This college basketball season it is nearly impossible to win on the road. Ranked teams and unranked teams a like, it is tough to go out and grab a win on the road. 36 mens college basketball teams are undefeated at home this season. In the last week, there have been over 35 home underdogs across college basketball that have won games. Many of which have knocked off ranked teams in that time. Just last Saturday, January 20th, five ranked teams lost to unranked teams on the road.
Being an underdog isn’t necessarily a bad thing anymore and during this college basketball season it almost seems like a compliment. Teams are rallying and finding a way to win in their home building.
Newly ranked Nevada fell victim to the home underdog Wednesday night in a one point, double overtime loss. What we’ve learned so far is that it is a nightmare to win on the road in college basketball. Home crowds and the comfort of your own gym propel teams that maybe shouldn’t win and cash it into the win column for the home team.
The Best Home Dogs:
Last season, at this point, only seven teams were undefeated at home and only two of those teams were from the power five conference (Oregon and Florida State). This season the home underdog has been dominant. The most impressive home underdog has been the North Carolina State Wolfpack. They are 3-0 as a home underdog and have knocked off Duke, Clemson and Penn State on their own court.
The other 3-0 home underdog this season is Wyoming, the team who beat Nevada Wednesday night. They are 12-8 this season and have played well in their own building. Of their loses, they have lost to two ranked teams as well as South Carolina but all of those games were road or neutral sites.
College basketball is getting pretty even these days. Being a home team is the great equalizer. It takes a strong team to win conference games on the road and an even stronger team to be a Vegas favorite going into a road conference game.
Predicting this weeks upsets:
Saturday:
Well here is a chance to take two home underdogs. Iowa State is at home against Tennessee who is number 22 in the country. Iowa State plays good defense and rebounds at a better clip then Tennessee does. To beat Tennessee you have to hit them inside and get close to the basket.
Iowa State has lost just three games at home this season and two of those were two red hot Kansas State and the Kansas Jayhawks. Iowa State is coming off a disappointing road loss to Texas where they lost by 16 and they are due for a good home showing.
The second choice could be an easy one. South Carolina has been playing great basketball as of late. They are much better on offense which had been somewhat of a struggle to start the season. On the other side number 14 Texas Tech is going through the offensive struggles. They just scored 58 in a loss at Texas and scored 52 in a loss at Iowa State. They are struggling to score which opens up doors for a thriving home underdog.
Both teams are extremely good defensively. South Carolina has come on strong offensively but Texas Tech is trending the wrong way. South Carolina is coming off great shooting performances in their last couple games. They went 11-21 from three in their win against Florida and went 10-23 in their loss to Tennessee.
These two teams seem to be trending the wrong way. South Carolina has won three of their last four and have played some of their best basketball as of late. Texas Tech has won two of their last five and is slowly regressing offensively. If South Carolina can get both Chris Silva working as well as their outside shooting game they will beat the Red Raiders.
NCAA Tournament:
Winning in the NCAA tournament means that you can win in hostile environments. The teams that go into hostile environments late in January and throughout February and grab wins are the teams that will be hanging around come April.
South Carolina is starting to turn their season in that direction as well as other teams, but for right now it will be interesting to see how the end of the college basketball season turns out. With all the parody and all the big time wins for teams there is no telling what will happen on any given week.
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