Sean Miller wants the Pac-12 to address court-storming and cautions that the practice could lead to one of his players punching a fan.
Miller’s Arizona Wildcats lost to Colorado in Boulder in Wednesday 75-72. After the game, Buffaloes fans celebrated by storming the court.
Miller feels this is unsafe because it could lead to injuries or worse — an assault. He spent several minutes during his postgame news conference railing about the issue.
“Eventually what’s going to happen in the Pac-12 is this: an Arizona player is going to punch a fan. And they’re going to punch the fan out of self-defense,” Miller said after the game. “And when it happens — only when it happens — will everybody take a deep breath and say we have to do something to protect both teams so that when the game ends, we have a deep breath to be able to leave the court or at least shake the other team’s hands and let us get to the locker room.”
Miller then said if fans want to storm the court after that point, it’s fine, he just wants his players to be off the court in a safe environment first. The Arizona coach pointed out that due to his program’s success and prestige, they’re the only ones opponents storm the floor against. He also says his complaints have been ignored by Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.
When told that Larry Scott was here tonight, Miller said, "He doesn't care."
— Ezra Amacher (@EzraAmacher) February 25, 2016
You can read Miller’s full remarks below:
Here are the bulk of Sean Miller's comments on court storming in the Pac-12 pic.twitter.com/MXiU1RbfIM
— Ezra Amacher (@EzraAmacher) February 25, 2016
Though we have seen court-storming lead to serious injuries such as this, a coach openly discussing the possibility of one of his players punching a fan is unacceptable. It plants the idea that he would condone such an action.
