Does Greensboro Provide Too Much Of A Home Court Advantage for N.C. Schools?

Brian: With Duke’s win over Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament Championship, Duke has now won a conference-best 18 ACC titles. Seven of those titles have been won in Greensboro. Of the 22 conference tournaments played in Greensboro, 14 of them have been won by either Duke or North Carolina. All but three of those Greensboro conference tournaments have been won by a team from North Carolina – North Carolina (8), Duke (7), N.C. State (2) and Wake Forest (2). The only teams to win the tournament in Greensboro not from North Carolina are Maryland (twice) and South Carolina, when they were still members of the ACC.

Here’s the list of non-North Carolina schools that have won the ACC Tournament Championship:

• Georgia Tech (3) - Charlotte x2, Atlanta
• Maryland (3) - Greensboro x2, Charlotte
• Virginia (1) - Washington D.C.
• South Carolina (1) - Greensboro 

With 5 of the next 6 ACC Tournaments being played at Greensboro Coliseum, can we expect anything other than a conference champion from the state of North Carolina? In other words, does the fact that the tournament is based in Greensboro provide N.C. schools with a homecourt advantage?

Jeff: Sure it helps to have the crowd on your side when you are trying to win the ACC Tournament but we can forget who exactly those North Carolina based teams are. Clearly, Duke and North Carolina are the best teams in the league and you would expect them to have the most championships regardless of where the event is being played. Then, if you think about how the second tier of ACC schools might be you would certainly think N.C. State and Maryland, along with Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. All of the bottom tier schools - Clemson, Virginia and Florida State (being either bottom or middle tier) - are from outside North Carolina.  Finally, add in Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. BC has been the only team to come close to winning the tournament when they lost to Duke in 2006 in Greensboro, their first season in the league.

The ACC is dominated by the North Carolina schools in both the regular season and the post season and that will not change anytime soon. If the tournament is held in Boston or Miami or anywhere else on the east coast, Duke and North Carolina are still going to get their fair share of titles.