It's time to stop all of this foolishness.
In an all-too familiar sight, Kansas State fans rushed the court at Bramlage Coliseum moments after the Wildcats upset No. 9 Kansas on Monday night. The purple wave of humanity engulfed the floor nearly whipping out Jayhawks Coach Bill Self and the rest of his team.
It was a scary moment and luckily no one was hurt.
"It's a ballgame. It's not about chicken-winging somebody when the game's over," said Self taking the high-road afterwards. "Hopefully, they can get that corrected. It's fine if you want to celebrate when you beat us, that's your business. That's fine. But at least it shouldn't put anybody at risk from a safety standpoint."
Ironically, it was the second time in a week that Kansas found itself lost among a sea of students. The Jayhawks lost to West Virginia on Feb. 16 on a last-second shot and the Mountaineers faithful stormed the court as well.
The Big 12 Conference, which is reviewing the matter, doesn't have a set protocol when it comes to fining schools when fans storm the court, but it should.
The Southeastern Conference fines schools based on a tier system with the first offense at $5,000 followed by $25,000 for a second and $50,000 thereafter.
It's an expensive reminder that it's up to the school's to protect everyone involved and should be adopted by all conferences -- big or small.
Kansas State Athletic Director John Currie issued an apology Tuesday.
"On behalf of President Schulz and K-State Athletics, I apologize to Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger, Coach Bill Self and the KU basketball team for the unfortunate situation in which they were placed last night at the conclusion of our basketball game."
He went on to add, "Our security staff, which in similar past postgame celebrations has, according to our procedures and rehearsals, provided a solid human barrier to allow the teams to conduct a postgame handshake and safely leave the court, was unable to get into proper position quickly enough last night and was overwhelmed by the fans rushing the floor."
Fans storming the courts are nothing new and you see more and more in the days leading into March Madness.
The concern has and always should be for the safety of the coaches, players and even the students themselves. All it takes is one person to get seriously injured in a postgame celebration to ruin what otherwise was a great victory for a school.
It's why everyone today is talking about Kansas State's postgame performance and not the actual victory itself.
Sports on 02/26/2015