The clock hits zero, your team just upset the #1 team in the nation. Let’s all run onto the court and turn this place into a madhouse.
I’m ok with storming the court, but on the right terms. You see, there is a certain time to do it and there are other times where it would be better if you just stayed in your seats and accepted the victory because it wasn’t that much of an unexpected outcome.
For instance, the #1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks went on the road to face TCU, a team that had no victories in the Big 12 at the time. TCU would somehow pull off the most unexpected upset of the year in front of the home crowd and the students stormed the court. This is a time when that act is allowed, even the TCU head coach gave high-fives to students as they ran by him.
Heres another example, #25 Notre Dame hosted #11 Louisville in South Bend. The Irish fell behind by double digits with only minutes left but somehow found a way to tie it up before forcing overtime, or in this case 5 overtimes. Twice in those extra periods ND had to hit shots with time running out to extend it even further until they were finally able to take the Cardinals in the fifth extra period. I wasn’t at all shocked or angered when within seconds of the end of it the floor was flooded with fans. Yes, it was a game between two ranked teams outside of the Top 10, but with the emotion and craziness that went along with that game it was justified. Like I said, that was one of those certain times.
Now for the bad, There already have been many times this season where fans stormed the court in games where their team was expected, by some, to pull off the upset. Why do fans always feel the need to go crazy when the best thing to do would be to celebrate while in their seats.
The fans at the University of Indiana know how to do it. They defeated Michigan in a matchup of Top 5 teams earlier this season and their fans celebrated in their seats, showing a national TV audience that they know their team is good and expected victory.
It seems when a fanbase rushes the court they were not expecting the victory to happen, so if your team is good and you storm the court after win, did you think they were REALLY, good enough?
I have an opinion on when it’s ok to rush the court and when it’s not. If you are out of the Top 25 and you upset a Top 5 team, it’s good. Even if your team was ranked 20-25 I still think it would be allright to do it (I.e. #25 Miami after beating #1 Duke). Another time when I think it’s ok to do it is after an emotional game like ND – Ville, the outcome was completely unexpected after one team had the game virtually locked up before losing it.
If you are in the Top 20 and pull off a victory then I don’t see why you would do it. Maybe against a rival, but even then it shouldn’t happen. If your team defeats someone outside of the Top 5 then there should be no reason to do it, unless your team is having a terrible year and pulled off an upset like TCU. Again, if you’re in the Top 20 then you are a pretty decent team.
Remember the days when we all saw a fanbase storm the court on TV and thought it was a good thing because their team pulled off a big upset and deserved it? Let’s try to get back to that or this will get really old, really quick.
