A story by Darren Everson in today's Wall Street Journal reports the winning percentage for road teams in major men's college basketball is .340.
Visiting teams manage to win more frequently in the dozens of sports leagues included in Everson's analysis, from the four major American bodies, to English and Argentine soccer associations, to Japanese and Dominican winter baseball. It's this statistical point which represents the crux of the author's argument: that winning on the road in men's college hoops is the most difficult feat in team sports.
There is nothing tougher in team sports than what 42 schools in NCAA's Division I will try, mostly in vain, to do tonight: Put a dozen skinny kids into an opponent's gym and beat them at basketball. And this season so far, nobody is immune from the danger. In each of the past five weeks, a top-10 team in the Associated Press poll has lost on the road to an unranked one.
As the final weekend of the regular season approaches, these road games become more significant and more treacherous. Teams like Florida, Maryland and Michigan will have to win road games to have any chance of earning berths in the NCAA tournament. They'll have to do it in front of fans spinning pinwheels, wearing gorilla suits, dancing around in Speedos and displaying unflattering photographs of their family members. "It's always been this way and it always will be," says Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. "Only the top, top teams in the country can win on the road."
Why college hoops? Everson does his best to separate the myths (unfamiliar sightlines for shooters) from the realities ("debatable sanity" of hometown supporters) -- but offers no quantifiable arguments beyond the initial comparison of road winning percentage.
So what do you think? Do you believe it's harder for a college basketball team to win on the road compared to, say, an NFL team or an Argentine soccer club? Or are the numbers simply skewed in college hoops because of practices like "buy games," where high-profile schools pay for weak opponents to come to their gym early in the season for ritual slaughters?
The Toughest Place to Win in Sports [The Wall Street Journal]
Anne V
Daniella Sarahyba
U.S. Open Upsets
NASCAR Cup Winners Of 2010
Comments (35) Add A Comment
For awhile it was Stamford Bridge...until Scolari messed it up.
Zizou10
Total Comments (3450)
Very interesting article. I am glad you included sports outside of the USA market since most of those leagues are equally if not more popular world-wide (i.e., English Premier League).
NY Giants…
Hoboken , NJ
Total Comments (177)
"THE SWAMP" in Gainesville, Florida................ End of story.
KEVOSLICE
Winter Garden , FL
Total Comments (218)
point number one: clearly some of our commenters did not read the article.
point number two: would like to see the college basketball analysis for in conference games only, thus taking the sacrificial lambs out of the equation......(though this also forgives u of minn's home loss to d2 winnona state a couple years ago).
Hotpants…
Total Comments (1528)
Totally agree with comment 4. The reason it's so low is because Duke never travels to East Bumfu*k State to play games there, so the best teams, especially early in the year, play a lot more home games. Conference games would be a much better measure than all games overall.
yngwiescruggs
Tempe, AZ
Total Comments (386)
The hardest place in sports to travel to and win is the Ali Samni Yan Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Galatassary's home stadium. The opposing team walks out to the field under the Ultras section, which has some of the most violent (think guns, flares, fireworks and large knives), hard-core fans on the planet. And to top things off, at the end of the opposing team's tunnel, right on top of the doors that lead out to the field, is a giant sign that says "Welcome to HELL" on it.
Nicco
Greenwich , CT
Total Comments (190)
HAHAHAHAHA. Ole Miss sure looked scared in the swamp last year
NYGiants: Nice Game…
Rockville Centre , NY
Total Comments (4301)
One old theory is that this figure is skewed by all the games early in the year where the prominent schools invite weak opponents to their arenas, only to flog them. But even if one discards that portion of the season and counts only intraconference play, the resulting .380 road-winning figure is still below every other major U.S. team sport. In 2007, road teams in the Southeastern Conference lost 75% of their conference games -- an only slightly worse record than this year's 68% rate, the second-highest of any Division I conference.
Pertinent info for non-article readers.
Illinois Cheesehead
Northern, IL
Total Comments (644)
Geez its freeking annoying to have d!ckheads run their face and state...end of story!
OverEd
Total Comments (613)
Iremember when barcelona??s basketball team traveled to aris of salonica arena(nikos gallis,yannakis...) ALWAYS,ALWAYS THE CHAIRS FLIED .THAT WAS A PRETTY HARD PLACE TO PLAY.
JUAN MARTINEZ
Total Comments (39)
The O'Connell Center at University of Florida is the worst basketball venue I've seen. I graduated from UF in '99 and the wind swirling around court level was more like an outside court than an indoor court. I was sure no one would ever shoot a high percentage of 3's there and the recent trends make me think something has changed. Was it a homecourt advantage? Heck yeah! Inhospitable fans? Nothing like Duke (and be proud of that Gators) but they represent well.
Joe Dirt
Winston Salem , NC
Total Comments (14)
No road teams have a problem winning in Ford Field. What is the NFL average if we exclude the Lions?
RP-29
Oshkosh , WI
Total Comments (794)
Hardest road win in NCAA-B. Could it be because it is played by young kids who tend to get too impressed by the home teams fans.
Easiest in the NHL. Yes, because hockey players will compete hard as if their life depended on it EVERYWHERE not just when they're cozy at home... After all, winning the Stanley Cup is widely recognized as the hardest title to win in all of sports.
cmh_phx
Total Comments (1246)
got messed up before big phil...please don`t scapegoat
chris_thejock
Total Comments (1023)
honestly dude, nobody gives a damn. you`re sorry a*s*s is still from kansas...end of story.
chris_thejock
Total Comments (1023)
i agree with hockey being tough...etc...but seriosuly, why would it be the toughest to win? it is won every year, just like every other sport....so the fact that you have to sacrifice your body more than in say baseball doesn`t make it any easier or tougher to win...
....just sayinhg, and this coming from a die hard hockey fan from montreal.
chris_thejock
Total Comments (1023)
The old Montreal Forum. Ask any Bruins fan.
Stranger
Pearl City , HI
Total Comments (7104)
Current, I'd have to say the Ketchup Bottle in Pittsburgh.
Stranger
Pearl City , HI
Total Comments (7104)
Emirates Stadium. Oh wait...this is about difficult places to play? Sorry, wrong thread.
WestCoastGooner
Bay Area, CA
Total Comments (16)
Comment
Remember to keep your posts clean. Profanity will get filtered, and offensive comments will be removed.