Balls

The home-court advantage in college basketball is astounding. While most sports show a tendency for the home team to do better than the traveling team, the world of college basketball provides an extreme example, where even the best teams may lose to mediocre teams on the road, and any road victory is to be celebrated.

Could the reason be that the home team gets to choose the balls, which can vary significantly in size, weight, and feel? And they don't even have to give the visiting team warm up balls similar to the game ball?

Zach Hillesland of the New York Times provides a bit of background.

Shockingly, the reason we don't see college teams playing with the same ball in all locations has to do with corporate interests and money. Shocking, I say.