UCLA, USC have slight edge, Cal coach says

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Staples Center is a neutral site for the Pacific 10 Conference tournament, but UCLA and USC will benefit from the home cooking, California Coach Mike Montgomery said.

‘This is still Los Angeles,’ said Montgomery, whose team plays USC Thursday. ‘Their players are still at home, still sleeping in the same bed. Whatever home-court advantage there is to being in familiar surroundings, they have it. I think a fair portion of the crowd will be made up of SC and UCLA fans.’

Montgomery might take heart in the fact that 66% of the teams that call Staples Center home seem to have trouble winning there -- the Kings and the Clippers.

Besides, it’s a better deal then when the tournament site was rotated among the universities.

‘When it was at Arizona, it was very much an Arizona event,’ Montgomery said.

--Chris Foster