#2 vs. #1

Sure... they could build a brand new arena. But that's not going to happen any time soon.

As for an unfair advantage, I may have missed something from my 25 years of watching Vandy games, but I'm fairly certain that both teams have their benches on the baseline. Vandy doesn't get any advantage out of it that the visitors don't. They both have the same advantages and disadvantages of the setup.

 

They wouldnt have to build a new arena. They could easily get rid of a couple of rows and put the benches below the floors or something of that nature. Not that they will, so its more or less a moot point.

And of course it is an advantage. Vandy plays 15 or so games there a year, compared to SEC east teams playing there once a year, and SEC west teams playing there once every 2 years. Not to mention the out of conference teams. Of course the Vandy coaches and players are more accustomed to communicating with each other in that setup than visiting teams.

They get beat at UK, then blow UK out at memorial. They get beat by 20 at UT, and then beat UT at memorial. They get beat by 22 at Florida, and then beat Florida at memorial. Seriously, I realize that being the home team typically provides a natural advantage anyway, and I realize that UK played terrible at Vandy, and that Vandy could have just been off at both UT and Florida. But still, you are talking about at least a 23 point swing with 3 above mentioned opponents between the home and away sites. I dont think thats a coincidence.

 

Is it an advantage? Sure it is. But until it is made "illegal", I wouldn't change it at all. That is what home court is all about. The benches on the end had nothing to do with us missing open shots and Shane Foster hitting everything.

 

And that still wouldn't make it a conventional layout. But it would do a good job of screwing the highest paying season ticket holders. THAT sounds like a brilliant idea...

You make it sound like coaches do things entirely different in normal arenas. It's just a matter of being in a different place. It's actually an advantage to be on the baseline in some times (especially in the 2nd half when the offense is on that coach's end), but it helps/hurts both teams evenly.

You are talking about teams that have huge homecourt advantages. Rupp Arena is a tough place to play. The O'Connell Center is a tough place to play. Thompson Bowling (now, at least) is a tough place to play. They don't have any seating advantage. The issue is the fans.

Just look at how much different it is in Knoxville now that the fans turn out and get into the game in such numbers. Homecourt advantage is huge for everyone. Having the crowd as a distraction is the biggest difference. And when big opponents come into Memorial Gym, Vandy fans can make it very loud. Especially since it isn't very spacious and the sound bounces off the old cinderblock walls. That's a bigger advantage than where the benches are.

 

That and the foot stomp. It was too loud for him to do that against UT (at least I don't remember seeing it), but he will stomp his foot hard to get his players attention a lot. I swear he's going to break his foot doing that one day...

I'll take a guess and say that the refs might call something on that... :ha:

Historically, coaches were allowed to walk out onto the court a little when the play was at the other end of the court (the new coaching box calls have changed that). But when teams inbound it from the baseline, players always have to get out of the way. Same as when teams inbound from the sideline in a normal arena.

 

I understand that fans give a team a natural homecourt advantage, and even if Vandy had the benches on the sideline, they would still have a homecourt advantage like all teams. But a place being tough to play due to the fans, is entirely different than a place being tough to play because of an unconventional lay out of the benches. And like I mentioned earlier, Vandy is a good team so I am certainly not trying to take anything from them. They are certainly capable of playing with probably anybody in the country. But I really dont think its debatable that the lay out of the floor does give the team that is accustomed to that layout, an advantage.

 

OK then, what is it about the layout that gives Vandy an advantage over anyone who has been there even once before?

 

The communication with the coaches and a coach trying to view and evaluate the game from a completely different angle. And I think you are weighing being there once a little too much. Once a year isnt really that much, and for the West teams its every other year and that isnt much at all. Look at Kentucky. They have lost one game since Jan 19th, that being to Vandy when they got beat by close to 40. Do you think thats just a coincidence that a team who was playing really well before, and has played well since, had a god awful game on that floor? I dont. Im not saying UK would have won had that night had the benches been layed out normal, but I dont know it would have been that embarrassing of a loss either.

 

the dozen Metro's finest with videocameras and tazers didn't deter that one little bit now did it ?:eh?: