[TonyLima]

Just took a quick look at Stanford men's basketball.  Counting only two time zone trips. West-East travel the traveling team (only Stanford) went 1-7.  East-West it was 1-5.  Hypothesis: playing on your home court is far more important than travel.  Not going to pursue this further.  Others welcome to my Excel sheet.

A little longer look at the Stanford men's basketball schedule shows that they are 9-0 vs. the teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings and 1-7 vs. teams in the top half.  Visiting ACC teams are 1-8 at Maples.  Wake Forest, the #5 team has the only win.  The losses are by team numbers 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 (Cal), 16, 17, & 18.  On ACC road trips Stanford is 2-6, with one win at Cal (#15) and the other at UNC (#6).  The losses are to team numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 9.  Stanford is #7, so of 17 ACC games, the only ones not predictable by the current standings are the win at #6 UNC and losses at #8 Georgia Tech & #9 Pitt.

I have no doubt that travel has an impact on outcomes given the crazy road trips that ACC teams are faced with.  But who you play can't be overlooked.  I'd be careful about concluding much based on Stanford's schedule, which has generally been, play the top teams on the road and the bottom teams at home. 

The next 2 games break that pattern - #4 SMU will be here on Saturday, and Stanford will visit #13 Notre Dame next week.

Thank you.

[TonyLima]

Just took a quick look at Stanford men's basketball.  Counting only two time zone trips. West-East travel the traveling team (only Stanford) went 1-7.  East-West it was 1-5.  Hypothesis: playing on your home court is far more important than travel.  Not going to pursue this further.  Others welcome to my Excel sheet.

A little longer look at the Stanford men's basketball schedule shows that they are 9-0 vs. the teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings and 1-7 vs. teams in the top half.  Visiting ACC teams are 1-8 at Maples.  Wake Forest, the #5 team has the only win.  The losses are by team numbers 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 (Cal), 16, 17, & 18.  On ACC road trips Stanford is 2-6, with one win at Cal (#15) and the other at UNC (#6).  The losses are to team numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, & 9.  Stanford is #7, so of 17 ACC games, the only ones not predictable by the current standings are the win at #6 UNC and losses at #8 Georgia Tech & #9 Pitt.

I have no doubt that travel has an impact on outcomes given the crazy road trips that ACC teams are faced with.  But who you play can't be overlooked.  I'd be careful about concluding much based on Stanford's schedule, which has generally been, play the top teams on the road and the bottom teams at home. 

The next 2 games break that pattern - #4 SMU will be here on Saturday, and Stanford will visit #13 Notre Dame next week.

Thank you.