In conference play, home teams are winning just 58 percent of their games, which is a figure that actually rose by six percent this past weekend. The 58 percent winning percentage is 20th among 33 D-I conferences. Robert Morris is clearly no exception, posting a 3-2 record at the Chuck with losses coming to St. Francis Brooklyn and Bryant. I asked head coach Andy Toole about this earlier today, and this is what he said:
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it very much honestly. I know our approach to each and every game, home or away, is the same, or try to be the same. Maybe just off the top of my head one of the things that could happen sometimes when you're home is there's obviously possibility for more distractions. When you're on the road, when you're at the hotel, when you're at team meal and everything you kind of do is with your team, maybe there's a little bit more of a focus to you, a little bit more of an understanding to you to what's going on. Where at home you come to practice during the day, you do your scout and then you're back in the dorms or doing what you're doing and maybe not thinking about the game or the team as much. That could be part of it but like I said I haven't really spent a whole lot of time thinking about it, I'm just kind of worried about our next challenge."
This statistic has garnered some attention from the press recently and I just wanted to see if Toole had a theory, but this is clearly something that he hasn't thought much of. I think he has some more important things to think about.
Anyway, at some point home court advantage is going to be a big deal for somebody. There's the confidence that comes with being a top-seed in the NEC tournament and knowing that a road to the big dance goes through your house. However, that doesn't seem like it'll be so much the case this year.
Just my personal opinion, but I think the youth of the conference plays a role in things. Perhaps teams feel too much of a sense of confidence when playing at home and the road teams get up more for the challenge?
Maybe this is just always the case anyway? I have no idea. Just wanted to float out the idea.
--Chris
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it very much honestly. I know our approach to each and every game, home or away, is the same, or try to be the same. Maybe just off the top of my head one of the things that could happen sometimes when you're home is there's obviously possibility for more distractions. When you're on the road, when you're at the hotel, when you're at team meal and everything you kind of do is with your team, maybe there's a little bit more of a focus to you, a little bit more of an understanding to you to what's going on. Where at home you come to practice during the day, you do your scout and then you're back in the dorms or doing what you're doing and maybe not thinking about the game or the team as much. That could be part of it but like I said I haven't really spent a whole lot of time thinking about it, I'm just kind of worried about our next challenge."
This statistic has garnered some attention from the press recently and I just wanted to see if Toole had a theory, but this is clearly something that he hasn't thought much of. I think he has some more important things to think about.
Anyway, at some point home court advantage is going to be a big deal for somebody. There's the confidence that comes with being a top-seed in the NEC tournament and knowing that a road to the big dance goes through your house. However, that doesn't seem like it'll be so much the case this year.
Just my personal opinion, but I think the youth of the conference plays a role in things. Perhaps teams feel too much of a sense of confidence when playing at home and the road teams get up more for the challenge?
Maybe this is just always the case anyway? I have no idea. Just wanted to float out the idea.
--Chris
