SCU Men's Basketball - "There's No Place Like Home"

                                                                 

There's no doubt the experience gained by our young team playing on the road in hostile, loud environments, like at The Kennel and at BYU, will pay dividends in the future.  

It's one thing not to play at home, but another when you run the risk of being "homered."  Sure the arena environment, fan base, lighting, etc. is all foreign that's why winning on the road is so hard.  

The other X factor is that you just don't seem to get favorable calls on the road.  It's a conundrum?  Do teams play that differently away?  Do they guard too aggressively?  Are the officials from a different league and, therefore, unfamiliar with how that league plays?  Are Coaches just not up to speed on the rules to game plan road games?  

I can go on and on.  The answers to all the above questions is NO.  If this all sounds like a giant gripe - it is.  Not just for the Broncos, but for all teams.  I honestly don't know how Coaches handle it. 

The WOC charter simply stated:  
"The consortium is deigned to promote consistency - in training, development and evaluation - in officiating the western U.S., and provide a larger, more diverse pool of officials for assignment."

Nice statement, but difficult to implement.  Just read the rules text re: players "cylinder space" and you'll see all the attempts at consistency lead to inconsistency because officials are human and each interprets action on the court differently.  I'm not blaming the officials (well, I guess indirectly I am) but they have an impossible job.

For example, this season to date on the road, our opponents have attempted 64 more free throws than us.  That's nearly a full game point total.  In Provo, BYU made more free throws (24) than we attempted!  If the proverbial "make up calls" exist, then maybe we have 64 coming our way in the remaining six road games.  Doubt it.

Whether it is the Wizard of Westwood or the "Wizard of Oz" it's true, there's no place like home.  We have six games left at Leavey:  Gonzaga, LMU, Portland, St. Mary's, Pacific, and USF.  At 2-2 thus far, going 6-6 in last 12, given our short roster, would be a good finish going into the WCC tourney.  IMHO, it's going to take a road upset or two to get there.  

Tomorrow at St. Mary's is a tough test.  They shoot it among the best in the WCC and don't turn it over.  They have experience and match up well with us.  It can be done, but it will take one of our best road performances a-la Washington State.  

No doubt we've seen real improvement.  It's time to keep it going.  

We can help.  If there's really "no place like home," let's do OUR best to make opponents feel "homered" when they come to Leavey.  We need to get our 64 back by letting the Coaches and players know we've got their backs!


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