Why is There No Court Storming in March Madness?

We now know the 68 teams that will provide all of the March Madness as the NCAA Tournament will get underway this week. It really is the best three-week stretch on the sporting calendar as Cinderellas emerge, bluebloods add to their legacies and everyone is suddenly an expert on which team has senior guards and could really make some noise in this thing. And honestly, it's great to turn the page from college basketball's increasingly quiet regular season into its moment in the sun because of the biggest stories this year had nothing to do with the actual sport and wasn't much fun for anyone.

That's right, we're talking about court-storm. That timeless art of bounding down the stands and rushing the hardwood after your school pulls of a monumental upset — or really, whenever everyone else decides to run and herd mentality takes over. It's a timeless bit of discourse that ramped up when Iowa's Caitlin Clark collided with an Ohio State fan who had helped themself to a sprint right down the middle of the lane. It got even worse when Duke's Kyle Filipowski was clipped as Wake Forest supporters charged onto the court. The initial reports about the injury were quite dire but then there he was, just playing in the next game and dominating. Court-storming is the type of topic that can only be given space in February, between the Super Bowl and conference tournaments. And this year, perhaps more than any other, it was there as fodder.

But no more. There will be no court-storming in the NCAA Tournament.

Why is There No Court Storming in March Madness?

Why is that, you ask? Because March Madness never gets too mad thanks to all of the games taking place at neutral arenas. The first-round action sees a day of four separate games in one venue, meaning eight different fanbases are shuffling in and out. It's really hard to have things get too out of control, even when the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds are playing within an hour of their campus. Even when we get to the Final Four and national championship game and chaos reigns — as it did when Villanova shocked North Carolina at the buzzer several years ago — there's more than enough security to go around to keep those who shouldn't be on the court actually off the court.

So we'll have to wait to re-litigate the issue until 2025, likely. For now, enjoy the games. All 67 of them.