Fans being banned at March Madness games because of coronavirus could have a huge impact on the outcomes.
Everybody knows the best traveling fans in America belong to the powerhouse programs like Kansas, Duke and Wisconsin. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
For those of you who don’t know, fans have a monster impact on the games. When a team like Duke gets rolling and the fans get into it, it starts to feel like a road game for the other squad.
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The fans act as a boot on their throat. A small lead can quickly get blown open once the losing and inferior squad starts to mentally think they’re out of it.
Don’t believe me? Look at the record of home teams in the Big 10 this past season. Winning on the road was about as rare as a dinosaur sighting.
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Now, those fans will be removed and there won’t be a boot on the throat of inferior teams, which will open the door for upsets.
The reality is the starting line up at place like Duke is more talented than your mid-major team in the tournament, but not by as much as you might think.
We always see smaller schools make runs. Look at Loyola a couple years back or Butler’s back-to-back finals appearances.
If fans of major programs aren’t in the stands to intimidate and create hell, then mid-major and inferior teams are going to have a huge advantage they usually wouldn’t.
That’ll likely lead to more upsets. If you’re a gambling man, there will more than likely be more upsets than we’re used to seeing.
Am I happy about it? Hell no because it hurts a team like Wisconsin. I guess that’ll make every single game the Badgers win that much more impressive.