Student-section conduct conducive to epic blow-up

West Virginia won its fifth straight game Wednesday night.

Da'Sean Butler scored 18 points.

Devin Ebanks got 16 rebounds.

And yet that's not the story from the Mountaineers' 70-51 win over Pittsburgh. The story, rather, is the West Virginia fans that threw cups on the court in the second half after Darryl Bryant was called for a traveling, which led to WVU coach Bob Huggins grabbing the microphone. "Don't throw anything on the floor," Huggins said. "You're going to hurt one of the players. That's stupid. That is stupid."

Yes it is.

But did the fans listen to Huggins?

Some of them did, I guess. But at least one did not, because about seven minutes later Pitt assistant Tom Herrion was hit less than an inch below his left eye with what appeared to be a quarter. Herrion is fine, by the way. But he could easily not be fine, and this is the latest example of the type of behavior that's inevitably going to lead to an incident we'll be talking about forever.

It might happen on national television.

It might happen at an OVC game.

I couldn't begin to predict the where or when, but I'm pretty sure I know the how. A player will go into the stands, like Ron Artest did, after something is thrown at him. Or a 6-foot-11, 280-pound center will break a student's jaw when he's frustrated and bumped after an upset of his team leads to a court-storming. Or an ill-tempered bench-warmer will go after a student who gets too close while the visiting team is walking to the locker room.

West Virginia's Darryl Bryant kicks debris off the court after fans lose their cool. (AP)

Could be any of those things.

Could be something totally unimaginable.

Either way, it's coming, and we've been on the brink for a while.

Two years ago, Memphis reserve Pierre Henderson-Niles reached into the UAB student section and slapped a fan who was yelling at the Tigers after their come-from-behind win. Last week, it was alleged that Kentucky's DeMarcus Cousins took a swing at a South Carolina student rushing the court after the Gamecocks upset John Calipari's Wildcats. And now we've got West Virginia fans throwing things, hitting a Pitt assistant in the face with a coin, and further sullying the reputation of a crowd that two weeks ago chanted obscenities at Ohio State's Evan Turner and last weekend took the "Karen Sypher" chants routinely directed at Louisville's Rick Pitino to a previously unreached level.

So the black-eye-on-the-sport moment is coming.

It's just a matter of time.

Which is why conferences as a whole and/or universities on an individual basis would be wise to take precautionary measures immediately. My advice: Whatever you'd be willing to do after a player punches a fan and lands your school on CNN, go ahead and do it now. Why wait to react to a terrible incident when you can act in advance in hopes of preventing it?

If conferences fining schools $25,000 (like the SEC does) doesn't prevent fans from storming the court, make the fine $100,000. Meantime, schools can let students know that anybody caught on the playing surface before, during or after a game will be subject to expulsion. Throw something onto the court, you're expelled.

Chants? I'm OK with chants. If you want to look classless on national TV by calling Evan Turner an a-hole, that's on you. Sticks and stones and all that. But aggressive physical behavior -- thrown objects, fingers in the faces of players, running full speed on a court at a visitor -- should be off-limits and punishable in a serious way.

Anything short of that, and the clock continues to tick.

Sooner or later, all zeroes.

And when it blows, it's going to be bad.