for the last few seasons, ive always capped vanderbilt as a team with a nice home court edge. the unusual layout of the floor and backdrop can throw even some good visitors off their game.
after watching two mac teams (toledo and central michigan) go into nashville this year and throw up bricks, i started to wonder if the vandy home court edge is even more of a factor than i originally thought.
after looking over the numbers, it would appear its a far stronger home court than i ever imagined. i think that edge is offset a little in conference play because the sec opponents have (for the most part) played there before and arent entirely new to the environment.
but when non-conference teams visit vandy for the 1st time, they appear to be shooting with blindfolds on. below are the shooting numbers for non-conference teams in nashville this year. theyre pretty amazing, especially considering that a handful of these are normally high-scoring teams. no team has shot better than 37% from the floor or better than 32% from 3pt range.
toledo
24/70 from the floor (34%)
7/25 from 3pt (28%)
tcu
20/58 from the floor (35%)
6/22 from 3pt (27%)
central michigan
19/60 from the floor (32%)
6/20 from 3pt (30%)
appalachian state
17/62 from the floor (27%)
7/22 from 3pt (32%)
dayton
25/67 from the floor (37%)
8/26 from 3pt (31%)
louisiana-lafayette
16/56 from the floor (28%)
3/22 from 3pt (14%)
to add to that, toledo and central michigan both got off to horrible first half starts.
toledo shot 27% in the first half and went 1-11 from 3pt range before the break
central michigan shot an almost unfathomable 4-28 from the floor in the first half (14%) and 0 of 7 from 3pt range. chips missed their first 12 shots from the floor.
although im not a big numbers capper, i dont think these particular numbers lie. vandy is no powerhouse, but they are pretty decent and shoot the ball well at home. conversely, non-conference opponents appear to be absolutely clueless in their gym.
vanderbilt (-8) for me tonight
after watching two mac teams (toledo and central michigan) go into nashville this year and throw up bricks, i started to wonder if the vandy home court edge is even more of a factor than i originally thought.
after looking over the numbers, it would appear its a far stronger home court than i ever imagined. i think that edge is offset a little in conference play because the sec opponents have (for the most part) played there before and arent entirely new to the environment.
but when non-conference teams visit vandy for the 1st time, they appear to be shooting with blindfolds on. below are the shooting numbers for non-conference teams in nashville this year. theyre pretty amazing, especially considering that a handful of these are normally high-scoring teams. no team has shot better than 37% from the floor or better than 32% from 3pt range.
toledo
24/70 from the floor (34%)
7/25 from 3pt (28%)
tcu
20/58 from the floor (35%)
6/22 from 3pt (27%)
central michigan
19/60 from the floor (32%)
6/20 from 3pt (30%)
appalachian state
17/62 from the floor (27%)
7/22 from 3pt (32%)
dayton
25/67 from the floor (37%)
8/26 from 3pt (31%)
louisiana-lafayette
16/56 from the floor (28%)
3/22 from 3pt (14%)
to add to that, toledo and central michigan both got off to horrible first half starts.
toledo shot 27% in the first half and went 1-11 from 3pt range before the break
central michigan shot an almost unfathomable 4-28 from the floor in the first half (14%) and 0 of 7 from 3pt range. chips missed their first 12 shots from the floor.
although im not a big numbers capper, i dont think these particular numbers lie. vandy is no powerhouse, but they are pretty decent and shoot the ball well at home. conversely, non-conference opponents appear to be absolutely clueless in their gym.
vanderbilt (-8) for me tonight
I'm tailing ya on this one!
