Home Court Advantage

[Gator]

A non-official, (me) dares to ask a question of the experts

I keep hearing about home court advantage and a "fan" on our board keeps spouting about that it is all because officials are influenced by the home fans. Drives me crazy. I took a look at box scores for all B12 conference games last year (women's teams - 92 games) and there was an average of about 6 more fouls called on the away team and in no case did the home team have more fouls than the away team. I also looked at TOs on the theory that TEAMS play differently at home and away and in the vast majority of cases teams had about 3 more TOs when they were the away team (I don't have the specific #'s handy right now)

I'm convinced that the home crowd (this conference has an average of more than a million fans watching WCBB games in a season - the highest attendance for WCBB in any conference) does have some influence on how teams play.

You guys and gals see it all from the "other side". Any comments on home court advantage?

[SmokeEater]

I think Home teams have placed more pressure on themselves to perform and therefor commit more infractions of the rules.

[Adam]

Given the fact that the officials at that level are evaluated with video, and every call and non-call is graded, I'd say your homecourt advantage has more to do with how teams play rather than influence on the officials.

Teams play more agressively, drive to the hoop more, take more risks on defense, and can do these things for longer periods of time when the crowd is supporting them. These things lead to things like foul counts, turnovers, etc. Also, home teams tend to win, which tends to create more fouls for the losing team trying to catch up (chicken-egg).

[BillyMac]

Home advantage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, good article in Sports Illustrated, January 17, 2011.

[DesMoines]

...in no case did the home team have more fouls than the away team...

Really? There wasn't a single instance in 92 games where the home team had more fouls than the visitors?

[Adam]

That is not a good article, Billy. Why in the world would you reference it?

[Gator]

Originally Posted by DesMoines

Really? There wasn't a single instance in 92 games where the home team had more fouls than the visitors?

I misspoke - there wasn't a TEAM which averaged more home fouls than away fouls. For example: when Baylor is the home team, they got 41.0% of the fouls. When they were the away team, it was 45.0%

OU at home: 47.3% away 53.5%

On average, the home team got 46.9% of the fouls and the away 53.1%

[26 Year Gap]

There is also the effect of travel on visiting teams. It isn't like a 75 minute trip on a school bus. And assuming even 50 fouls per game, it is a difference of 3. But more likely, it is 25-30 fouls called, though I have not looked it up, which would mean a difference of 2 or less, statistically speaking. And that is a difference that is hardly worth mentioning IMO.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

That is not a good article, Billy. Why in the world would you reference it?

I read it two weeks ago. I do remember not agreeing with everything in the artcile, but it seemed to be well researched, and backed up by statistics. I remember being surprised at how the home field advantage was very important for some sports, I believe that soccer was one, and not others.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

There is also the effect of travel on visiting teams.

Nothing like sleeping in your own bed.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I read it two weeks ago. I do remember not agreeing with everything in the artcile, but it seemed to be well researched, and backed up by statistics. I remember being surprised at how the home field advantage was very important for some sports, I believe that soccer was one, and not others.

You could back virtually any thesis in the world with statistics.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

You could back virtually any thesis in the world with statistics.

Within the margin of error?

[archangel]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

You could back virtually any thesis in the world with statistics.

Half of all people are below average in intelligence.

[DesMoines]

Originally Posted by Gator

I misspoke - there wasn't a TEAM which averaged more home fouls than away fouls.

1) Team average: That makes more sense... as does the travel factor.

2) Lies, Damned Lies, & Statistics.

[26 Year Gap]

Originally Posted by archangel

Half of all people are below average in intelligence.

Not necessarily. That would be true of the median if there were an odd number of people in the world at any given moment. But, it could be true that smarter people pull the mean [average] up, which would result in more than half being below average. The reverse also could be true.