Yes

Since I can remember, storming the court has been a big tradition in college basketball. Whenever a top-ranked team suffers a loss on the road, they are always in danger of being on the receiving end of a court storm.

As of late, though, court storming has come under fire from coaches and media outlets all over the country.

On Feb. 24, the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils suffered a loss while playing at unranked Wake Forest. Even before the final buzzer went off, Demon Deacon students started to pour onto the court inside LJVM Coliseum.

While trying to walk off the court, Blue Devil forward Kyle Filipowski collided with a Wake Forest student and had to be helped off the court with an apparent injury.

Even though Filipowski seemed to engage with the student first, it wasn’t deemed his fault in the situation.

Duke head coach Jon Scheyer told the media how he felt in the post-game press conference, saying that only players, coaches, and officials should be on the court, not students or fans. He demanded that the ACC do something to prevent these court stormings and further injury to their student-athletes.

While I believe the health of student-athletes is the top priority, court storming should be allowed in collegiate athletics.

The only thing separating professional sports from college athletics is a tradition like court-storming. Just like other college athletic traditions, such as the marching band, student sections, and live animal mascots, court stormings are essential for separating professional and collegiate sports.

The reason people love college sports so much is because you don’t see these kinds of traditions and atmospheres anywhere else.

However, court stormings can be executed properly and safely.

Earlier that week, No. 1 UConn dropped to No. 15 Creighton on the road. Filled with excitement, the Blue Jay faithful decided to run onto the court to celebrate with their team. While that was going on, security blocked off a space on the court just for Huskie athletes to properly leave without getting injured.

If it means we have to set up more rules and regulations regarding court stormings, I’m fine with that. But don’t take away one of the greatest traditions in college sports just because a Duke player faked an injury.

Taking away these traditions will be the death of all college athletics as we know it, and I will not stand for that.

No

Throughout the years, college sports fans have seen court storming become more of a controversial topic as unfortunate events began to occur. It’s one thing if those unfortunate events couldn’t be controlled, but they can be controlled, and the only way to control it is to ban the action completely.

Conversations really started to heat up after Iowa superstar guard Caitlin Clark collided with a fan when trying to evacuate the court. After then-No. 18 Ohio State’s 100-92 home victory over then-No. 2 Iowa on Jan. 24, Buckeye fans began to storm the court. When Clark was running off the court, she ran into a rushing fan, spinning around and falling to the ground in visible pain.

She needed help getting off the court as Hawkeye teammates and coaches voiced their frustration about the matter – not just for the collision itself, but also for the fans’ word choices directed at the star player.

“It’s unfortunate the game ended that way and Caitlin [Clark] gets taken out on the floor,” Bluder said. “Had some inappropriate words yelled at her by fans, by students. That just should not happen.”

Then on Feb. 24, another court storm incident took place — this time in men’s hoops. Wake Forest upset then-No. 8 Duke, 83-79, which was arguably the biggest upset in program history. The fans decided to rush the court.

While trying to get off the hardwood, a Demon Deacon fan jumped into star center Kyle Flipowski, hitting his knee. The moment the incident happened, the team surrounded him and helped him get off the court as safely as possible as he was clearly injured as a result.

“I absolutely feel like it was personal, intentional for sure,” Flipowski said after the matter.

“How many times does a player have to get into something, where they get punched, or they get pushed, or they get taunted right in their face? It’s a dangerous thing,” Duke head coach John Scheyer.

Obviously, it’s exciting to the fans to storm the court to celebrate an unanticipated victory or defeat your rival opponent. But the reality is that it’s unsafe for the players and coaches, especially for the visiting teams. Something must be done before another star player suffers a much more serious injury because of the manner, and the only real fix would be to ban the action completely.