Fans can make a difference

There’s a certain excitement felt walking onto a basketball court, looking up and around,… There’s a certain excitement felt walking onto a basketball court, looking up and around, seeing monochromatic mobs of people united under one team and two colors.

That initial feeling is one thing, but the atmosphere swells at tip-off. The sights become sounds, synchronized chants and screams, audible gasps and the beat of the crowd inhaling and exhaling in harmony with players’ steps.

Coaches can give pep talks. Music can energize an athlete. Teammates can huddle and yell and dance. But it’s the energy of the crowd that keeps going through the entirety of a game.

And then there’s the feeling of being the away team.

Having the benefit of playing on one’s home court is considered a huge advantage in any sport. Just look at the Pitt men’s home record for example. Pitt is 115-10 at the Petersen Events Center, meaning there’s no wonder the Oakland Zoo was dubbed the sixth man on the roster.

One would think, then, that when it came down to the playoffs, and especially to the Sweet 16 or beyond, that the NCAA could find a neutral site and allow athleticism and skill to narrow the field. Athleticism and skill alone.

In front of a crowd of more than 10,000 at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday, the Pitt women’s basketball team had to contend with a lot more than Courtney Paris’s massive 6-foot-4 stature and Whitney Hand’s mistake-proof, well, hands.

Pitt had to face more than 10,000 screaming Sooner fans coming at them from every angle. They lined the court. They were up high in the nosebleeds. They were left, they were right, but no matter where they were, they were intense.

At the risk of sounding like a 5-year-old: no fair.

‘[Oklahoma] has a great team, and obviously it was a great environment to play in,’ said Berenato after the game, a 70-59 Pitt loss. ‘Little kids dream of playing in an environment like that, but usually their dreams are when it’s their home court and it’s their environment.

‘I can’t wait until we host next year, can’t wait until the Petersen Events Center is covered with blue-and-gold.’

When the freshman Hand, who has essentially made the Ford Center her new hotspot, made her first 3-pointer, the crowd went nuts. When she made her second, third and fourth, they went ballistic. Fans and media alike were stunned at Hand’s ability to play while in the Ford Center.

Before beating Pitt, Hand scored a season-high 20 points against Tennessee at the Ford Center, taking over the team for Paris. Pitt’s defense was concentrated on Paris, as was Tennessee’s, and it limited her to 10 points and nine rebounds. Hand scored a career-high 22 and, judging by her expressions, she was clearly feeding off the crowd’s energy.

The Panthers didn’t get any kind of offensive groove until there were only six minutes left in the game, with the Sooners already up by 23 and their dreams of going to the Elite Eight unofficially solidified.

By this point, the crowd had gotten what they wanted. No one was paying attention. They had moved on to the next game.

For Oklahoma, that next game will happen in the same arena, under what will likely be the same circumstances for Purdue. Though the game isn’t happening on its official home court at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., they’ll draw a bigger crowd than if it had been playing at ‘home’ in a push for the Final Four.

Imagine, if you can, if men’s teams had the home advantage going into the Final Four. If they played at the Pete, for the men on Saturday or the women on Sunday, would basketball season be over in Pittsburgh?

A likely answer is no.

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