With COVID eliminating most if not all fans from attending College Basketball games this season, it has basically taken the “home court advantage” out of the game. Just look at what has happened across college basketball so far this season with traditional strong home court advantage schools like Duke, Kansas, and Kentucky already losing multiple home games. While you can argue (and laugh) that the MAC, with its limited fan attendance at many schools in a normal year, will not be impacted by COVID restrictions this season. While that is somewhat true, I still think even at places like Toledo, Athens, Bowling Green, Buffalo, Akron, and Kent where there are strong fanbases, it will still have some impact. While talent will most likely win out when it comes to who ends up in Cleveland for the MAC Tournament come March, I also think that which teams do the best jobs of locking in mentally and self-motivating themselves on a game-by-game basis will also play a part in whether they get to Cleveland or not.

The biggest home court advantage teams will have this year is based on travel and game times. Not all the teams will be staying in town the night before and some will be getting off the bus a couple hours before a game is played. Taking care of business on the home court in these situations and also finding the ability to lock in (when we are on the road in these situations) could be big.

Nick:

Your comments about travel situations is so spot on. Food for thought when considering a regional game situation.

Go Rockets![/align]