Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The possibility of "home court advantage" in the NCAA Tournament......

OK, now you're going to have to stay with me on this one. It could get complicated.....

NCAA rules state that no team can play a NCAA Tournament game on their home court. "Home court" is defined as any floor in which the team has played "more than three scheduled games". So you're not going to see the Buckeyes at the Schottenstein Center, which will host the first and second rounds. However, the Buckeyes may be on track for the next best thing.

Ohio State is four days away from their big showdown against Wisconsin. If they win, they lock up the Big Ten Championship and the #1 seed in the conference tournament. The Big Ten Championship will probably hand Ohio State a #1 seed, but that's not a guarantee yet.

The Buckeyes will then play their first conference tournament game on March 9th at the United Center in Chicago. If they win, they play in the Big Ten semifinals on March 10th at the United Center in Chicago. If they win, they play in the Big Ten Championship game on March 11th at....the United Center in Chicago.

Winning that Big Ten Tournament will secure the #1 seed the Buckeyes are looking for. The other top seeds look to be Florida, UCLA and North Carolina. Looking regionally, the top seed in the South would go to Florida, the east would go to North Carolina, and the West would go to UCLA. Ohio State would become the #1 seed in the Midwest, which is EXACTLY what they want.

....and guess what? The top seed in the Midwestern bracket plays their first two games....at the United Center in Chicago.

How much of an advantage do YOU think a team would have getting to play 5 straight games on the same floor?

1 comment:

Jeff Seemann said...

Yes...the rule is "MORE than 3 games". So we can play there.