College kids rushing the court

Last weekend, while watching the NC State fans rush the court to celebrate its voctory over Carolina, I did not share Dookie V's enthusiasm for the college game; instead, I felt a tinge of sadness for a once respectable program which has fallen so far that it rushes the court after a hard fought victory over a conference foe. Watching West Virginia fans storm the court after being UCLA rekindled these emotions.

I think there needs to be rules for rushing the court. For instance, in almost any match-up, a miraculous finish warrants a stampede: in these cases, like some kid throwing in a half-court shot at the buzzer to win a game by one, the emotion is immediate. Rusing the court is not calculated or anticipated, but an immediate emotional reaction to an unfathomable turn of events. Completely acceptable.

Otherwise, rushing the court should very rarely happen. Any low or mid-major team to win its conference tournament, and thus earn its ticket to the Big Dance, is cause for fans to rush the court, even if its the #1 seed.

Other scenarios are less likely to happen because top programs rarely play bottom programs on the bottom program's home floor. However, should a sub-250 team beat a top 25 team, go for it.

That's it. Really. If BCS fans rush the floor after beating another BCS program, especially a conference rival, the fans admit that (1) The program has hit rock bottom and it's time for a new direction (i.e. coach); (2) The program hit rock bottom, the new coach is here, we still have a long way to go and right now, this is as good as it gets [NC State]; or (3) Truthfully, we don't even belong in the same conference with this team and should be playing in the A-10, WCC or MVC, not a BCS conference.

Why? By virtue of playing in the same league, one expects the budgets, locations, coaches, etc to be relatively equal; of course, this is not always the case, as UCLA has a huge edge in location over Oregon State or Washington State, but the expectation is these teams compete in the Pac 10 because they intend to be competitive. Next, fans always rush the floor at home; winning a home game against a conference foe is not a huge upset. Rushing the floor admits that the program does not belong in that league.

As for tournament at-large consideration, the announcers believed West Virginia's win against UCLA solidified its NCAA bid. To me, once the fans rushed the court, the good disappeared. Clerly, the fans who watch the Mountaineers play the most simply did not believe WVU was good enough to play with a top program missing its best player. If the fans think this about a team, I think the bubble burst. While it was a good home win against a good opponent, shouldn't tournament teams expect to beat a good opponent at home, especially without its best player? If the answer is no, then the team does not belong in the tourament. If the answer is yes, why rush the floor?

Maybe it's just good old college fun and the college kids should rush the floor after every home win, just to show their school spirit. But, I think the rush the court experience should be reserved for seriously emotional, monumental wins and not be a nightly feature on SportsCenter.