College sports leaders have made half-hearted attempts for years to get their arms around court and field storms. It’s time to do better, time to do more.
The latest call for action came from Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball coach Jon Scheyer on Saturday afternoon, after a loss at the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Scheyer saw his best player and likely NBA draft lottery pick, big man Kyle Filipowski, suffer what the coach said was a sprained ankle during a scary-fast court storming by Demon Deacons fans. (Filipowski later reportedly said it was a knee injury.) This was a completely uncontained mob running heedlessly through the players immediately after the buzzer sounded.
“When are we going to ban court storming?” Scheyer asked. “Like, 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.”
