Something bizarre happened back in 2001-02 and 2002-03 — and it wasn’t Ugonna Onyekwe becoming only the fourth two-time Ivy league Player of the Year. Rather, in each of the two seasons, home teams were 28-28 in league play. 2003-04 wasn’t much better (30-26), but the last two seasons have seen the home teams re-establish dominance, going a combined 52-26.
When talent trumped venue
Looking at individual game outcomes, the key to the strange home-road records a few years back was the fact that upper division teams were consistently beating lower division teams — home and away. As a matter of fact, during those two seasons, teams beat opponents that finished ahead of them in the standings just three times, and all three wins came in 2001-02. The next year the top half swept the bottom half, as Penn went 14-0, runner-up Brown lost only to Penn (twice), third-place Princeton (10-4) was swept by Penn and Brown, and fourth-place Yale (8-6) went 0-6 against the upper division.
A recipe for success
Whether it’s the bus rides and strange beds, the unfamiliar shooting backdrops and rims, or the unsympathetic opposing crowds, winning on the road in Division I men’s college basketball is tough. In fact, the data shows that home teams win around two-thirds of the time. In the Ivy League, with its back-to-back games on weekends, a team’s road record has proven to be the best barometer of its title chances. The team with the best (or tied for the best) Ivy mark away from home has won at least a share of the Ivy title each of the last 15 seasons.
Early returns
The top two teams in the standings right now, Penn and Princeton, have both yet to play a single Ivy League road game. That will change this weekend, when the Ps head to New England to face Dartmouth and Harvard. The Quakers have played just five of their 18 games away from The Palestra, while the Tigers have played 10 of 17 under Jadwin’s geodesic dome. Everyone else has at least two Ivy road games under their belts, with Harvard and Dartmouth already having played five. At this point, only Cornell (2-1) and Harvard (3-2) boast winning road marks, but the Crimson still has the Penn-Princeton road trip remaining, where it hasn’t won since 1991.
