Home teams won 59.9% of their games last season in college basketball, according to KenPom. That was up from 57.5% over the previous two seasons. Winning on the road in college basketball is tough, and that’s accounted for in the NCAA’s NET rankings formula, which rewards any victory over a team in the top 75 of the NET with the coveted “Quad 1” status.
But deciphering the precise strength of a team’s home-court advantage in college basketball is difficult because there are several factors to consider beyond just attendance and home winning percentage. How close are the students to the opposing bench? In some cases, altitude can be a factor. While some venues can prove incredibly raucous for certain marquee matchups, the intimidation factors tapers dramatically for unheralded opponents.
When Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander asked which arenas boast the best home-court environments to roughly 100 coaches during last year’s Candid Coaches series, 22 different schools appeared on at least three ballots. The survey showcased the diversity of thought around this topic. While programs such as Kansas and Duke led the way, some less predictable schools such as Wichita State and Texas Tech also fared well in the coaches’ rankings.
For this week’s Dribble Handoff, our writers are weighing in on the topic. Which college basketball venue brings the best peak home-court advantage in the sport? Here are our responses:
Kansas
The only proper way to start this list is with Allen Fieldhouse, the historic home of the Kansas Jayhawks. There’s no more special place in college basketball, and it’s my personal favorite.
Have you been there? If not — and if you can — you should try to get there someday because it truly should be a bucket-list type place for all hoop heads. The building is named after Phog Allen, otherwise known as the “Father of Basketball Coaching.” The court is named after Dr. James Naismith, the…
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