Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Court storming time?

Looks like the Badgers will finish their non-conference season undefeated with only 3 home games remaining against lesser competition. The first 3 Big Ten games are @Northwestern, Iowa, and IL. If Northwestern pulled the upset I would imagine there will be a court storming, and deservedly so. Although I'm not sure there are enough Northwestern fans at their home games to actually fill the court.

The 4th Big Ten game is @Indiana. If UW is undefeated they will likely be a top 3 team when they play Indiana. On top of that, IU has a 12 game losing streak vs. UW. Under normal circumstances I would say any time an unranked team (as IU will likely be) beats a top 3 team a court storming is acceptable. When you throw in the long losing streak against UW, a court storming seems inevitable if IU were to win at home. The last time IU beat UW was in 2007, and you will probably remember this scene:


IU fans storming the court after beating UW was as big a sign that UW was now a part of the college basketball elite as anything I've seen. Maybe I'm just old. I grew up watching Bobby Knight win 31 consecutive games against UW from 1980-1997. I was a college Junior before I got to see UW beat IU (I didn't watch much basketball when I was under 4). It may be undignified for fans at schools like IU, Kentucky, Duke, UNC, etc. to storm the court, but for fans of UW it sure makes a loss a little more tolerable when it happens.

Common sense tells me that UW will lose a game at some point this year. If that loss occurs on the road, then there will likely be a court storming. I sure hope IU doesn't get to do it, as I so enjoy watching Crean pout.

2 comments:

  1. You beat me to this post. If they get past Iowa at home, chances are very good the Badgers will get court stormed adapter their first loss.

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  2. I cut the article about Wisconsin beating Indiana in 1997 out of the Wash Post - still have it in a box - it was a huge deal (and a great headline).

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