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NCAA Basketball: Ranking the nation’s 25 best home-court advantages

By Brian Rauf

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 09: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks pumps up the crowd prior to the start of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse on January 09, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 09: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks pumps up the crowd prior to the start of the game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Allen Fieldhouse on January 09, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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COLLEGE PARK, MD – MARCH 03: Maryland Terrapins fans hold up a sign to the referee during a college basketball game against the Michigan Wolverines at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD – MARCH 03: Maryland Terrapins fans hold up a sign to the referee during a college basketball game against the Michigan Wolverines at the XFinity Center on March 3, 2019 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

10) Maryland – Xfinity Center

I have long held firm that the Xfinity Center is one of the most underrated college basketball atmospheres in the country and deserves to be mentioned among the very best. The student section is notorious for and relentless with their heckling of opponents, but they also know how to have a good time.

They have quickly taken their place as one of the toughest venues in the Big Ten, yet it’d be a lie to think the atmosphere hasn’t lost a bit of its luster since the Terps left the ACC.

There are plenty of big games in the Big Ten and Maryland is starting to develop rivalries, but there just simply isn’t the same venom and intensity in College Park as there used to be when Duke and North Carolina came to town.

That doesn’t mean the Terps don’t still defend their home court. They have averaged only three home losses per season since head coach Mark Turgeon took over in the 2011-12 season and, despite their notable struggles on the road against quality competition, have managed to knock off at least one ranked team at the Xfinity Center in each of the past seven years.

Few schools have the student section to match Maryland, and even fewer plan an in arena that caters to that group (the floor-to-ceiling wall of students behind the visitor’s basketball is intimidating). Even if the atmosphere has lost that bit of its luster following realignment, the Xfinity Center still provides Maryland with one of the best home-court advantages in the country.

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