Its the basketballs - home court advantage

[SoCalDukeFan]

I did not know that this could be a big deal.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-different-basketballs-20160225-story.html

Anyone know what the practice is in the ACC?

SoCal

[devildeac]

Just as long as we never find out that K is letting the air out of our balls...

(take it away, folks :o)

[-jk]

Wisconsin is the only D1 team using the ball they use. It's probably more an advantage for them than most...

-jk

[luburch]

Just as long as we never find out that K is letting the air out of our balls...

(take it away, folks :o)

You just deflated the entire spirit of this thread.

[Indoor66]

Just as long as we never find out that K is letting the air out of our balls...

(take it away, folks :o)

I always heard there were questions about your balls. :D

[freshmanjs]

I did not know that this could be a big deal.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-different-basketballs-20160225-story.html

Anyone know what the practice is in the ACC?

SoCal

I've always suspected it's the travel. I suspect this because there appears to be little or no home court advantage in the Duke-UNC series.

[devildeac]

I always heard there were questions about your balls. :D

Never.

Rumor-mongering.

:rolleyes:

[Olympic Fan]

My theory is that it's the refs ...

No, I don't think they are crooked. But I do think they are influenced by the crowds.

I did a 10-year study a decade ago, back when the ACC played a true home-and-home schedule. It showed that there was an average 10 free throw difference a game between home games and road games -- and that was just measuring ACC play, which meant we were measuring games between the same teams -- the only variable was home or away.

Just anecdotal, but how often do you see a home team start to make a comeback, the crowd gets roaring and suddenly all the calls go their way (as happened Saturday at Louisville)?

To me, THAT is the real homecourt advantage.

[kAzE]

In my opinion, what Wisconsin does actually hurts them more than it helps them. Sure, they have a unique home court advantage, but postseason games are not played on your home court. If you're not using regulation balls in practice, you're just hurting yourself anywhere outside of home court.

[MChambers]

There was an article on the Washington Post recently about another B10 team using odd balls. It was that school that used to be in the ACC. . . Turtles, something like that? Can't really remember. Anyway, here's the article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/terrapins-insider/wp/2016/02/12/mark-turgeon-responds-to-criticism-of-under-armour-basketballs/

[-jk]

In my opinion, what Wisconsin does actually hurts them more than it helps them. Sure, they have a unique home court advantage, but postseason games are not played on your home court. If you're not using regulation balls in practice, you're just hurting yourself anywhere outside of home court.

But they use everyone else's basketballs at least half the time. They're used to 'em...

Frankly, I suspect every school (or at least every school that's trying hard) has a set of "other" balls to prep for away games.

-jk

[TruBlu]

Here's hoping the NCAA shows that they themselves have a set when dealing with the cheaters down 15-501.

[Neals384]

What brand does Duke use?