Duke basketball player Kyle Filipowski hobbles to the locker room after Wake Forest fans flood the court. | Photo courtesy of ESPN
Story by Emma Hall
ANCHOR LEAD
There is a storm brewing in college basketball. Reporter Emma Hall investigates college basketball court storming, the controversy surrounding it, and possible solutions to the problem.
TAKE PKG
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This is court storming, when college students rush onto basketball courts after a major upset or rivalry win. This college tradition sparked controversy in North Carolina when Wake Forest fans stormed the court after beating a ranked Duke basketball team. The injured Duke player Kyle Filipowski said everyone knew it was coming but did nothing to stop it. Duke head coach Jon Scheyer responded to the incident in the postgame interview.
Jon Scheyer, Duke Men’s Basketball Head Coach
“Flip sprains his ankle. When are we going to ban court-storming? When are we going to ban that? How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched or they get pushed or they get taunted?”
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Broadcasters joined the discussion as well.
Jay Bilas, ESPN Basketball Analyst
“Whether people want to admit it or not, fans are not entitled to be on the court. They’re not participants in the game. They’re they’re as spectators. They’re not part of the game. They’re part of the atmosphere, but they’re not part of the game.”
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People took to social media as tweet… after tweet… after tweet followed the Duke-Wake Forest game.
Standup
Over here at Chapel Hill, we talked to the President of the Carolina Athletics Association Elizabeth Kohn. She mainly works in ticketing for football and basketball events. She told us her thoughts on court storming.
Elizabeth Kohn, Carolina Athletic Association President
“in general. We’re told not to encourage it, but it is something that happens”
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Kohn said she understands the student perspective of wanting to storm the court. To students, it’s typically seen as a fun college experience, not a safety issue.
Elizabeth Kohn, Carolina Athletic Association President
“I don’t think students think through that when they’re, you know, trying to court storm. And, you know, it’s hard to think about that when you just won the game”
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She suggested colleges give students an alternative area to storm instead of the court, like Franklin Street for Chapel Hill.
NAT *rushing Franklin Street*
Elizabeth Kohn, Carolina Athletic Association President
“I think we could incentivize students away from the courts if possible like for example our students are running to Franklin so they’re not as likely to run on the court…I would think more of to try to have outside things that the students could run to theoretically would help solve it, because otherwise, if there’s nothing else to do, they’re gonna want to go to one place they can celebrate”
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Bilas had other ideas to end court storming.
Jay Bilas, ESPN Basketball Analyst
“They can raise the fine level, to to something that really makes sense. Or they can hey, let them on, but don’t let them off and then cite everyone criminally or arrest them.”
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UNC, Duke and Wake Forest are a part of the Atlantic Coast Conference. While most conferences impose fines for court storming, the ACC doesn’t currently have any penalties in place. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement that they “will continually assess with [their] schools the best way to protect [their] student-athletes, coaches, and fans.” I’m Emma Hall, reporting.
TRT 2:42
ANCHOR TAG
The ACC Commissioner has not said if the conference has plans to change its court storming policies in the future, only that the conference will continue to look out for its players’ safety on the court.
