College coaches, leaders call for court-storming regulations،
LAWRENCE, Kan. – On Monday, Jon Scheyer, Bill Self and other college basketball leaders called for a ban on assaults on college basketball courts due to safety concerns and potential legal impacts for athletes and students.
Conversation about storming the court intensified over the weekend after Duke star Kyle Filipowski was bumped by Wake Forest fans who spilled onto the floor after the 83 win -79 for the Demon Deacons against the Blue Devils on Saturday. This incident occurred just weeks after a fan encountered women's basketball superstar Caitlin Clark following Iowa's upset loss to Ohio State.
During the ACC's media conference call Monday, Scheyer said the ACC should implement a courtroom storming ban now and not wait to address the issue this offseason. He said Filipowski avoided serious injury during the courtroom storming incident, but was “a little sore” on Monday. Scheyer initially said Filipowski suffered an ankle injury. The projected lottery pick in this summer's NBA draft was carried off the court by his teammates after the collision.
Eleven conferences – Atlantic 10, Big East, Big South, Big Ten, Big 12, Conference USA, Mid-Eastern Athletic, Pac-12, WAC, Southeastern and West Coast – recently told ESPN that homeschooling for a storm court could be liable to a fine in certain circumstances.
The ACC does not impose fines for storming the field, and a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Associated Press that the league has no plans to fine Wake Forest for Saturday's incident.
“We absolutely shouldn't wait until next year, we need to do something now,” Scheyer said on the ACC conference call. “At the end of the day, players, coaches and officials are the only people who belong on a field.”
Self said he has witnessed safety issues during several legal storms after road losses throughout his career.
In 2012, Self had to help referee Darron George off the field after breaking his arm as Iowa State fans stormed the field following an upset against the Jayhawks. In 2015, a Kansas State fan bumped into former Kansas forward Jamari Traylor during another legal storm after an upset against Kansas.
“Let’s get rid of it completely,” Self told ESPN on Monday. “I don't see the positive impact from a visual standpoint. There's excitement about our game and people are so excited about college basketball. [Court storming] is not as positive as a negative potential that exists when someone is injured or there is a lawsuit. Can you imagine a child bursting into court, bumping into someone, being sued and having their life changed forever? It works both ways. Or, someone comes across one of our players, our player [lifts their arms] to protect yourself and grab someone right in the Adam's apple or hit them in the temple and give them a concussion or something? This is a lawsuit against them. »
Self said he watched video of the Wake Forest field assault Saturday and thought Filipowski had no opportunity to prepare for the moment fans rushed the field. He described it as a dangerous situation that leagues could mitigate with harsher penalties.
“What happened the other day, watching it live, it could have been a lot worse,” Self said. “Filipowski didn’t seem ready to prepare for it.”
Self said Kansas has “probably been mobbed as much as anyone,” so he's now trying to prepare his players in case opposing fans might rush the field. He said he tries to make sure his players are near the sideline as time runs out in those situations. However, it is not always possible to create a safe scenario.
Plus, it's not his job to keep his team safe when fans storm the field, he said.
“Safety measures, until recently, consisted of the visiting team educating its own players on how to handle [court storming]”, Self said. “Like calling a timeout with 15 seconds left and it's a 10-point game, just to take guys out of the game or whatever or tell them not to come out, to stand next to the sideline. These things happen. But even with that, it shouldn't be the visiting team's responsibility to educate their guys. »
Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway said storming the field had already been a fun time for fans to celebrate an upset victory. In recent years, however, the tone around legal attacks has changed, he said.
“I understand it's been a part of college basketball forever. But now it's starting to get a little too violent because there are so many people getting caught in the middle,” he said Sunday after his team's victory against Florida Atlantic. “Usually the students come out and go around the players, let them off the field and let security catch them. Now it's like they're trying to let the players see them or say something. [to them]. You want the safety of the fans as well as the players. I think you should let the team out. If you feel like you're going to storm the field and you're going to allow it, you don't do a handshake line. »
Coaches aren't the only ones driving the conversation. Brett Yormark, the Big 12 commissioner, told “Outside the Lines” Monday that he and the other top commissioners plan to fight legal assaults in the near future.
“I can tell you [Tuesday] actually, I have a call with some of my fellow commissioners and we're going to talk about it because it's not a conference issue, it's an industry issue and something that, you know, we need to address collectively,” Yormark said on the show. “And those conversations are ongoing, and officially we'll have one tomorrow and we'll see where that takes us.”
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne went so far as to say he thinks teams should forfeit in scenarios like the Duke-Wake Forest game.
“You have two kids running there, right, but when you have a sustained run like what just happened the other day at Wake, you lose the game,” Byrne told reporters in Birmingham on Monday. “It will make people stop.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
