Nate Oats gives his take on the court-storming debate
The debate of whether college students should be allowed to storm the court after an upset in college basketball has taken center stage following two separate incidents this season.
The future of court-storming was put in the spotlight after Iowa star guard Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan on Jan. 21. The tradition’s future was once again questioned after Duke forward Kyle Filipowski and Wake Forest fans crashed into each other following Wake’s upset victory over the Blue Devils last weekend. Filipowski appeared injured and had to be helped off the floor. He started in Duke’s next game against Louisville.
The tradition of court-storming may be in jeopardy if the appropriate authorities choose to ban the practice, but that won't change anything for Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide.
“We don’t storm the court here,” Oats said. “We expect to win big games.”
Oats alluded to Alabama’s history of winning when asked about court-storming on Friday. He said the Crimson Tide’s championship culture means that season-defining victories should be enjoyed, but are also expected and don't warrant a court-strom.
“We've won a lot of big games here,” Oats said. “I actually love the fact that our fans are unbelievably great and give us a great environment during the game and then act like we've been there and done that. We've beaten plenty good teams in this building since I've been here. I like the way it's been here.”
Alabama’s approach to court-storming aside, Oats did give his take on the practice as a whole. He’s had past experience with court-storming when he was the coach of Buffalo, and more recently was on the other side of a court-storm after Texas A&M took down a then-No. 2 Alabama side in College Station, Texas.
“We let their staff know that if they ended up winning the game, which is what happened, that we were not going to stick around and shake hands, that we were getting off the court immediately, which is what happened,” Oats said. “So we got everybody out as the buzzer was sounded and avoided any issues with the court storming.”
There have been plenty of proposed solutions to make court-storming safer in the week following the Filipowski incident — from larger fines, to better security measures, even the detainment of those who run onto the court. Oats said that court-storming is a tradition that allows college basketball to have a different atmosphere than the pros, but if players are getting hurt something has to change. He offered the preemptive avoidance of the handshake line as a potential solution.
“If you know its coming, get the kids off the court,” Oats said. “The handshake line at the end, it's not disrespectful in my opinion if you let them know before. We let (Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams) know before that we weren't gonna shake hands if they ended up winning the game just to avoid any kind of situations like what happened last week.”
No matter what the future holds for court-storming, expect Alabama students to stay in their seats should the No. 14 Crimson Tide defeat No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday. The battle for first place in the SEC tips off at 7 p.m.