Kansas State court storm prompts safety questions
Nicole Auerbach and Eric Prisbell, USA TODAY Sports February 24, 2015
College basketball’s court-storming days could be numbered.
Though policies related to fans storming the court are determined on an individual school and/or conference level, there seems to be momentum building to consider changes — whatever they may be — in the aftermath of an ugly scene following the Kansas-Kansas State game Monday night in Manhattan, Kan.
There, the frenzied Wildcat fan base flooded the court before Kansas coach Bill Self and his players could exit safely. Self was smushed between the mob and the scorer’s table. Multiple Kansas players were taunted by Kansas State fans, and Jayhawks forward Jamari Traylor was hipchecked by a Kansas State fan who appeared to go after him on purpose.
“It would be wonderful if we could snap our fingers and say everybody stay off the court, no court storming,” said Kansas State athletic director John Currie, who has apologized profusely for not protecting the Kansas coaches and players better. “We didn’t do a good enough job and are fortunate nobody was hurt.”
The Southeastern Conference bans court-storming and imposes escalating fines if the rule is broken. Currie, who came to Kansas State from Tennessee, felt that the SEC’s ban sent the right message, even if it didn’t always curb the act of court-storming. If the other members of the Big 12 wanted to impose a similar ban, Currie said he’d support that.
“It’s a way to indicate a clear position of a league,” Currie said. “I am not opposed to it. I also know that from experience that it has not stopped that practice. Has it minimized it? Perhaps. But clearly it has not stopped that practice. One would have to assess whether it is truly a deterrent versus a very strong statement.”
Each individual school and venue is responsible for its game day management and safety operations. In some leagues, schools gather annually to discuss best practices. Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told USA TODAY Sports in a text message Tuesday morning, “We do not have a specific prohibition like some other conferences but we do have game management expectations and we will be reviewing the matter this morning.”
“First and foremost, there’s a number of precautions you attempt to take to ensure the safety of the officials and the participants of the game,” Michigan State athletics director Mark Hollis said. “In most cases, rushing the court is a celebration from an individual standpoint. What’s not understood is when it’s done in unison, it goes from celebration to something that’s extremely threatening from a safety and damage standpoint.
“That’s why it’s so critical that we request, we plan and we make sure we have security — the best that we can — in place for when those incidents occur. … Every conference, every school, it’s paramount with athletic directors; safety is non-negotiable.”
Hollis said he expects future conversations within his league, the Big Ten, about how far people are willing to let court-storming go before possibly implementing a penalty structure.
Self said Monday he is worried about fans hurting players, players retaliating and the potential lawsuits that could follow. He’s not the only coach who thinks the sport is dangerously close to something of that nature happening on the court in a chaotic postgame scene.
“I’m not a big fan of it,” Ohio State basketball coach Thad Matta said. “That’s the frightening part — a kid, who knows what he’s going to do? You don’t want an altercation with one of your players and a student who’s not supposed to be on the court.”
Hollis said future conversations will assess potential ways to punish schools for court-storming, such as implementing fines or even, “the reduction of wins if you want to really get serious about the process.”
“I can recall the day when these were celebratory-type behaviors; it felt a lot safer,” he said. “It looked a lot more like a celebration (than) a mob. You still see some of that today, a total jubilation over a win. But then you see others when there’s obvious action within that process that turns from happiness to terror.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2015/02/24/kansas-state-court-storming-basketball-safety/23956615/