No home-court advantage in regionals

The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament isn’t likely to have a top seed with a big home-court advantage in this year’s regionals.

We’ve seen teams such as Duke and Syracuse playing close to home cooking over the years.

That scenario could have resulted again this season with the East Regional in Syracuse. SU, which wasn’t headed for a top seed anyway, took itself out of the equation by putting the team on a self-imposed probation that made them ineligible for the tournament.

A cynic might say that was an easy decision in a year when the Orange might not even have qualified for the Big Dance. They won’t even have the option of being embarrassed in the NIT the ACC Tournament, for which they’re also ineligible.

The other regionals are distant from the homes of other perennial contenders. The Midwest Regional is in Cleveland, the South in Houston and the West in Los Angeles.

There is one team that could win the tournament without having to board an airplane.

That’s top-ranked Kentucky, which should be able to win anywhere short of the NBA’s Western Conference.

Assuming the Wildcats would go in the Midwest, they’d open NCAA play in Louisville, move on to Cleveland and play in the Final Four even closer to home in Indianapolis.

In the most recent polls, Gonzaga, Virginia and Duke followed Kentucky. Gonzaga would be the natural choice as the No. 1 seed in a West Regional woefully short of top teams. Virginia would be likely to be the East’s top seed. Though Duke would be playing in its natural South Regional, the Blue Devils would be about 1,000 miles from home.

Based on the current polls, the regions could stack up like this:

East – 1. Virginia, 2. Villanova (playing on a familiar Carrier Dome court), 3. North Carolina, 4. West Virginia or Maryland.

South – 1. Duke, 2. Kansas, 3. Iowa State, 4. Northern Iowa or West Virginia.

Midwest – 1. Kentucky, 2. Wisconsin, 3. Louisville or Kansas, 4. Notre Dame.

West – 1. Gonzaga, 2. Arizona, 3. Utah, 4. Wichita State or Northern Iowa.

There’s still a long way to go. So those regional lineups could change a lot, but it’s still not likely that a clear hometown favorite will be hosting.