“To be, or not to be – that is the question.” This Shakespearian dilemma has come to define the recent court act. And it started when the Ohio State Buckeyes trumped the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes by a 100-92 margin at the Value City Arena. However, the incident that grabbed more eyeballs than the upset was when fans rushed to the court to celebrate the win. The opposing team hadn’t left the court and one such star who was caught amid the horde was Caitlin Clark.

Clark didn’t particularly have a wonderful day despite smashing 45 points since her team had lost. In a bid to reach the locker room, Clark was running on the court when a fan who too was unaware of Clark’s presence collided with her. And the idea of allowing court storms after basketball games became a topic of contention. 

Was Clark injured?

Clark enumerated the incident later on affirming that “I was just trying to exit the court as quickly as possible, so I started running, and I was just hammered by somebody trying to run onto the court and blindsided”. She also thanked her teammates for picking her up and getting her “off the court.”

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Thankfully enough nothing serious happened to Clark but there could have been “a serious injury to me and knocked the wind out of me” in her own words. This could have had major ramifications both for the athlete and the team. And hence the idea of allowing court storms has been met with major disdain since then. But that hasn’t really stopped them.

Instead, fans looked to have forgotten the incident with Clark as they have hurried to the court whenever they have gotten a chance in order to meet their favorite players and congratulate their team. And it still remains debatable if something that has been followed for ages should be discontinued. The SEC recently levied a fine on the South Carolina Gamecocks for a court storm.

What happened in the Gamecocks match?

The South Carolina Gamecocks men’s basketball team defeated the Kentucky Wildcats by a 79-62 margin at the Colonial Life Arena on Tuesday night. Following the unexpected result, the Gamecocks’ fans stormed the court. The incident though looked harmless since fans were only celebrating their upset win, the league announced a fine of $100,000 on Wednesday on the part of the Gamecocks.

The Southeastern Conference had changed the fine rules for its schools and now the conference penalized their teams with $100,000 for the first offense, $250,000 for a second, and $500,000 for a third as per the Opelika-Auburn news. The policy further stated that the schools should limit the participation of the fans on the courts. It should be accessible to the “participating student-athletes, coaches, officials, support personnel and properly credentialed or authorized individuals at all times.”

This win was a special one since it was the highest-ranked win for the Gamecocks since their last had come against the then-numero uno posited Kentucky in 2010. However, the SEC still maintained its strict rules and asked the institution to pay the fine. This only shows how strictly the SEC wants its colleges to adhere to the policies and norms set to protect and safeguard the participants. 

The SEC fine should be paid to the visiting team if the court storm takes place in a conference game. The logic behind it is that it would hurt fans and the college to pay a fine to a rival. This could ensure that fans are more aware of the consequences of their actions and hence avoid them. But still, the issue remains debatable since many term it only as a short-term solution.

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Even respected officials such as the South Carolina President Emeritus Harris Pastides had shared on social media as per Opelika-Auburn News that he was among the fans who had hurried to the court after the match. With the involvement of such high authority personnel, court storms do not look to be dying down in the coming years unless action is taken.

Is it okay to ban court storms and how can they be prevented?

As per the same source, basketball analyst Jay Bilas opened up that fans should not be allowed on the court during  “College Gameday” show. He even texted The Associated Press that “something negative will happen, and we’ll act surprised when it was foreseeable.” Bilas went as far as putting his point of view and stating that fans who courtstorm should be faced with consequences.

Crowd management Trainer Gil Fried remarked that putting up barricades would only be detrimental since the fans might push the crowd forward. Instead, the better course of action would be to confiscate the tickets of such fans or even ban them from the arena. But that would require a face identification system and going by the US privacy laws it wouldn’t be possible to install such technology.

Minnesota coach Ben Johnson too supports Bilas observing that court storms would only increase the tension. Since fans might say something that can hurt the emotions of players and under such emotions, the negative situations can be heightened. However, it is worth noting that schools and popular sports sites use pictures of court storms to make evident the sporting culture in universities. Therefore, Bilas even commented, “At an NFL or NBA game, they’d be arrested.”

Thus, even though court storms are a testament to the fans’ love for the game, they should be limited lest incidents like that of Caitlin Clark or situations of undesirable nature between the fans and players might occur somewhere down the line.

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