Injuries are part of the game — but Duke men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer takes issue when those bumps and bruises occur after time expires and during the jostling of celebrating fans.
“This can’t happen. … It’s a dangerous situation,” Scheyer told reporters Monday, days after Blue Devils center Kyle Filipowski was knocked down and injured his knee when he collided with Wake Forest fans who stormed their home court after the Demon Deacons’ upset victory 83-79 on Saturday.
“The ACC needs to do something,” he said. “Something has to be done to protect not only our guys, but any team that finds itself in this situation.”
Filipowski’s confrontation with Wake Forest fans came a month after Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark was leveled during a game. postgame celebration at Ohio Stateraising concerns about the storming of the courts.
Neither Clark nor Filipowski has missed a game this season, although Filipowski’s status may not be known until Duke’s next game is announced, Wednesday at home against Louisville.
“We shouldn’t wait until next year. Something has to be done now,” Scheyer said.
Banning the centuries-old tradition of students rushing onto the field after a big victory would go against decades of cultural practice of the sport – but it could be done with nothing more than a few uniformed police officers and threats of consequences, legal and law enforcement experts said.
What is court storming and who does it?
The assault on the field is usually limited to the months of January, February and early March, when a home team beats a favored visitor.
That doesn’t happen when college basketball reaches its biggest audience, the popular March Madness playoff tournament.
“It is not our policy to storm the field,” NCAA spokesman David Worlock said in a statement.
“Policies are implemented and enforced at the conference and institutional level. This is not permitted during NCAA tournament games, and we are working with host sites to develop a safety plan to try to prevent this. prevent,” he added.
A representative for the Atlantic Coast Conference, which includes Duke, Wake Forest and other traditional basketball powers like North Carolina and Virginia, said Tuesday that the league would not comment beyond a statement released Saturday by Commissioner Jim Phillips.
“The safety of our student-athletes is always our top priority. We have been and will continue to be in contact with Duke and Wake Forest regarding what happened after today’s game,” he said. “In college athletics, we have seen far too many of these incidents that put individuals in danger. and this will require the cooperation of everyone – including spectators – to ensure the well-being of all. As a conference, we will continually evaluate with our schools how to best protect our student-athletes, coaches and fans.
There are fears that if a superstar player were seriously injured during an on-field storming, it could trigger a massive lawsuit against a host school.
But if there are no written policies prohibiting court attacks, that absence itself could protect a school from harsh civil penalties if a player is injured in such a context, said Barbara Osborne, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
“A moral obligation (to protect players) is not necessarily a legal obligation,” said Osborne, who teaches sports law.
She said schools and leagues could put themselves at greater civil risk by trying to impose a ban on court attacks.
“Reasonable members of a jury might disagree on whether or not the school has a duty to keep people safe,” she said. “We know that in other situations, like at a concert, when you put up a barrier to prevent (fans) from going down to the floor, more people are injured, crushed, they crush those who are fallen. “My God, that’s it. a close match; maybe we (field security) should all lock arms and guard the perimeter (of the field), which would cause far more harm than allowing people to rush onto the field.
No storms in professional sport; not now at least
The onslaught of fans on the playing surface is unique to college basketball and almost never happens in professional sports – at least not now.
Just a generation ago, wild fan celebrations on the playing field were much more common.
When New York Yankees slugger Chris Chambliss won the American League pennant with a home run on October 14, 1976, he had to fight his way through a crowd of rushing Bronx faithful on the field as he toured the bases.
And when the Yankees won the World Series a year later, on October 18, 1977, Reggie Jackson donned a batting helmet while playing in the outfield during the ninth inning of Game 6 that won the title.
After the final out was recorded, Jackson crushed Yankees fans as he ran to safety in the dugout and clubhouse.
Terence “Terry” Monahan, who developed stadium and arena security plans during his years as chief of the NYPD department, insisted that crowds can easily be excluded from courts and fields if leagues or teams make it a priority.
The threat of consequences and the sight of uniformed police would deter even thousands of students from speaking out, Monahan said.
“It would be very easy,” he said. “You make an announcement: ‘Hey, you’re under arrest, and if you’re a student, you could be suspended.’ All of a sudden there’s a consequence on the ground. Right now, there’s no consequence – no one is saying you can’t do it.
Caitlin Clark equalized in post-match celebration
The clashes between Clark and Filipowski could be the start of a national debate over storming the courts.
“Caitlin Clark has been much worse than Filipowski,” said Osborne, a UNC law professor. “As there have been two incidents in a relatively short period of time, I think things could happen sooner than expected.”
The Southeastern Conference, better known for its football, is taking a tougher stance against fans fleeing the basketball court. SEC fined LSU $100,000 after Tigers fans stormed the floor Wednesday after a win over Kentucky.
“Yes, it’s part of the college sports culture, but if coaches and athletes are saying, ‘Wait a minute,’ then you need to think about it. There’s a lot of ingrained culture that we’re re-evaluating.” said Nicolette Aduama, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University in Boston.
“Even if something is part of the culture, if people are harmed or harmed in a celebratory situation, then we need to re-evaluate it.”
CORRECTION (February 28, 2024, 9 a.m. ET): Due to an editing error, a previous version of this article misstated the organization that fined LSU $100,000 after its fans took d storm the field. This was the Southeastern Conference (SEC), not the Securities and Exchange Commission.
