Kansas State fans rush the floor after upsetting Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum on Monday in Manhattan, Kan. (Orlin Wagner / AP)
It starts to happen every year about this time and it only intensifies as February gives way to the madness of March. Every time there’s a college basketball upset, fans storm the court, creating scary scenes for onlookers and terrifying ones for those in the midst of the insanity.
There have been calls, from time to time, for this to stop and for schools and conferences to take precautionary measures, but nothing has really changed. The latest frightening images of a crowd gone mad come from Manhattan, Kan., where Kansas State fans went wild celebrating their victory over Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum. Jamari Traylor, the Jayhawks’ forward, was hipchecked by a fan; Coach Bill Self was trapped between the scorer’s table and fans.
“I wasn’t nervous for me,” Self said afterward. “There were several students that hit our players — not saying like with fists, but when you storm the court, you run in, you bump everybody, stuff like that. This has got to stop.
“Court storming is fine, but surely, you can get security to the point where player safety is not involved like it is over here. The last several times they’ve won, they’ve stormed the court on us. That’s disappointing that that happened again, but we also allowed it to happen again by not playing well.
“It’s a ballgame. It’s not about chickenwinging somebody when the game’s over, stuff like that. That’s not what it’s about. Hopefully they can get that corrected, because it’s fine if you want to celebrate when you beat us. That’s your business. That’s fine. But at least it shouldn’t put anybody at risk from a safety standpoint, because we’re asking for big problems because somebody’s going to hit a player, and a player’s going to retaliate, and you’re going to have lawsuits and cases. It’s just not right. There’s just no place for it to be unsafe. If you do it, at least do it around center court. Don’t do it at the other bench.”
Videos captured the frenzy in a way that mere images from on high have not.
Kansas State Coach Bruce Weber helped get Self off the court, with security overwhelmed in spite of the fact that the Wildcats led for most of the final eight minutes of the 70-63 win.
“I apologized to Bill and his staff and to their administration,” Weber said. “I felt bad. I love the students and it is a cool thing to be part of that, but you also have to be careful making sure nobody gets hurt.”
A year ago, fans and players fought during the final moments of the game between Utah Valley and New Mexico State. There were repercussions but no real actions. Two yeas ago, after Duke lost to Virginia in Charlottesville and Virginia fans mobbed the court, Coach Mike Krzyzewski addressed the issue. His team had been swarmed for the fourth time that season after a road loss. After North Carolina State upset the Blue Devils, N.C. State forward C.J. Leslie had to lift Will Privette from the floor after he was thrown from his wheelchair during the court storming.
“When we’ve lost in the last 20 years, everybody rushes the court,” Krzyzewski said in 2013. “Whatever you’re doing, you need to get the team off first. Celebrate, have fun. Obviously you won. That’s cool, but just get our team off the court and our coaching staff before students come on.”
Kansas State and the Big 12 have promised to look into the matter, but there’s really only one easy way to end court storming and it’s a solution that no one wants to see. NBC’s Rob Dauster suggests that it’s simply a matter of taking away the victory at a time of the season when the stakes are increasing exponentially. But would that work, given that court-storming happens is an emotional, not a cerebral, reaction?
After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
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