Arizona basketball, Tucson high school communities know court-storming uncomfortably well

When a Wake Forest fan rolled over the ankle of Duke star Kyle Filipowski last weekend, just about a month after Iowa star Caitlin Clark ran into a fan at an Ohio State celebration, the national debates fired up again.

Should court storming be banned? Can it ever be done safely? What if somebody really got hurt?

But in Tucson and around the Pac-12, these questions have already been asked and, to some extent, answered.

In a city where Tucson High star Joe Kay suffered a paralyzing stroke after being stepped on in a 2004 court storm, and where the local powerhouse college team is subject to court storms almost anywhere it loses, Tucson has long been near the center of the discussion.

Coincidentally, the Arizona Wildcats also are heading Wednesday to the site that partially resulted in a push to eventually have the Pac-12 implement fines and policies for court storm situations. After ASU fans stormed the court at what was then called Wells Fargo Arena during the Sun Devils’ 81-78 win in 2014-15, then-coach Sean Miller suggested the Pac-12 should fine schools $100,000 for allowing court storms.

Miller was even more vocal the following season when Arizona lost 75-72 at Colorado. After that game, several Wildcats were bumped and jostled around as they tried to exit the other side of the court from the visitors’ bench, which is still adjacent to the Colorado student section.

“If we lose, fine, let us get off the court but at least have some substance and control so that our guys aren’t in a situation where a lawsuit could come,” Miller said after that game, “because when that comes, then and only then, will everybody pay attention.… if there is a fine, I’m pretty sure there wouldn’t be people just storming over the bench within five seconds of the victory.”

Miller said at the time the issue was “falling on deaf ears,” but after that season, the Pac-12 became one of the first major conferences to implement a fine structure for schools that allow out-of-control court storms.

The Pac-12 CEOs (presidents and chancellors) voted to approve fines for schools where courts are stormed after basketball games (or fields after football games): $25,000 for the first offense, $50,000 for the second and $100,000 for the third.

When asked if Miller’s comments made a difference, then-Arizona AD Greg Byrne said, “we had a good discussion about this issue and this is where we collectively landed.”

The Pac-12 is breaking up after this season but still has a policy against court storms in place, noting that “each institution is required to have a security plan to effectively protect game participants and officials, and prevent spectators from throwing objects onto the playing surface.”

The Pac-12 said it reviews those plans with each school before and during the season “to ensure the safety of student-athletes, staff, officials, working personnel and spectators.”

At ASU, spokesman Doug Tammaro said the school meets before weekend home games to review procedures and adds significant security staff for games expected to be especially well-attended and/or especially tense. No doubt that includes all Arizona games but also those like back in December 2018, when ASU would go on to upset Kansas 80-76 in Tempe.

“We have a system that requires cooperation from a few people that allows for an efficient way to get this done,” Tammaro said. “Who knows if it’s foolproof but the Kansas court storm in 2018 might have been the most efficient court run I’ve ever seen. Kansas got off the court fast, our students rushed it afterward and it became a nice party. You wish they could all be like that.”

They aren’t all like that, partly because different arenas have longer journeys for visiting teams to exit the floor or because of the sudden wave of emotion a tense finish can unleash, potentially overwhelming any security force.

But ASU has two different exits for visiting teams to leave the floor, one allowing them to shake hands with the Sun Devils and then keep going straight ahead, with the students behind them.

Colorado still has visiting teams sit adjacent to a student section that is on their left but puts out a rope immediately after close games in which the players can turn right, shake hands with the Buffaloes and keep going to the exit at the other end — while students rush out on the court on the other side of the rope.

That made for an easy exit for the Wildcats upon losing at Colorado late in the 2021-22 season, despite fans also celebrating a wild senior-day finish for popular big man Evan Battey.

Oregon State has an even more convenient system. At Gill Coliseum, visiting teams can make a hard left turn from their bench back into a protected corridor and head downstairs calmly to their locker room if needed. That helped the Wildcats considerably upon losing to the Beavers 83-80 on Jan. 25 in Corvallis, when students raced across the court.

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There were also few fans on the floor during Arizona’s losses at Stanford and Washington State, partly because the Cardinal didn’t even have many spectators for its Dec. 31 win and because WSU puts its students behind a metal barrier.

“I think the ones we’ve been a part of this year were handled well,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said on his radio show Monday. “They basically came and said, `Hey, get off the court and don’t worry about the handshake line,’ or they already had a security rope ready to be put in place to keep the students away from the players.”

But while Arizona’s pedigree generally means students at UA don’t feel compelled to storm the court for any McKale Center game, Lloyd noted there can still be issues when the favored team wins. He said Gonzaga fans stormed after a WCC Tournament victory in Spokane and noticed last week when a glo-stick appeared to fly out of the UA student section toward the WSU bench.

“Maybe we land a little bit in the middle,” Lloyd said. “Our students, our fans, just have to have a general IQ. In the Washington State game, we had a student throw one of those things, which is stupid. We need to be classier as fans and if you run on the court, don’t hit an opposing player. I think that would be a good place to start.”

Certainly, Filipowski would agree. He posted on X after the Wake Forest incident that “This gotta change,” while ASU coach Bobby Hurley — a former Duke star himself — said he would “avoid those situations” during a Phoenix radio interview on Tuesday.

Hurley said throwing players who just lost into the emotion of fans supporting the winning team could result in something far worse than what happened to Duke last Saturday.

“Because there’s a lot of bad feelings and then you’re throwing people into the mix that could potentially taunt players,” Hurley told the Bickley & Marotta show on Arizona Sports. “Now you have an ugly scene on your hands.”

At the same time, Hurley said he understood the “engagement and enjoyment” of college basketball fans in big victories. Having the court stormed on you, of course, is also a sign of respect because it means fans are overjoyed that they actually did beat you.

“It’s what you call a call a court-storming opportunity,” Lloyd said. “Duke gets the same treatment. It’s cool to play in those kinds of special moments because the games are impactful and they’re meaningful.”

So, with the two competing interests still at hand — player safety and fan enjoyment — the debate over court storming might keep raging on and on for years to come.

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