Robert's Rules of Order

Enough is enough. I realize that rushing the court is something that college students do after big basketball wins because it's (at least they think) a cool experience, and something you can only get away with doing in college (if you go on the court in the NBA, this happens). But it's gotten way, way out of hand. On Sunday, after Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 49-48, Buckeye fans rushed the court in celebration.

Let me make this clear: fans of the #1 team in the country rushed the court.

To be fair, Wisconsin was the #1 team in the AP poll at the time. But Ohio State was #2, and they were #1 in the coaches' poll, and you shouldn't be rushing the court when you beat the #1 team if you're ranked one spot behind them. OSU also clinched the conference title, so perhaps the students were celebrating that... but OSU won the conference last year. This wasn't the end of some majestic drought. Act like you've been there before.

With that in mind, I have compiled a list of the rules about when it is acceptable to rush the court in college basketball. Failure to comply with these rules makes you and your fellow students losers.

1. If you have just beaten the #1 team in the country, and you are not ranked in the top 25, you may rush the court.

2. If you have just beaten a top 10 team, and you are not a top 50 team, you may rush the court.

3. If you have just beaten a team ranked between #11 and #25, you may only rush the court if your team is terrible (heading for a season with no more than five conference wins) or if they are mediocre at best (i.e. not NCAA Tournament-bound) and rarely, if ever, beat ranked teams of any stripe.

4. Regardless of rules #1-3, you should not rush the court before January 1 unless your team is historically not a strong program and the team you beat is historically a strong program.

5. If you are playing a traditional rival, you may rush the court after a win if they are ranked at least five spots ahead of you in both polls. If you are ranked ahead of them, or if they are unranked and you are ranked anywhere, you should not be rushing the court; I don't care how acrimonious the rivalry is. If neither team is ranked, you may only rush the court if your team is having a particularly bad season and the rival's team is at least above .500.

6. You may rush the court after clinching a conference championship, but ideally you should only be doing so if this is your first title in at least three years and/or if your team was pretty bad the previous year. Also be aware that, while nice, winning your conference's regular season title is hardly the ultimate goal in college basketball, and so rushing the court to celebrate it makes you look kind of lame unless it was the culmination of a surprise season.

7. Unless the "ideally" clause in #6 applies, a top-five team really should not have its fans rush the court under any circumstances.

Do you have anything to add to this? Note it in the comments.

Speaking of college basketball, there is still plenty of time to sign up for the BigFlax.com 2007 NCAA Tournament Challenge and plenty of room in the field - as of now we're at four, though I'm hoping for repeat participants to start coming out of the woodwork shortly. Check a couple posts back for the info.