upset a team ranked in the top 5. To channel my inner Dickie V, “That’s upset city, baby.” The huge number of upsets helped to make this season one of the most fun to watch in recent memory since there was never a game that you could know the result of with certainty before it tipped off – at least once the conference season started. Unfortunately, we’ve seen as many stories this year about students storming the court as we have about the victory itself – which should be the actual focus.

Based on just the games I paid attention to since the first of the year, there have been at least 24 instances of storming the court – some of which got more press than others. Here’s my (likely incomplete) list of court storming in 2013:
– January 10: Oregon defeats #4 Arizona
– January 12: #20 North Carolina State defeats #1 Duke
– January 16: Maryland defeats #14 North Carolina State
– January 19: #13 Butler defeats #8 Gonzaga
– January 22: Villanova defeats #5 Louisville
– January 22: Wake Forest defeats #19 North Carolina State
– January 23: Drake defeats #17 Creighton
– January 23: LaSalle defeats #9 Butler
– January 23: #25 Miami defeats #1 Duke
– January 26: Villanova defeats #3 Syracuse
– January 31: St Louis defeats #9 Butler
– February 2: California defeats #10 Oregon
– February 6: TCU defeats #5 Kansas
– February 7: Illinois defeats #1 Indiana
– February 9: Wisconsin defeats #3 Michigan
– February 9: Oklahoma defeats #5 Kansas
– February 9: #25 Notre Dame defeats #11 Louisville
– February 16: Maryland defeats #2 Duke
– February 23: Wake Forest defeats #2 Miami
– February 26: Minnesota defeats #1 Indiana
– February 27: Penn State defeats #4 Michigan
– February 28: Virginia defeats #3 Duke
– March 6: Nebraska defeats Minnesota
– March 9: #5 Georgetown defeats #17 Syracuse

Traditionally, storming the court was a sacred ritual to be reserved for only the biggest, most program-defining wins. However, I call it an epidemic nowadays since that’s no longer the case. There were 2 occasions with 3 storms on the same day. The team that was rushed on the most was Duke (4 times), who didn’t have a key player during that time and didn’t even win the ACC. Something doesn’t add up there (and yes I know that they are a traditional power, but it’s not like they never lose a game). Anyways, there are a few on this list that really stick out. Before I get into any “rules,” here are the ones that really seemed the most ridiculous to me: Butler/Gonzaga (Butler was ranked in top 15 and have been to the Final Four twice in the last 4 years), Maryland/NC State (NC State was only ranked 14, which was only because they had beat Duke), Wake Forest/NC State (they were ranked 19 and falling) and Cal/Oregon (it was a deflated Ducks squad that had already lost to an unranked team already earlier that week and Cal’s 9^th straight win over Oregon). Finally, I understand that Georgetown won a share of the title and it was the last time they were playing Syracuse, but you’re the #5 team in the country – I can’t believe that’s even on the list. I could easily go into detail about of these, but don’t want this to take an hour to read!

I’ve also been known to tweet appreciation to teams when they don’t storm the court while I’m expecting it. Some are in the SEC…where the established $25,000 court-rushing fine to the school seems to have made its presence felt. Others were struggling programs, or schools who tend to rush on an annual basis (Northwestern is the first that comes to mind). The biggest props here go to Villanova, who didn’t storm on #5 Georgetown on March 6^th after doing so the previous 2 times they beat and top 5 team and to Baylor who simply cheered from their seats when they beat #4 Kansas on March 9^th (which also stopped KU from winning an outright conference title).

From the fan perspective, what used to be a spontaneous outburst has become “that thing you do when your team wins a big game.” It has now become a predictable weekly ritual and feels stale. For many teams, a big win provides and opportunity for them and their fans to “act like they’ve been there before”. I feel like by rushing the floor, you really didn’t really believe in your team to win in the first place – which says a lot about both the fan bases and teams. If teams want respect for the players and their schools, they shouldn’t act like they just won the National Championship when they beat a ranked team at home (let alone when they are also ranked and/or the team they beat isn’t even a top team in the country). Personally, I loved it when Missouri players indicated to their fans not to rush when they beat Kansas as a sign of pride in and respect for their program… they expected to win.

A simple web search for “rules for storming the court” brings up millions of results. There are no hard and fast guidelines for this action, nor will their ever be. The SEC decided to make their own rules about it in December of 2004. Per the conference, the policy is designed to create a safe environment for everyone who participates and attends their athletic contests. The security and protection of their student athletes, coaches, officials and fans is the primary concern. It should be noted that this took place shortly after the NBA brawl at the Palace and a fight between players at football game. So, is the SEC so progressive that they curbed this before it became a bigger problem, or just flexing their muscles? Maybe a little of both.

Regardless, safety is and should be a concern. Unfortunately, we live in a world with a lot of crazy people. Coach Mike Krzyzewski brought such concerns to the forefront after Duke’s loss to Virginia on February 28^th, the 4^th time that they were stormed on this season. Heated words were exchanged between Coach K and fans. In the postgame presser, he said that he didn’t think that his team was significantly protected when trying to get off the court amid the storm. Mason Plumlee had threatening messages sent to him on twitter before the game and then was bumped into when trying to leave the court. This is obviously not a good scenario for players and sent the sports media in to rounds of debates regarding storming the court. Opinions came out from not allowing it ever to letting kids do it whenever they want. I honestly believe that little will change (other than conferences taking it into their own hands) until something serious happens. Storming the part is not part of the game and represents potential injuries that could be avoided.

Sometimes, we need rules to prevent the crazies among us from doing what they’ll do before something bad happens. I believe that is the intent of the SEC’s policy. People can find ways come into arenas with knives on them without being caught. If someone wants to cause harm to another person, they will find a way. I’m not saying we should all have to go through metal detectors to attend sporting events, but we need to be aware that bad things can happen, especially in the world we live in today. When there are stabbings at sports bars and in parking lots, is it only a matter of time before it happens inside the venues? Former coaches have said that you have to be concerned for the safety of the players and the coaches – it’s a potentially dangerous situation where emotions are running high and fans say and things that aren’t acceptable in everyday society. Allowing them on the floor is asking for trouble.  Here are a few examples of such trouble when fans get too close to athletes: a student at NC State was knocked out of his wheelchair when they stormed on Duke and had to be picked up by a player, a Washington football player was punched by a fan that ran onto the field when WSU won (imagine if he had retaliated instead of tweeting that he was praying for the troubled person), Monica Seles being stabbed in 1993 at a tennis match, and in 2005 when Germain Fitch, a BGSU player with a chance to play in the NBA, was jumped on by a fan in a storm that tore his ACL and essentially ended his basketball career. Perhaps a few more people should read the story of Joe Kay as well, which can be found here: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/9019013/joe-kay-sobering-rushing-court-story. He was a high school student who had it all, until his peers rushed the court and he was thrown to the floor and suffered a torn carotid artery and a stroke, leaving him paralyzed on the right side. Still think we shouldn’t be worried about safety when it comes to storming the court?

Ultimately, storming the court can be a dangerous situation for everyone involved. At minimum, the losing team should be protected enough to leave the court safely. The celebrating teams may also want to think twice about potential harm to their own teammates. I personally wouldn’t mind if court storming was banned for both safety and because the sanctity of it seems to have been ruined at this point. However, if students must continue to storm the court, here are some rules to abide by (which would mean that storming would again be a sacred ritual if followed instead of an epidemic)…
Rules for Storming the Court
1. Don’t storm the court if you’re a ranked team.
2. Don’t storm the court if the team you beat isn’t ranked in the top 25. For most scenarios I think top 5 or 10 is more appropriate.
3. Don’t storm the court if you’ve won a tournament in the past 3 years (NCAA, conference or in-season). You’re obviously not a surprise to win if you’ve accomplished that feat recently.
4. Don’t storm the court if the team you beat has already been stormed on twice this season.
5. Don’t storm the court until the losing team is out of harms way.
6. Don’t storm the court if athletic excellence is the expectation at your school.

This may come as a surprise, but I rushed the court once. It was after I graduated and I went back to sit with friends in the student section. My team was not ranked and the conference foe was #1. They had scuffled in the Big Ten that season, losing 4 in a row a one point. Then, they beat the top team in the country by 9 and fans stormed the court. I remember it well; I fell trying to help a girl avoid being tramped and broke my camera. It was a rush, no doubt about it. We were living in the moment and were fortunate that no one was hurt. Yes, some of the rules I listed were broken, luckily I hadn’t written them yet…

Well, this still ended up being longer than expected. It was long overdue though from previous posts and comments I’ve made. Enjoy Conference Tourney Week and Bring on the Madness!!!