On Saturday, Duke never really found their footing, falling 83-79 at Wake Forest. The bigger story was Duke forward Kyle Filipowski being the second significant player in the country in the past six weeks to collide with opposing fans storming the court after the final buzzer.
Filipowski, who scored 17 points on Saturday, appeared to tweak his knee when Wake Forest fans poured out from the stands, and one may have run at him on purpose. Filipowski only registered nine points and 10 rebounds in Duke’s 84-59 rebound drubbing of Louisville on Thursday night. The Blue Devils sit at 22-6 overall, 13-4 in the ACC, and 10th in the latest Associated Press and Coaches’ Polls.
The loss to an unranked Demon Deacons is bad, but one of your stars possibly being limited with an injury for a non-competitive injury overshadows all in this scenario. Iowa record-setting guard Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan after the Buckeyes upset the Hawkeyes back on January 21, while the Hawkeyes were ranked second in the country. Thankfully, Clark walked away unscathed.
With Ohio State now currently ranked second, and Iowa slipping to sixth, the celebration now seems all the more premature.
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer has already called for court storming to be banned, and his feelings are becoming increasingly warranted in college sports. In addition to the safety of the players and coaches on the field, there would be the unnecessary costs the hosting school could incur from property damages. Schools have taken strides to reinforce the goalposts in football stadiums to cut down on fans ripping them out, then carrying them out of the stadium. In college basketball, fans will hang from the rim, or climb up on top of the backboard itself.
Granted these are often overzealous, or drunk, members of the student section, but what happens when the hydraulic on that basketball goal collapses, or the rim releases, shattering the glass of the backboard when it does?
Top-ranked Purdue has been upset this season on the road by Northwestern, Wisconsin, and recently Ohio State. All three times the fans stormed the court. Reigning Naismith Player of the Year Zach Edey is the one person in the arena unlikely to be affected by the sea of fans with his 7-foot-4 frame. However, if the NCAA is not going to ban storming, they certainly need better measures to get the opposing squad off the floor safely and efficiently.
The SEC has a rule where any school whose fans storm the court/field is automatically fined $100,000, with the fine going to the opposing university. Kentucky was upset twice on the road this season in men’s basketball, and is now $200,000 richer as a result. The second loss on February 12 at LSU saw Angel Reese, a current starting forward on the defending National Champion Lady Tiger squad admit to being among the mob.
Since the NCAA wants to be more like the professionals with how their sports are run, they need to set a precedent here. We know it is not possible to have the level of security at college events akin to what you see on Sundays in the NFL, or through the week in the MLB or NBA. The severity with the threat of punishment however should be escalated to where it outweighs any inclination of rushing the field to begin with.
We only see fans rush the court in college basketball and football. Could we try to get it to become a “thing” in college hockey, so the fans who rush have a legitimate reason to be ridiculed, instead of simply a metaphorical one?
-JC24
The SEC has a rule where any school whose fans storm the court/field is automatically fined $100,000, with the fine going to the opposing university. Kentucky was upset twice on the road this season in men’s basketball, and is now $200,000 richer as a result. The second loss on February 12 at LSU saw Angel Reese, a current starting forward on the defending National Champion Lady Tiger squad admit to being among the mob.
Since the NCAA wants to be more like the professionals with how their sports are run, they need to set a precedent here. We know it is not possible to have the level of security at college events akin to what you see on Sundays in the NFL, or through the week in the MLB or NBA. The severity with the threat of punishment however should be escalated to where it outweighs any inclination of rushing the field to begin with.
We only see fans rush the court in college basketball and football. Could we try to get it to become a “thing” in college hockey, so the fans who rush have a legitimate reason to be ridiculed, instead of simply a metaphorical one?
-JC24