With the 2002-03 season in full swing, ESPN.com's Answer Man continues to see a full mail bag each week. As always, he's eager to answer a few questions from ESPN.com users.

The two issues that continue to get me blasted by you, the loyal users, is my top 30 Wooden Award list and my stance on storming the floor. The latter of course was somewhat in jest. Remember, saying fans shouldn't storm the floor in College Park was a compliment -- fans didn't need to storm the court at Maryland because the Terps were the defending national champion and had beaten Duke. We're not saying we don't want or enjoy seeing the euphoria from the students, but ... pick your spots. A close win over Duke would have sufficed. A blowout win over Duke maybe pushes the envelope. Does this matter? Not really. We're just trying to have fun with a subject that seems to be too much of an "in" thing lately.

So, with this in mind, here is your voice to rip ...

I would ask how you left Hollis Price off your list, but I know there's no possible reason. You mention inconsistent scoring as a reason certain players don't appear, yet HP has scored the ball well in all of OU's big games except OSU. So, my real question is: How did Hinrich make the list? If you look at consistency, he should make no list. He's struggled in every Kansas loss, plus several wins. Same old story with Kansas, if they have so many great players and a great coach, why do they not yet have a win against a team near the Top 25? I'll take HP over any player in America.
Matt Maloney
Wichita, Kan.

Matt,
The list I had to submit was done in early January. I can guarantee he'll be on my list in March. So, too, will a number of other names that weren't on the original January list. Players play there way on and off the All-American list rather easily at this time of the year.

I don't really have a question, I was simply mailing you to tell you how right I think you are on the whole "Rush the Floor" topic. I was watching College Hoops Tonight (my favorite show) and saw all the emails that were trashing you. Let me start off by saying that I am a huge Kansas fan. If Kansas beats Arizona on Saturday and the fans rush the floor I will be disappointed. If the fans rush the floor at Allen Field House then they are sending the message that we didn't expect to beat Arizona. Andy, in my opinion, if the fans rush the floor it takes away from what a quality win that would be. I would love to hear your thoughts on the game Saturday, I kinda think it depends on how Collison, Graves and hopefully Simien play against Arizona's front line. I enjoy your coverage of the game.

Thank you for your time,
Kameron Hill,
Oklahoma City
Charlotte, N.C.

Not an "if" question but "when" ... When are conference officials going to disallow fans, players, coaches, mascots, etc., from rushing the floor without penalizing the home team? Case in point -- call a technical for each Miami bench occupant on the floor BEFORE the game against UConn last night was over and UConn shoots foul shots until midnight. Same thing happened to Florida in the NCAAs last March. Kelvin Sampson has more "court" time than many of his players -- again referring to last week's Big Monday match with Oklahoma State, although Sampson is one who lives with both feet on the court. This "rushing" the court by fans has also gotten out of hand -- when someone gets hurt and sues, I guess then conferences and schools will take notice. Witness the debacle at the Marshall football contest with Miami of Ohio last fall. You are not old enough to remember, but there was a time in the ACC when coaches were required to wear seat belts -- on the bench. Aimed at Lefty and Bones McKinney at Wake, this made for quite a season. Unfortunately, there were not that many TV games then. But the legit question is when is too much fan exuberance enough? And when will the T's begin for players running wild off their bench before the game ends?
Boyd Childress,
Auburn, Ala.

Regarding your comments about Maryland fans rushing the court, I don't agree with the "we should expect to win" mentality. With that mentality, you either get the expected which is no big deal or you get bitter disappointment. We are sports fans because winning brings joy and excitement. Winning is cause for celebration. Storming the court is a celebration and it's not destructive. When winning ceases to be these things, maybe it's time to find another pastime. Why should anyone be or want to be ho-hum about knocking off your main conference rival, who also happened to be undefeated and ranked No. 1? It's fun. It feels good. Celebrate. Rush the court.
Mike Funk
Baltimore

I have been, and many Maryland fans have been trying to figure out in your article "Terps quickly turn things around on Duke" if the last statement, "And with the fans storming the court, apparently the locals have forgotten the title now too" is a rip at our fans for storming the court, or is it saying that we should with our first big win of the season? I don't really understand what you meant with that statement.
Brett
College Park, Md.

"... But all it took was a little more effort to keep the Blue Devils away from second shots, limit their trips to the line and get to the line themselves more often."...

Must you put a statement such as the one above in an article about Maryland's best win this year? Do you really think that's all it took? The Maryland kids played their best defensive game of the year, constantly playing help defense to cover players after screens, they played a solid half court offense with only three turnovers in the second half, and key frosh made big plays.

It's one thing to put editorial flavor into an article for style and impact, it's completely different to use it to diminish a program. Like we forgot the national championship? Or students are pretending to be patriotic. Your articles usually bring more to the table than this one ... it diminishes Maryland, and worse, it diminishes you.
Dennis Hebert
Salisbury, Md.

From Duke vs. Maryland: "And with the fans storming the court, apparently the locals have forgotten the title now, too." There was mixed sentiment over rushing the floor (With a solid lead, he actually had time to discuss it). The argument against was we are the defending champs (both ACC and NCAA) and that we expect to beat Duke. But after struggling against and losing to all four of the previously ranked teams we played, we needed a big win. Knocking off the undefeated, top-ranked team in the country at our brand new arena was clearly the overwhelming sentiment.
Jeff Hyatt
College Park, Md.

Maryland's win over Duke was important enough for ESPN to put it as the headline on both the Main Page and the Men's College Basketball Page, but it wasn't important enough for the fans to celebrate with the team. In addition, if it is so tasteless and ignorant to go on the court, how come you don't trash the fans of the countless other schools who have done the same this year?
Jason Emala
Washington D.C.

Why do you have to insult the Maryland fans after their game against Duke? I, for one, think UMD owes a great deal of their win to their fans. I doubt the game would have gone the same if it was played at Duke. While Maryland fans might be a bit rowdier than others, it's not like the other fans don't say the same material or even worse (see UVa chanting "crackhead parents" for Juan Dixon or Duke fans chanting "alcoholic" for Jermaine Harper of UVa). While college basketball fans have made the game somewhat dirty and hardly an atmosphere, Maryland fans should not be singled out as bad people. Instead, they should be praised for keeping the emotional level of the Comcast Center high and helping the team beat the No. 1 team in the nation.
Mike Spagnola
Gaithersburg, Md.

Focusing your column on the Maryland/Duke game on the fans being obnoxious and rushing the floor? Please. The ESPN/Duke Vitale slant never ceases to amaze. You know, deep down, you would not have focused on that if it was at Duke, they had won and then rushed the floor -- which their fans certainly would have done. I think you and Vitale should "act like you been there before" and try not be quite so obvious when picking favorites.
Jay Davis
Bethesda, Md.

I guess Tar Heel fans should also learn to "act like they've been there before." Are you also on the Duke payroll? So much for an unbiased sports writer!
Aaron Britton
Baltimore

As someone who stormed the floor at the Comcast Center following the Terrapins victory over the hated Blue Devils, I take serious offense to you telling us to act like we have been there. Yes, we are the national champions, but does that mean that beating the undefeated No. 1 team in the country has no significance? When did it not become customary to storm your home floor after knocking off the No. 1 team in the land? Also, it is you very own network who hyped this matchup for the entire week leading up to game day, so of course we are going to be over excited when we pull the upset. This is not the same team that won the national championship, this is not last year. Why do you want to downplay the accomplishment of a team that was searching for its identity and finally seems to be finding it, just because their fans want to celebrate with them and show them how much the victory meant to us? Oh, and by the way, Duke won their first national championship in 1991, and they have stormed the court at Cameron since then. I was wondering why you aren't chastising them?
Adam Littlefield
College Park

Mr Katz,
Why did Maryland students rush the court? Gimme a break! They are students and they hate Duke. That was their first huge game at Comcast Center and they beat the No. 1 team in the country. Let them have some fun! Jeez. Do you work for Duke?
Rob
Bloomington, Ind.

Andy,
It seems that you are upset that Maryland rushed the court. I don't know if you realized it, but this is the Comcast Center's first season. Cole is gone. Maryland beat the No. 1 team in the country, who also happened to be undefeated. This is the first time that has been done at Comcast. So I guess they were christening it. Understand? I also didn't hear you complaining about UNC rushing the court after beating UConn. UNC has won several championships! But hey, you gotta protect Duke.
Chris
Washington D.C.

Geez,
I thought the D on my check said Disney, not Duke. Guess I was wrong. Seriously, good comebacks from everyone. Hope we didn't offend too many more Maryland fans in saying that YOU DO HAVE an ELITE PROGRAM and don't HAVE TO STORM. You're there. You're good. You're Final Four good. This is a compliment. But go ahead, storm every game. Have fun. Enjoy it. And keep emailing.

-- Andy

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He answers questions on college basketball weekly.