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Our House
It seems like home-court advantage means something more in college basketball. We’ve heard all of the narratives in professional and college football, how tough it is to play at Arrowhead, Death Valley, the difference the 12th man makes, etc. But how often does a superior team walk into a hostile environment and lose strictly because of that environment? More often than not, location makes the difference in college basketball. Just this past week, we had six ranked teams lose to unranked teams on the road. #11 UCLA barely scraped by 5-9 Washington State on the road, winning 67-66, #6 Texas escaped a road loss against unranked Oklahoma winning by 1, and undefeated #22 New Mexico won on the road by one versus 5-9 Wyoming.
Home court in college basketball matters. We see the home field ‘bump’ with Vegas’ lines in other sports, but it’s nothing like in college basketball. When I first started looking at lines and picking games when I was in college, I was always perplexed by some college basketball lines. Top-10 teams would frequently be underdogs against unranked teams just because they were on the road, and I fell for the trap every single time. I’m not saying home unranked favorites against ranked teams are auto-wins, but it’s worth looking deeper into the game. Maybe the pendulum will swing as the talent gap continues to grow in college basketball, but for now, home court means something.
Play in a real conference, cowards
In previous articles, I’ve praised Gonzaga for its out-of-conference schedule, and I’ll continue to do so. They’ve played tough games against Michigan State, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, Baylor, and Alabama, and I commend them for that. But you can’t help but look at the rest of their schedule and wince. Just this week, their two opponents were Pepperdine (shoutout Zoey 101), and Eastern Oregon, who they beat convincingly in a 120-42 rout. Play all of the ranked teams that you want, but I can’t respect the rest of their schedule. Teams like BYU and Saint Mary’s always put together decent rosters and can play the Zags tough, but it’s nothing like the competitiveness that you’ll see each night in the Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, or even the Pac-12. I would be okay with Gonzaga switching conferences, cutting their OOC schedule in half, and getting forced to travel to these tough environments to play better opponents.
Let’s put them in the Big 12 as a hypothetical. They’d have to play Kansas every year, they can still schedule two or three tough OOC games, and they’d be traveling to places like West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and Texas to play road games. Some years, these programs are on an equal talent level to teams like BYU and Saint Mary’s, but let’s not act like the crowds in Provo and the crowds in Morgantown are on the same footing. Gonzaga dominates every year, and will likely continue to dominate as long as they can keep recruiting, but they don’t have the respect of the college basketball world. If they moved to a real conference and year after year could travel to these tough environments and win consistently, it would go a long way for their program, and would likely prepare their players better for a March Madness run.
