Duke center Kyle Filipowski was injured during a court storm on Saturday. The extend of his knee injury is unclear but it stemmed from an onslaught of Wake Forest fans who rushed onto the court to celebrate their team’s win over the No. 8-ranked team in college basketball.
A similar incident took place at the end of January when Caitlin Clark was barreled by an Ohio State fan.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder was furious about the incident involving her superstar sharpshooter. Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer was enraged by the incident in Winston-Salem and called for a ban.
This discourse will continue in the coming days, weeks and months. There is no clear solution to the issue, other than a hard ban on court-storming. But even then, how do you enforce it?
Students are going to do what they want to do regardless of the rules. They have been asked not to rush the court in the past. They continue to rush the court and will continue to do so.
It’s a lifetime memory that is way too much fun. Especially after a few libations!
So what can be done?
One unnamed college basketball coach has an idea that seems like a no-brainer. He made a suggestion that makes the most sense of the non-ban options that have been presented thus far.
Start a shot clock as soon as a game goes final. Give the visiting team 30 seconds to get off the court and down the tunnel. You get a countdown and you give the home team and home fans a chance to have their court storm.
— Anonymous hoops coach, via Rob Dauster
In that scenario, the visiting team is off of the court safely. Filipowski would’ve been in the tunnel before the students charged onto the floor. There wouldn’t have been interaction between fan and player.
And the students still get to storm the court!
While this suggestion seems like the simple solution, because it is, it would bring other issues to the surface. First and foremost, schools would have to enforce the students’ cooperation in the countdown, which could be tricky because waiting to storm the court 30 seconds after the final buzzer takes some (if not all) of the energy out of the victory ceremony. Secondly, by actively promoting the storm, schools might be liable for any injuries that could occur among the students themselves.
Even still, if college basketball is going to avoid a court-storming ban, this seems like the most logical idea of those that have been brought to the table. Otherwise, a ban feels imminent…