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From: sims@hou2b.UUCP (J.SIMESTER)
Newsgroups: net.sport.hoops
Subject: NCAA Tourney and the Home Court
Message-ID: <244@hou2b.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 27-Mar-84 10:12:37 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2b.244
Posted: Tue Mar 27 10:12:37 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Mar-84 01:19:56 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 52

I just have to raise a voice of protest over the NCAA allowing
a tournament team to play games on its home court.  The case in
point here is Kentucky.  I freely admit to being partisan, being
an alumnus of Illinois, but I really do believe that the Illini
would have won the game Saturday had it been played on a neutral
court.  They played excellent defense, for the most part neutralized
Kentucky's big front line, and played well enough to win despite
the Wildcats' home court advantage.  However, Kentucky benefitted
from a number of "homer" calls by the officials.

Two obvious examples towards the end of the game:  the foul on Douglas
after Kentucky was trapped near mid-court (first, even the TV
commentators stated that the Kentucky player had travelled, and second,
Douglas had all ball in the replays anyway - if anything, it should have
been a held ball).  Then, Kentucky fouled twice in the final seconds
trying to keep the Illini from setting up for a shot.  Since the purpose
of the strategy was so tranparent, how could the fouls be anything but
intentional (and therefore worth two shots!!!)  And those are just the
two major examples I can remember - I can recall being livid about several
other similar instances during the game.  (BTW, I've had several
non-Illinois fans I know agree with me about the game completely, so
I don't think it's just me.)  And the NCAA has the b*lls to run
commercials during the game about how their officials are so careful
to ignore such things as fans and the home court - BULL!  As the saying
foes, you can't beat the refs - and they certainly GAVE Kentucky that
game!!

(Sorry about the flames - I'm still hot about that game!)

(Slowly calming down again)  Back to my point.  The tournament committee,
in its infinite wisdom, carefully seeds the tournament.  Their seeding
indicates who they *expect* to go to the Final Four.  They are also
aware of the sites for the regional games.  If they really want a fair
tournament that allows the *best teams* to survive, they could (and in
my opinion, should) see to it that no highly seeded team is allowed
to play on its home floor.  This year, since they had to do a bunch of
shuffling anyway, they could have sent Kentucky to the West and let
Georgetown play in the Mideast.

I've read several times that the home court is worth at least 5 points
to a team (sorry, no reference).  During the regular season, with teams
playing home and home, the advantages even out.  But I don't think such
an advantage should be allowed in the NCAA tournament.  It just plain
isn't fair.  (Yes, I'm aware of the big bucks involved in tournament
play, but I seriously doubt that there would be any problems with
ticket sales for Regional games.  Illinois could have filled Rupp by
itself.)

Anybody else have thoughts on the matter?
-- 
                                    Jim
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