University of North Carolina Athletics
Car-O-Lines: An Unneeded Celebration
January 10, 2001 | General
Jan. 10, 2001
By Rick Brewer, SID Emeritus
Car-O-Lines Archive
When Indiana's Kirk Haston drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer last Sunday to hand top-ranked Michigan State its first loss of the season, it brought what has become the expected response in college basketball.
A rush to the playing court by spectators.
To many, this may seem a trivial matter. After all, that is one of the purposes of college athletics--to serve as an outlet for students.
However, I'm not so sure storming the court every time the home team wins a game is really doing that. The outlet for students should be the excitement of the game itself--not piling all over themselves and the players when the game is finished.
Certainly, a dramatic shot like the one by Haston is going to be a cause for celebration. Fans see players jumping with excitement and want to join in the moment.
But, the rushing of the floor by Carolina fans last weekend after the Tar Heels' 70-69 victory over Wake Forest is another matter. The fourth-ranked Deacons and the 14th-rated Tar Heels had played a tight game throughout the second half with neither team ever leading by more than five points.
The winning points came when Carolina's Brendan Haywood grabbed a loose ball in the lane and scored with 3.3 seconds to play. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw. Wake got off a desperation heave at the basket before time expired.
So while this was a huge boost to the Tar Heel season and a great play by Haywood, it wasn't a buzzer-beater such as Haston made that normally causes a sudden outburst of emotion by fans. It was a tremendous win over an excellent team, but really should not have pulled spectators all over the Smith Center floor.
However, it seems that fans everywhere now want to be a piece of the action. Personally, I think it's because spectators have seen such rushes to the court occur in other arenas and now think it's part of the game.
It isn't.
Fans can enjoy a victory while staying off the court. It really looks absurd to have people all over the court anytime Carolina scores a victory. Additionally and more importantly, it's not safe.
Carolina has been fortunate no one has suffered any major injuries in these post-game "celebrations." That goes for fans, players, coaches, the opposition or members of the media. No arena has enough ushers to keep a large number of people off the court if they charge it at a game's conclusion.
The first time I can recall the court being flooded with people here wasn't even at a game's conclusion. It was the famous 1974 Duke game in Carmichael Auditorium when the Tar Heels rallied from an eight-point deficit in the final 17 seconds of regulation to force overtime. Walter Davis hit a long jumper from just over mid-court as time expired to force overtime. It was such a dramatic play that fans poured onto the court in jubilation.
Tar Heel Coach Dean Smith said afterwards that he at first was so confused by what happened that he thought maybe he had been looking at the scoreboard wrong all along in the final moments--that maybe the shot by Davis had won the game.
That wasn't the case and the floor was cleared as the teams huddled for overtime. After Carolina eventually won, 96-92, the celebration wasn't anything like it had been when Davis had tied the game.
Like most arenas it was difficult to keep fans off the court at Carmichael, just as it is at the Smith Center. But, in Carmichael teams could easily get to their own locker rooms by exiting behind their benches. Even if crowds did pour onto the floor there weren't players there to be mobbed.
Big celebrations on the court by spectators only happened occasionally-- such as the stunning comeback win against Virginia in 1983. That's when Michael Jordan made the big plays down the stretch as Carolina scored the game's final 16 points in a 64-63 victory.
Sure, there were some fans who raced out onto the floor after other games. But, one thing that helped prevent a lot of that was Smith's old rule that as soon as a game was over his team had to "sprint to the locker room." The purpose was to keep players from having problems with fans when the team was on the road or with opposing players. So even after a big home court win his team was off the floor quickly.
However, in the 1990's it became a post-game ritual for opposing players to shake hands. The idea was a good one in theory-- to promote sportsmanship. The Tar Heels were criticized for not taking part in this and Smith finally agreed to do so, dropped the idea of getting his players off the court and out of any potential trouble.
That also left them out on the court where home court fans could mob them, however. So the rushing of the court became more noticeable here.
And, certainly fans can get caught up in a tight game, one with a huge comeback or a game won on a last-second shot. That's why athletic officials realize the pouring on the court was only natural when the Tar Heels won games against top-ranked teams or made big rallies such as the ones against Wake Forest in 1992 and Florida State in 1993.
However, there is always the possibility of someone getting hurt in scenes such as that or confrontations between fans and opposing players. People can come to a game and enjoy themselves without getting involved in post-game celebrations on the floor.
The NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference do an excellent job of preventing such outbursts in their tournaments. If something could only be done to stop them in regular-season play, it would be a much better situation for everyone. Unfortunately, the individual schools are simply outmanned at games. It's going to take some common sense by the fans to halt them. There have already been injuries in some places. We don't need that to happen here.
