Kansas basketball: Big 12 needs to take action on court-storming

The Kansas basketball team won a difficult game on the road Monday. I was surprised West Virginia allowed Wesley Harris to start the game after his action following Saturday’s court storm in Lubbock.

The Kansas basketball team has experience with those fans who storm the court. Every team wants to knock off the defending Big 12 conference champions. Road games are a war on the court and frequently in the stands. We saw what fans in Manhattan did in February of 2015. Thank goodness 6-foot-8, 220-pound Jamari Traylor didn’t overact when KSU fan Nathan Power bumped him while storming the court. It might have been very ugly.

In that instance, the KSU security police asked for help to identify the fan involved. As a matter of fact, Power came forward  the next day and was cited for disorderly conduct by police for his actions. Power also wrote a short, very appropriate apology in the school newspaper.

A couple of weeks later, the Big 12 Conference reprimanded Kanas State for failing to prevent the fans from storming the court after the game. There were several similar instances in the Big 12 and around the country that season.

Court-storming continues

On Saturday, Texas Tech fans stormed the court following their upset of West Virginia.  Social media exploded with video of the fans pouring onto the United Supermarkets Arena floor. Mountaineer sophomore forward Wesley Harris is seen hitting a fan during the celebration.

When I first heard what happened, I automatically expected Harris would get some punishment from the Big 12 or certainly coach Huggins. The Big 12 did issued a public reprimand of Harris and fined Texas Tech $25,000.  I have not seen anything from Huggins. He didn’t mention anything following Monday’s game.  Harris started against the Jayhawks.  He played 20 minutes, scored three points, had a couple of turnovers, a steal and the Jayhawks won 71-66.

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I don’t understand why the Big 12 even issued a reprimand if there were no consequences for the player. The conference needs to take some additional action before something tragic happens. A $25,000 fine is a drop in the bucket. In November, the SEC fined Auburn $250,000 after fans stormed the field following the Tigers win over rival Alabama.

I believe Kansas basketball coach Bill Self and the University might handle a similar situation involving a Jayhawk player very differently. Certainly differently than Huggins did. Remember, coach Self held a player out of a game earlier this season for simply skipping class.