In a college basketball year with more cardboard cutouts in stadiums than actual people, home court has largely been forgotten as a significant factor. Of course when the games mean the most in March, nobody is playing on their home floor.
Wisconsin basketball has traditionally been as good as nearly anybody in the country at home over the past 20 seasons. From 1997-2018, Wisconsin ranked 10th in the country in win percentage as they went 285-48 in that time period per RPIratings.com.
In a year with no fans, the Badgers have still been a completely different team home and away. Wisconsin flashes an 11-2 record in the friendly confines of the Kohl Center while being 3-4 away from home. At evanmiya.com, Wisconsin is currently second overall in “home rank,” which per the college basketball analytics website “ranks teams by how much better they perform at home versus on the road. Having a higher Home Rank means there’s a big disparity between how well the team plays at home versus elsewhere.” Only Clemson ranks higher than UW.
It’s surprising that while many other programs have shown little difference at home and away, with some even being better on the road this season, Wisconsin still thrives at the Kohl Center. Does it bode well for March? Not unless we can somehow convince the NCAA to hold the entire tournament in Madison, Wisconsin instead of in the state of Indiana.