http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7532021/ken-pomeroy-best-home-court-advantage-kansas-kentucky-duke-ncb

It's an ESPN insider article so some might not be able to ready, but it's a story by Ken Pomeroy that statistically shows that Ohio's home-court advantage has been the sixth best in the nation. The Bobcats actual home-court advantage is 6.58 points.

The top 10 are:
1. Utah Valley
2. Alabama
3. Arkansas
4. Denver
5. Virginia Tech
6. Ohio
7. Marshall
8. Indiana
9. Hawaii
10. Mississippi State

Basically, he determined it by taking results back to the 1999-2000 season and compared scores of home-and-home series. The Bobcats had a home scoring margin of +513 and a road scoring margin of -395 in 69 games.

He points out that the places that seem like huge home court advantages (Duke, Kansas, etc.) seem that way because those teams rarely lose at home, but then again, they hardly ever lose anywhere.

Many of the home courts that rank high are either "isolated" from other teams in the conference (like Hawaii, Denver and Utah Valley) and/or at high altitudes (like Denver and Utah Valley).

Of course, that doesn't explain why the Bobcats have such a big home-court advantage, but I'm sure the fact that the crowds are signifigantly larger there than anywhere else in the MAC has to play a factor, I'd bet.

Also of note, the MAC as a conference ranks third in home-court advantage factor, behind the Big 12 and the Big Ten.

Wouldn't this analysis be half poitning out good home teams and half pointing out crappy road teams?  I would say a lot of the reason we are up on the list is a nasty habit of underachieving on the road over the years.

That's true, but the MAC as a whole rates much the same, so I guess Ohio is not the only MAC team having trouble on the road. And in that case, it seems there probably is a distinct home-court advantage at The Convo.

I've long thought home court advantage has little to do with the fans.  Fans hate to hear that, but these type of analyses support it.  It is the general comforts of home that give you the competitive edge, and the supporting fans are only a small part of that.

Maybe it's the crappy facilities that historically have dominated the MAC.  Visiting teams going into some of the old gyms (e.g., Anderson Arena) were so depressed to think they were playing in high schoolish gyms that just didn't play well.  The home team players, however, had accepted their fate and learned to live with it.  On the other hand, when visiting teams come into the Convo and some newer facilities, they're over-awed, like goobers in the big city.  Too busy sight-seeing to play basketball. 

Read the book "Scorecasters" which takes a look at the true home court/field/arena advantage.  They take a look at all of the conventional factors, comfort at home, well-rested, etc.  The only thing that has a measurable impact on the game actually is the fans, indirectly.  The referees/umpires/officials are swayed by the home fans.  Really interesting book that debunks a number of sports myths through research and studies.  

One way they proved the bias by officials was to have them view a game on tv w/ the crowd noise and call the fouls as they saw them (in basketball).  Then they had comparable officials do the same on a screen w/ no noise whatsoever.  Those w/ the crowd noise called more fouls on the visitors, especially during crunch time.  Those w/o noise showed no true discrepancy. 

Interestingly, the sport where there was the most bias was in soccer.  They showed how stoppage time is significantly longer when the home team is trailing as opposed to when they have the lead.