The Charleston Daily Mail Wrote:Home is sweet in the Big East
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sportswriter
January 15, 2008

MORGANTOWN -- Forgive the firmness of the limb on which we step today. Winning on the road is pretty difficult in college basketball.

Yes, we landed on the moon, too, but it seems home dominance is taking off this season. Consider that with Pitt's gutsy toppling of Georgetown Monday, home teams are now 23-7 in Big East games and on pace to go 110-34. Last year, home teams were 83-45.

Who knows where the numbers will reside in the end, but with the regular season lengthened two games to 18, it's fair to assume attrition will arrive as the season progresses and teams will be even less likely to win away from home.

As it is, the start to the conference schedule deserves some explanation as provided by West Virginia's savvy junior guard, Alex Ruoff.

What exactly is the effect of the home court advantage?

"It turns an eight-point run," he said, "into a 12-point run."

Four points, two baskets, one big difference and it all comes from the little things.

"It's a comfort level," senior point guard Darris Nichols said. "We're in (the Coliseum) every day for three hours a day and sometimes more. You can't explain it, but you just feel a lot better."

It's not just the momentum to start and sustain a run. It's Pitt taking enough healthy players to piece together a bizarre lineup and beat the Hoyas.

It's Georgetown's 7-foot-2 center Roy Hibbert stepping back behind the 3-point line and nailing a game-winner with a nonchalance that defied the fact the shot clock was expiring and four seconds remained in the game the Hoyas would win against UConn.

"If you've got your fans and they like your game, your confidence might be a little high and you'll feel better taking certain shots," Ruoff said.

Ten of the Big East's 16 teams are unbeaten in Big East home games. Six are unbeaten at home and winless on the road. Seven are undefeated overall at home and 15 have winning records.

Home games lack a list of anxieties that exist on the road. There are no wakeup calls, no appointments to meet in the hotel lobby or be seated on the bus. There's no packing and later wondering if you remembered your lucky tights -- and if you didn't, you turn around and go get them. There's an ease in that, just as there is an ease awaking in your own bed and dressing in your own bedroom, and ease is an enabler.

"When you're home you have your own schedule," Nichols said. "You know where you're staying and you eat where you want. You don't have to worry about when the shoot-around is and all that stuff."

The surroundings at home are soothing as well. It's 14,000 people cheering behind you and not standing between you and victory. They hoist you up when you're winning and help you up when you're not.

"When things are going your way, people cheer for you," junior forward Joe Alexander said. "When things aren't going your way, you've still got people on your side saying, 'Come on, Joe. You can do this. You got this.' It's a lot easier to deal with things that way."

The Mountaineers' 2-2 Big East record indicates as much. They're 2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. After losing at Louisville, Ruoff said he and his teammates "fold" the first time a crowd rises against them.

At home, they've been imperturbable, building and maintaining double-digit leads early against Marquette and Syracuse and never looking back. The decision-making that's been flawed on the road has been fine inside the Coliseum and confidence has swelled when it has shrunk in other venues.

The result is the extension of a 14-game home winning streak that dates back to last year, as WVU has been able to do at home what it cannot do on the road. As nice a run as this is for the Mountaineers, it's not as much about their strengths at home as it is about the struggles of others on the road.

"Going on the road is obviously a different experience and it's very difficult to win on the road right now," said Syracuse Coach Jim Boeheim, whose team lost 81-61 Sunday, its first 20-point loss in 58 games. "Sometimes with young guys who don't have a lot of experience, you get in situations where you think you have to work harder to do things and then it gets in their heads and the situation gets worse and leads to more frustrations."

Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec@dailymail.com or (304) 319-1142.