Pitt would have a decided home-court advantage only if the NCAA Tournament was visiting Fitzgerald Field House.
It isn't. So can we please put to rest talk of how much of a competitive advantage it is for the Panthers to play in Mellon Arena to begin the NCAA Tournament?
True, Mellon Arena is in Pittsburgh and relatively close to the Pitt campus. Also true, Pitt hasn't played there since December 2000.
When Pitt played its annual series of more attractive regular-season games in the arena formerly known as Civic, ending with the 1997-98 season, the Pitt coaches would be heard to gripe on occasion that they were squandering their home-court advantage by so doing.
Pitt's strong chances of beating Central Connecticut State in a first-round game Friday have more to do with the meek NCAA Tournament history of Northeast Conference representatives than with the site of the contest.
As hard as this may be to believe, more than one Pitt player wouldn't have minded packing his bags and going elsewhere.
"I would rather play here, don't get me wrong, but I would like to travel," sophomore guard Julius Page said. "That's what I think the tournament is about, going somewhere else and playing different teams."
Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson, not exactly a disinterested observer, saw the Mellon site as nice, but added, "We'd take the train to Albuquerque to play in the NCAA Tournament, and I"m sure every other team feels that same way, too.
"When the ball's tipped, you've got to line up and play and every team in this tournament, as we've seen all through these championship games, anybody can win any time."
Well, No. 16 seeds never have won their first-round games and No. 15 seeds seldom win. The results of 14th seeds, such as Central Connecticut State, against No. 3 seeds such as Pitt follow similar lines, which is to say not good.
Coaches have weighed in both pro and con on the NCAA Tournament Committee's emphasis on keeping higher seeds closer to home this year.
The complainers claim competitive disadvantage.
"That has yet to be determined," Pitt's Ben Howland said. "But I think it's a great thing for the City of Pittsburgh. I think it's great for the university to be playing right here in our own backyard. I think that once you start that tournament, anything can happen. You always can lose a home game. This is not in our home arena and we're not going to have all the fans here. We're not going to have any great advantage in that respect."
If Pitt wins, as the oddsmakers suspect, how can we determine how much had to do with location and how much owed to a superior team?
If Central Connecticut wins, well, there goes the old hometown advantage.
The average early round NCAA crowd, like the people at a Super Bowl, is not made up of overly enthusiastic fans. There is a corporate quality. Rabid enthusiasm is limited, which is why the NCAA people like to have bands present to paint over the quiet stretches.
Understand that Pitt will have plenty of fans. Also understand that they will not make the Mellon dome ring the way they made Fitzgerald vibrate.
The court will be unfamiliar. The shooting background will be unfamiliar.
Not having to travel could be good or could be bad. Some coaches prefer to have their team on the road, the better to isolate them from distractions.
If any city should understand that playing at home is not necessarily a huge advantage in sports, it is Pittsburgh.
The Steelers have lost three of their past four home AFC Championships, playing on their field and in their stadium, not just in the city. The Penguins went 0-2 at home against the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals last year — failed to score a goal even — and in Mellon Arena no less.
Pitt would be favored over Central Connecticut in Washington, Chicago, or even after Pederson's train ride to Albuquerque.
If you need to identify a winner from Pitt playing here, the biggest benefactors are the area's news organizations, who will not have to strain budgets to put people on the road to cover them.
