Win or lose, fans of NCAA basketball riot when their teams make deep runs. Police and pepper spray are usually required to restore their sense of reality. That was the case when Arizonan lost to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight; it was also the case last night. Students at UConn's Storrs campus reached riot status when 30 participants were arrested within two hours of the win. In Kentucky, the melee was a town effort. Despite rain and chill, 31 people in Lexington (where the University is located) were arrested and 19 couches were set on fire, the Huffington Post reported.
Perhaps, then, the type of rioter is the difference between a winning celebration and a losing one. When their team loses, students may better control themselves than fans in close proximity. Thus, had Connecticut fallen last night, students would have went quietly into the night while area supporters might have chosen to anti-party as they did in Lexington (though the actual amount of student involvement there hasn't been reported). Of course, the difference between Kentucky's and UConn's postgame antics might have been more geographical than anything else. Kentucky, after all, is known for burning couches, while Connecticut doesn't have a trademark celebratory move.
Will UConn fans riot again tonight if the women win the title? In addition to the fact that men's basketball is more popular and it's hard to riot two nights in a row, they probably won't because the lady Huskies are expected to win. Had the men been as favored, there might have only been 10 arrests than 30. Fans didn't expect their team to advance like they did. Thus, they didn't prepare themselves for celebration. Such unexpected toasts can lead to dangerous situations.
"I'm just so happy to be a Husky right now," 21-year-old UConn senior Mike Butkus told ESPN. "So much pride. The last 20 years, you'd be hard-pressed to find a program more successful than us."
Imagine if UConn didn't have that history and they were just a regular seven seed near a populated metropolis like Texas? The riot would have reached catastrophic proportions.
