College Non-Homecourts South Florida, UCLA and Georgia Tech are not teams that have had significant home court advantages in hoops in recent years, and it’ll be even worse this season, as during arena construction they'll be playing at home neutral sites off-campus that make it tougher for students to get there.
The Sun Dome is being fixed up in Tampa, and as a result USF will be playing all over town, including three home games in five days coming up. South Florida will play their Big East home games in the St. Pete Times Forum. The program does have a nice new basketball practice facility that coach Stan Heath and the players love as you can read here:
[url]https://www.tampabay.com/sports/basketball/college/new-practice-facility-helps-usf-bulls-bond-as-a-basketball-team/1200618[/url]
As Pauley Pavilion is renovated, UCLA will play at the LA Sports Arena, which is adjacent to the USC campus. The university is providing round trip bus service to the aging facility from campus for $16. Students can ride for free if they reserve a spot in advance.
While Alexander Coliseum is gutted, Georgia Tech will be playing at the Gwinnett Arena in the Northeast suburbs of Atlanta. The area is on the way to Athens and Bulldog fans outnumber Jackets fans in the area by a large margin. Weeknight games will see students fighting rush hour traffic.
Many teams enjoy home court advantage even without a ton of crowd support, as a familiar campus setting where they practice often gives teams an edge even in a half-filled arena. But South Florida, UCLA and Georgia Tech will be in unfamiliar arenas, potentially with little student support. They may have a limited home court edge this season.
Would welcome any info anyone has on similar home court issues or arena changes.
