Stay in the stands

There's no doubt that Providence College's 81-66 upset win over Connecticut on Wednesday night was huge. But an upset worthy of storming the court? Not even close.

These days, however, it seems that students feel the need to run onto the floor after any mild upset. When PC beat then-No. 1 Pittsburgh last year and the kids stormed the court, it made about as much sense as this silly practice can.
But UConn now is below .500 in the Big East. The Huskies were ranked 19th after falling out of the Top 25 last week. True, they were coming off a huge upset of their own after beating top-ranked Texas on Saturday. But David vs. Goliath this was not.

Most of the 11,136 in attendance at the Dunkin' Donuts Center didn't think PC had a prayer in this game. That, however, doesn't mean storming the court is appropriate. It's usually ridiculous and, at the risk of sounding like an old killjoy, potentially dangerous. If I were one of the UConn players on the court when hordes of PC students ran out, I'd be a little on edge. If you've ever been to a PC game and listened to some of the garbage spewing from mouths of the students, you'd understand. And I wouldn't put it past some moron to taunt or take a cheap shot at an opposing player on his way by, and that creates the potential for things to get ugly.

Look, I'm all for kids celebrating with their basketball-playing classmates after a big victory. But do it back on campus. College kids still have parties, right? Go to one and celebrate there. Granted, that won't be on SportsCenter, but storming the court is, most of the time, an idiotic tradition.