The fun and always entertaining court storming discussion has re-entered college basketball sooner than usual this season. You can place your blame on the Iowa Hawkeyes, as their epic collapse last week against Iowa State led to an unexpected court storming from the Cyclone fans.
The only reason for the court storming was undoubtedly the 20-point comeback that the Cyclones put together in the second half. Iowa State point guard Monte Morris drove down the lane with seconds left in the game and the Cyclones down one, just to stop on a dime and take a nice little floater over the Hawkeye defenders. The ball went in, and with 10 seconds left, Iowa inbounded the ball. After a Jarrod Uthoff three rimmed out, the place went bonkers as Iowa State completed an unimaginable comeback just 20 minutes earlier.
Here is where things get dicey when it comes to the court storming: Iowa State is ranked No. 4 in the country, while Iowa was an unranked opponent. The obvious criticism about how “Iowa State should act like they have been there before” and whatnot took its course in a hurry after the game.
The reasons for the court storming were pretty obvious as well. Iowa State and Iowa are (predictably) huge in-state rivals, especially when it comes to basketball. Both teams have been good for a number of years now, so a quality game is always expected. That said, it was the highly ranked home team that was down early, and down by a big margin. So when the Cyclones were slowly digging into the Hawkeyes’ lead, the hope of the fans in Hilton Coliseum started to come back as well. By the time Morris was setting to take his shot, Hilton was at a pandemonium level of its own. The raw emotion of the game had taken over the fans. It was much like when the older brother beats his younger brother in pretty much anything; the older brother is always going to celebrate, even when it is known that he should beat his younger brother in whatever activity they decided to participate in this time around.
The main takeaway from the court storm in Ames was the unfortunate injury suffered by a very respected columnist in Randy Peterson of The Des Moines Register. It was originally believed that Peterson was trampled by students, but he crushed any hope of that narrative making it to the weekend.
“I was not trampled. I was knocked to the ground but as soon as I was on the ground, there was security all over me,” Peterson told “The Dan Patrick Show” on Friday morning.
Nonetheless, Peterson’s injury set off a fire for the country and the discussion on whether they are necessary, or should even be banned.
For fans of the sport that are split on the discussion, there’s nothing to fear, I am split too. On one hand, court stormings are iconic and fun for the students that may only have a chance to do this a limited number of times throughout their time at a particular school. On another hand, they can be dangerous and irresponsible.
For me, there has to be a middle ground. To not let the fans go on the court until both teams have shaken hands and the opposing team has gone to their respected locker room is a fair plan, but one that is hard to execute. Security has to be top-notch, and players have to be quick enough to ensure the energy they just created stays in the building.
It is pretty clear that the regularity of court stormings could be coming to an end soon. CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated college basketball reporter Seth Davis made the very viable point that safety is becoming the biggest problem when it comes to the storming. The last thing the NCAA, or any conferences should do is wait until something really bad happens to revise the rule.
Like I said before, this conversation is one that I have gone back and forth with. There is no doubt that the conversation will continue, though. Finding that perfect balance between safety and school spirit should be the goal for members of conferences and the NCAA when it comes to make a decision about the court stormings. Until then, the same mess will be left on the floor.
