Rabid Crowd Theory 2: Parity Index
by Ken Pomeroy on Friday, July 29, 2005
The last post about home court advantage by conference generated quite a bit of e-mail traffic. It was actually only three people that responded, but that represents half of my readership at this time of year. The point raised in the e-mails was that [major conference] was at a disadvantage because dominant teams at the top of the conference artificially bring the home winning percentage down by winning almost all of their road games. While I intended this post to be about why the future of possession-based stats is dependent upon Utah State winning the WAC this season, I feel duty-bound to slog through another post about the randomness of home court advantage.
Let me say first that part of the theory is sound. A team going unbeaten (or winless) will naturally drive the conference home record towards .500. However, a couple of points need to be made before we…
Rabid Crowd Theory
by Ken Pomeroy on Tuesday, July 12, 2005
There's nothing like an unsubstantiated assertion to motivate me to post.
The principal difference between the ACC and the Big East is the level of home-court advantage. Sure, there are a few dominant courts in the Big East, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a weak one anywhere in the ACC. Even traditional bottom-feeders, such as Clemson and Florida State, can pack 'em in and chase away road teams. - Andy Katz, ACC Summer Session
I've had this theory that I don't think I have expressed here yet: home court advantage isn't much different between, say playing at Duke, as compared to playing at Savannah State. Most of the home court advantage is the result of simply being able to maintain one's normal routine, play in familiar confines, etc. Sure, it's harder to win at Cameron Indoor, but that has much more to do with the team you have…
The Value of Ben Gillery
by Ken Pomeroy on Tuesday, July 5, 2005
After John Thompson said goodbye to Patrick Ewing and before he said hello to Alonzo Mourning, he had a void at the center position. In light of the quality of the aforementioned players, it was a huge void. In 1987, Thompson brought seven-footer Ben Gillery to Georgetown from the junior college ranks. Gillery, in a word, was a "project" and he never quite panned out. What I remember about him was that he would start a game, be pulled at the first stoppage, and never return. I marveled at box scores where he was listed as a starter, played 2 minutes, and the rest of his line was filled with zeroes. It was like his only purpose was to win the jump ball.
In truth, my memory can't be too accurate, since according to Jazzy J's site, Gillery averaged about eight minutes a game during his career. So the…